I remember times when I tried to motivate myself to action. I listened to my favorite music or speeches of motivational speakers. I went to a cinema, hung out with my friends, or had a great lunch in a local fast food restaurant. All those activities should give me enough energy to start moving towards solving a problem. In spite of my efforts, something wrong was with that strategy. It rarely worked. Moreover, after having done such things, I felt like a squeezed lemon.
Hundreds of books have been read by me over the years on the subject of procrastination. They contained great ideas, but many of them were a pure rubbish. As soon as a book was closed, my good mood swung on the negative side. Every time I cast a glance on my schedule, my muscles got tense, my throat got dry, and my hands began shaking. All of a sudden, my whole body repelled the idea of taking action.
People around me experienced the same problem. Some of them openly admitted their weakness. I did not want to become a victim. Once I got crazy, because a series of bad events happened due to my lack of willpower. I promised myself never repeat the same mistake again. It was a naïve thought, not a strong commitment.
A chapter in a book changed everything. The author of the book said the best strategy is to start small and gradually reach the state of a workflow. There is no turning back the moment you are fully engaged in an activity. Instead of sitting comfortably in an armchair, waiting for inspiration, and sipping tea, wash the dishes. In other words, begin with an easy task at hand. Thus, you warm up the brain. Soon it will operate at its full capacity and you will start experiencing moments of enlightenment. Wonderful solutions to your problems will literally pop up in your head out of nowhere. It will be hard for you to stop working. You may skip a meal, but you will be full of energy nevertheless.
The author’s opinion was that action generates inspiration, not otherwise. The more a person tries to motivate himself, the less effective it actually is.
I applied the knowledge and experienced miracles. An accomplished tiny mundane task led me to a bigger one, which, by-turn, invoked a chain reaction. Following the technique, I’ve done more in a week than I usually did in a month. That simple realization cheered me up.
I no longer rely on motivation to shift me from being idle to reaching the peak performance. Motivation works only when you are sure the exact event is going to happen in the future as a result of your endeavor. For instance, if I give you $1,000,000 for creating a piece of software, nothing will stop you from writing a source code, considering the fact I’m honest person and you know a specific algorithm, which will guarantee your program to function correctly. In the real world you may put a lot of effort into something only to find out later it has been in vain.
Human brain works all the time and consumes a lot of energy. A person, who plays a computer game, exhausts himself in the same way as his friend, who prepares for exams. Therefore, the idea that listening to your favorite music will give you extra energy is fundamentally wrong. Songs give you a short burst of enthusiasm. It won’t last for several hours in a row.
Big things have small beginnings.
