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.