Hey! So by now you must have read the basics on how to eat and how to train and I imagine you just can’t wait to get started….
Right?
No?
Oh….
Well, here’s an article on how to get things done and find your motivation (yes, in that order).
Why am I fit to speak about this? Because I am one very lazy and low energy type of guy.
But I strangely also have ambition…. So I’ve had to trick myself into doing stuff because otherwise I would sulk for weeks looking at myself and not understanding why I wasn’t getting anywhere, when I knew what I had to do, but just wouldn’t get around to do it… Sound familiar?
Not being the « go-getter », « hustler » type of guy, I used to always try and do things when I felt like it. Which didn’t get me very far… Unless I had :  the idea, the motivation, the time and the tools, all at the same place and the same time. Then I would have an awesome 4 hours where I felt like superman and could achieve anything, until something out of my control meant I had to stop. I would then lose momentum for another month or two before I had another super day.
Yeah I know, not great.
I’ve wished so hard (yep we’ll talk about that type of mentality in another article) I could be that superawesome extra productive and motivated guy every single day…. Then I would be a super rich famous whatever and change the whole world. Hasnt’ happened yet.
The MINDSET :
So I read, tried stuff, new foods, sleeping patterns, reorganising my week and nothing got me going…. Until I found this little definition :
-Motivation come from motivus, which means « movement »-.
So what I understood was that motivation COMES FROM doing stuff rather than the opposite. Take a second this is important. You only get motivation once things have started moving. Like inertia. So instead of waiting to be motivated to do something, do something and start the motivation afterwards.
And that was it. But at first I used to try and go start a whole project, and it failed miserably because I was tired even before I started. I would avoid doing anything closely related in case i would have to get going on the project, and see myself grind like a maniac from hours on something I didn’t really want to do. Our minds really do play tricks on us…. So lets play tricks on IT!
The TRICKS :
The trick is to start small. Veeeeeery small. So small it seems insignificant. But you do it often and build up. And in no time you’ll have mastered something you thought woukd be impossible to accomplish. Yes it’s that easy.
And the best way I’ve found to help me get things done is actually just making them habits. So instead of having to get motivated to do anything, I just mechanically make myself do it a couple of times and then my subconscious does the rest of the work.  And then by magic…. Stuff happens.
Creating a HABIT :
So how do I create a habit? Well, first of all know it takes times. Ay first it seems like lot of time. Basically a month (30 days… kind of gave it away in the title of the article). But this is an investment in yourself, and THAT can multiply to infinity.
The picture in the header if this article is a typical 30-day challenge sheet. (I find it works better if I actually draw it myself instead of printing a sheet out. So I’ll let you draw it yourself instead of getting you to download one.)
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING : I start immediately doing the 30-day challenge the day I plan it out. I send myself on the path and I just keep going BEFORE I can start thinking about it. If start the habit by saying « tomorrow », it will be 30 days of « tomorrow ». Yes you see exactly what I mean. Did that just strike a bulb?
Then, after 30-days, whatever I wanted to do is just part of my life.
Here are a few of the 30-day challenges I have done :
  • take a vitamin with breakfast
  • go to bed at 11pm
  • meditate for 10mins
  • write down what you are going to do the next day
  • do one important thing a day

But as you can see then don’t have to be increadible changes. But each one feeds into the others, and the process becomes easier and easier. So start REALLY REALLY easy. Like :

If you want to start exercising :

  • do 10 squats at 8pm for 30 days straight
If you want to start eating healthy :
  • eat 1 apple a day for 30 days straight
If you want to have more friends :
  • say hi to 1 person a day for 30 days straight
If you want to create a business :
  • brainstorm 1 idea for 30 days straight
Once you got one of these down, do another one immediately afterwards. BUT never do 2 at the same time. Why? because you can’t. It will probably fail. You’ll go much faster doing one thing at a time. One after the other than trying to do them all at once.
As the Special Forces saying goes « Slow is smooth, smooth is fast ».
Can you imagine what kind of increadible things you could do if you kept on doing this for a year? Five years? Ten years?
3650 business ideas! At least one will be good!!
THE EXACT HOW TO :
  • Draw a 30 day calendar
  • Write todays date in the first square
  • Write all the days that are coming in the 30 following days
  • Write what your daily challenge is
  • Do it immediately
  • Draw a cross in the first square.

And now you’re on your way 🙂

Oh, and don’t beat yourself up if you miss 1 or 2 days, just never one after the other, and add an extra day every time you miss one.
The idea is to help you, not make you hate yourself.
Take it easy,
Morgan.

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