Motivation

If it was difficult to make myself do anything before, it's even more so now that summer is in and there's nothing to force me to do any work at all for a whole day. It gives me this feeling that I am entitled to laziness just because I am on vacation. We all know how silly that is, especially when you have as many things you should be working on as I do. Thus, I've been thinking about ways to combat this feeling and keep the motivation to work going.


1. Set An Alarm.
The goal is to make myself believe that this is a normal day, with a purpose and things to be done. Some illusion of structure is necessary for that, and it's always best to start at the beginning. That doesn't mean having to get up early, necessarily. I can still sleep in as long as I get up at a certain time. I think I'll probably set it to 10:00, since that's around the time I usually stop being in bed to sleep and start being in bed to just not get up yet. Consequently, I will probably also give myself a curfew of about 3AM, not that I am planning to cross that line too often anyway.

2. Prepare for the Day.
Again, it's time to use these simple things that my mind automatically associates with a school day (and thus a day of working). That means taking a shower and other hygienic necessities, dressing in clothes I'd be willing to leave the house with, and eating breakfast immediately. This also makes sense from a health standpoint, and allows me to clear up any confusion later in the day when I totally forget what I did this morning.

3. Do Some "Work"
My mind doesn't believe it can start writing or working on anything else while still half-asleep. Therefore, the morning is a good time for less involved tasks, such as cleaning the gigantic trash heap out of this room, or checking my To-Do List to help plan what needs to be done that day. This prevents me from thinking that because I am relaxing first, I will relax all day. Still, once I've done that, it is fine to check on the Internet and talk with my friends for a while.


4. Use Half-Hour Blocks
A particularly effective way to keep up productivity, which I used heavily before and during last year's NaNoWriMo, is to work for 25 minutes and rest for 5, with longer breaks every couple of hours. It's easy enough to do with some software help. It allows you to be sure you're doing just the right amount of work without burning out. Since I don't work all day, splitting the day up into 30-minute chunks like this also allows me to be sure I'm not wasting too much time on any one useless activity.


Other Things
At night, put in little progress notes next to each task on the To-Do List.
Tell friends and family about this structure so obligations to them can be worked into it.
Set goals with a deadline that includes an exact date and time.
"Accidentally" unplug the phone lines to avoid interruptions. If only...
For reasons unrelated, I need to go for a run or something each day.


So, readers, do you have your own tricks to keep yourself going?