Not too long ago, Zulily had Fitbits on sale at a good discount. Mine finally arrived, and I’ve been wearing it for extra motivation to make sure I move each day. After a few days, I was like “meh, whatever.” Partly because I didn’t have the results I wanted on the scale Sunday morning, partly because the novelty of a wristband that tells you what you’ve done was wearing off. But then, Monday morning rolled around, and a few of the ladies from my pregnancy group have a work week challenge. Seeing the challenge up pulled out my competitive side and motivated me to get off my duff and keep with it.
Sometimes, we need a little healthy competition to push us along and keep us motivated. This can come in the form of an actual competition, as with the Fitbit challenges, or it can come in the form of the way we frame our work. For example, I often set a timer for how long I *think* something will take to get done, and then I see whether I can beat my estimate.
When I get really stuck for motivation, I’ll play a little game to get started. I’ll randomly choose what task I will work on for what set amount of time (5, 10, 15, 25, minutes). It helps to get into that mindset of “conquering” the tasks on my list and helps me to steer away from decision overload. This can particularly be helpful on days (like Mondays) when I’m not particularly feeling it.
What kinds of games do you play to boost your motivation? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Published by Ronda Bowen
Hello there, and welcome to my page! I have been working as a full-time freelance writer and editor since 2008 when I decided that while I rather enjoyed philosophy, the Ph.D. program I was in was not a good fit for my life goals. Since then, I have published many papers and articles, started two blogs, worked as a senior editor for a magazine, served on the board of a start-up non-profit organization, and walked across fire.
I strongly believe that it is important to work to make the world a better place – one project at a time. I’ve worked with Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build program to construct living quarters for those in need, written content for Stonewall Alliance, and edited the newsletter for my local natural foods cooperative. One of the blogs I founded, Activism My Way is dedicated to helping people get involved with causes they feel passionate about.
Although my academic background is in philosophy and social and political theory, my heart has always been in writing fiction and poetry. I have a novel in progress, and I am working on putting together a collection of short stories to share with readers. I also worked as part of a creative team on a project with a hip hop artist that involved world-building and creating an amazing back story to a concept album. I have worked with several authors to edit their novels (as well as dissertations, children’s books, journal articles, and non-fiction projects).
Non-fiction topics I have written about include pop culture and philosophy, project management, business startups and management, insurance, technology, and much more. I also have created web content for a wide variety of clients (ranging from gas station owners to hotels to lawyers), and I’ve had an opportunity to interview some amazing people (Michele May, Kevin Sorbo, Barbara Taylor Bradford, and Mark Victor Hansen to name only a few). Needless to say, I love what I do.
I enjoy photography, and my subjects these days are usually my children as well as food, beverages, craft projects, and other such things for my blog, Wining Wife™. My favorite subjects are landscapes, nature (particularly clouds, flowers, and trees), and architecture.
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Ronda Bowen 