I stumbled upon it years ago and have been following it since. Recently, I have been ignoring the weekly email updates, but as I recognize myself in a downward spiral these days (in terms of motivation), I revisited his blog for some help.
Of all his suggestions, I think these rules will help me keep motivated the most since it is all about accountability!
- Make someone else pay for your failure. This is a really powerful form of motivation. Set a challenge for yourself for a month, and if you fail, then a friend agrees to have something bad happen to her or him. For example, if you don’t run three times a week for the month of January, then your friend Amit gets an ice bucket dumped on him. Or your wife has to go three days without her phone. Obviously your friends have to agree to the consequence, but you can agree to be each other’s consequence, and pick a consequence you’d be unhappy about but willing to do. This is much more powerful than if the consequence of your failure happens to you, because you really don’t want to be the cause of someone else’s misfortune.
- Make someone else benefit from your success. This is just the reverse of the previous idea … if you succeed at your monthly challenge, then a friend gets to have something nice happen to him or her. This is really nice, because you will be motivated to make someone else happy.
Though I think these will be effective...I couldn't find a single sorry sap who wanted to volunteer to be rewarded or punished by my efforts. haha I guess I can't blame them.
Well... back to square one. Maybe just doing without thought is the answer.
My favorite post of Zen Habits is Breathe. and I come back to this several times a year.
My favorite post of Zen Habits is Breathe. and I come back to this several times a year.
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