We all have those days. There’s things you want to do, and things you need to do, but you just can’t get yourself going. The road ahead seems a hell of a lot longer than it did yesterday. You wake up with the best intentions, and proceed to spend most of the day in your pyjamas reading Facebook posts and Gawker articles. You get little to nothing done, and you go to bed frustrated, wondering what went wrong.
Want to get more done in a day? Here’s our five best tips for staying motivated.
1. Read success stories and visit your competitors
Whatever it is you’re doing – whether it’s building a high traffic blog, designing websites, or selling drugs on the internet (though I’d urge you to reconsider) – it’s helpful to remind yourself that it can be done and has been done. And the people who have done it aren’t any different than you. Check out other successful businesses or blogs in your niche, or even outside of your niche. See what your competitors are doing. Some bloggers post income reports detailing their progress. Take a look at Pinch of Yum, for example, a blog that went from a monthly income of $21 to over $30,000 in a little over two years.
2. Rememeber why you’re doing it
Think about the reasons you started in the first place. Maybe you want to escape the spirit-sucking drudgery of a 9-5 office job. Maybe you want to earn a few extra dollars for a rainy day, or to put in your kids’ college funds. Do you want to free yourself up for travel? Would you like to buy a boat? How about the satisfaction of a job well done, or the peace of mind and good will that comes with helping others? Whatever your primary goal, it probably hasn’t changed since yesterday.
3. Talk to others
If your friends and family aren’t sick of hearing about your Etsy store or WordPress theme business, talk to them about it. Share your ideas, your goals, and the progress you’ve made so far. If your friends and family have had enough, find a community online to engage with. This could be a Facebook group, a forum, or maybe the comment section of a related blog. Choose a street corner and start shouting about your Google PageRank to strangers as they hurriedly walk past. They seem so motivated! What’s their secret?
4. Reflect on the progress you’ve made
Unless you’re just getting started, at this point you probably have a bit more to show for your hard work than empty space. Read over some old blog posts and admire how insightful, well-written and funny they are. You’ll want to write another one. Take a look at your Google Analytics and note how the graph has gone from zero to not quite zero. It can only go up. Think about any above-average experiences you’ve had with your customers, or supportive comments on your blog.
5. Get away from the desk
Sometimes, once you’re locked into a cycle of procrastination or experiencing writer’s block, the best thing you can do is remove yourself from the work area entirely. Stand up, go somewhere else, and do something else for a while. Read a book, watch TV. Go for a walk in the great outdoors. Think of it as rebooting.
Finally, avoid articles like this one.