[MBTI General] How do you motivate yourself?

[cheerchick23]

I'm not sure if this is an NF thing, or an ENFP thing, or just a random person thing lol! but i always have trouble motivating myself to get stuff done. for example, let's use exercise. i know i need to get in shape for sports season, but every time i go run i get so bleh and discouraged and end up crapping out halfway! but if i trick myself into exercising, i'm fine. one time i was walking my dog who started chasin a squirrel... so i started jogging to catch up with her and ended up running the whole mile! i ran it in shorts and flip flops, holding my dog, better than i had when i "put my mind to it" and gone running the legit way. i wonder why this is? hmm! haha

i know there's lots of motivational tools people use that i've heard of... one is that they keep telling themselves "i'm doing it for the team", or some people promise themselves a reward after completing the task, etc.

what are the tools that motivate you? just curious!

 

[musttry]

I might not be a good reference point because I'm suppose to be working as we speak but I keep checking what's new in the forum.

For me, excercise is no problem. Once I decide it's time to start, I start and keep it up for as long as needed.

My problem is more in letting my mind wander. My job involves concentration for long periods of time and I find it difficult to get into my bubble. What I've learned is how to actually enter my bubble through a series of actions. First, I prepare my coffee and my snacks. Then I check quickly to make sure everything is under control (I check my hotmail to see if friends have written me, check the different stats on the different projects I'm working on). Then, the key for me is music. I have discovered that by having a fairly loud and upbeat music pouring through my earphones into my eardrums, I shut out all other thoughts and this allows me to focus unequivocally. I had this same problem and trick throughout my studies too.

Anyways, to conclude, I find the best combination of actions that will make the task easier by preparing myself. This little ritual in itself actually helps because it's like you're setting yourself up to work and at the end of the ritual there is nothing left but to work.

PS Metalcore, alternative, salsa and indie are my weapons of choice to attack wandering thoughts.

 

[kyuuei]

Exercise and I struggle. I love it, but I am not motivated to do it.

I'm currently combating with this dilemma.. I'm searching for a class/studio that isn't too expensive that has different classes. Paying for something, and having friends in the class, and etc etc etc makes me go. FRIENDS ALWAYS make me go. Also, come summer, I have enlisted older women in water aerobics. I will be instructing a free physical therapy/water aerobics class twice a week at the local public pool early in the morning (before those pesky kids get there.. I might try to work something out with the lifeguards for hours cut off to instruct without anyone there except those participating). I'm volunteering my time because I need the exercise, and people depending on me motivates me to get shit done, and it'd be giving back to my community.

I'm not licensed to instruct, but I do have proper exercises from a licensed physical therapist, and older women willing to go and want the leadership of someone taking charge. People motivate other people.

...Housework I got motivated for by tuning into music and letting it play while I work, or when I watch TV I clean on the commercials. Also, looking up how many calories you can burn by working slightly harder in your housework motivates you to kill two birds with one stone: clean house and exercise squeezed into the day!

When it comes to projects, I just set aside an hour 2-3 times a week and just work on as much as I can get done in that hour. Knowing I may not complete it then, but I'll get farther helps a lot, and usually I surprise myself by working over the hour most of the time once I'm started on it.

Also.. I'm VERY environmental. (I hope I haven't lost you by now ) If I'm working out, it cannot be in the same place as where I relax/sleep. My studying and working are separated as well, and kitchen work goes in the kitchen etc.

 

[cheerchick23]

For me, excercise is no problem. Once I decide it's time to start, I start and keep it up for as long as needed.

is that a J vs. P thing?

Exercise and I struggle. I love it, but I am not motivated to do it.

that's how i am! i love exercising when it doesn't feel like "work".

When it comes to projects, I just set aside an hour 2-3 times a week and just work on as much as I can get done in that hour. Knowing I may not complete it then, but I'll get farther helps a lot, and usually I surprise myself by working over the hour most of the time once I'm started on it.

good idea!! that sometimes works for me too!

lol but sometimes i just feel a weird urge to "rebel" and say bahh screw this let's go dance in a field instead! hahaha

 

[kyuuei]

^ Understood entirely!! Sometimes it feels good to just violate your own schedule.

I think that sports, and like.. classes are my best work out partner. If it's straight gym work, I probably won't go. My gym track record accounts for this entirely.

 

[Bubbles]

Weeeell, seeing as I should be doing math homework yet am posting here instead, I'm a hypocrite, but...

Exercise, like kyuuei said, is easier with friends and with paid time slots (if you don't attend, you know you'll be wasting money, and that brings on the guilt factor). Also, routines make things easier. The more you do something, the less you deviate.

Also set goals. I love writing, and wish to take it to a professional level, but I used to always put it off. Now, I make myself write a chapter a week, and by doing it, I get the story done slowly but surely. Makes projects much easier if you take them in stride.

(However, with things I hate, I have no real motivation techniques...and I need those, desperately, too. )

 

[kiddykat]

I LOVE exercising!! I love going to the gym at night, when no one is there when it's vacant (then I can do my funky moves on the treadmill without lookin all weird when I'm all into my music, bobbin my head like the lady in chunking express)! :546:

What else motivates me? I LOVE doing pilates stretches, reading an interesting book, coming up with a new design concept (in which I never seem to finish), learning something new; I like going to class whenever I have the money to pay for one. It's motivating!

What else? I think.. music, oh and photography, watching funny vids on youtube. Basically, I need time to relax, refocus every once in a while (I think that in itself is motivating).

My friend told me one thing that motivates him is when he sits on the couch. I guess it's a form of meditation.

I want to learn how to meditate; I think that would also be very motivating.

 

[Trope]

I think role models still really influence me.
Sportacus

plays a large role in my motivation to exercise.
These inventions don't only work on children, you know.

 

[professor goodstain]

I LOVE exercising!!

I want to learn how to meditate

Distance run. Start by working up to 2 miles. Get good at it. Then work up to 6 miles. Repeat get good at it. Until you get to around 20. This all could take a couple of years so it'll take motivation. But you will truly find out what meditation is at about right around mile 24. The motivation lays in how bad you want to experience true meditation. Not fooffy product selling, self help book, false zen, out of body, conversation piece pseudo-meditation.

And don't give any doctors orders, bad knee, don't feel like it today, bad weather, excuses either.

 

[professor goodstain]

I'm not sure if this is an NF thing, or an ENFP thing, or just a random person thing lol! but i always have trouble motivating myself to get stuff done. for example, let's use exercise. i know i need to get in shape for sports season, but every time i go run i get so bleh and discouraged and end up crapping out halfway! but if i trick myself into exercising, i'm fine. one time i was walking my dog who started chasin a squirrel... so i started jogging to catch up with her and ended up running the whole mile! i ran it in shorts and flip flops, holding my dog, better than i had when i "put my mind to it" and gone running the legit way. i wonder why this is? hmm! haha

i know there's lots of motivational tools people use that i've heard of... one is that they keep telling themselves "i'm doing it for the team", or some people promise themselves a reward after completing the task, etc.

what are the tools that motivate you? just curious!

Perhaps you could incorporate that ever so dreaded word "competitive" as an angle to that equation. That or just tell yourself (i'm not letting that dingaling XN/STJ beat me. EVER.)

 

[professor goodstain]

If applicable. Take the pooch on a trail run. The idea is always getting out the door. Once a person is out the door, they're gone. imo. Also, psychologically? i think motivation rests in how bad do you want it. If you don't do it some days for whatever reason, then you don't want it all that bad. That and self concious. If no one is there to witness your strain, whould you go runnin in your local streets more often?

 

[cheerchick23]

you guys have awesome opinions!

 

[OrangeAppled]

I am motivated when other people are involved, or I have a real deadline (I've tried giving myself deadlines, but without real consequences it does not work).

I like to work out too. It surprised me when I realized that because I have always hated sports. I realized it was the competitive aspect I really disliked.

Anyway, what motivates me is working out with someone else because they expect you to be there. For me, that means my personal trainer right now, but in the past, taking a small, group class really motivated me. The teacher and other students got to know me, and so if I didn't show they'd be asking me the next time where I was. I've been in larger classes where you can get lost in the shuffle, and it loses the motivating effect for me.

When it comes to cleaning my apartment or finishing a project, a deadline is a must. Nothing gets me cleaning faster than knowing someone is coming over, haha. Finishing a project needs a deadline with real consequences (ie. I don't get paid or pass a class).

I agree that my environment is important too. If I cannot focus in a certain environment, then I lose motivation. Since I work at home, sometimes I end up in this vicious cycle where I cannot focus on work because my apartment is a mess, but I cannot focus on cleaning because I have work to do and no deadline for cleaning. I end up at a coffee shop sometimes, just to be able to focus.

 

[garbage]

Make it as entertaining as possible.

I read when I exercise. I chat and listen to music while I do other work, and I often work from home. And so on.

Getting other people involved for accountability, for assistance, or for making things more bearable definitely helps, too.

 

[OrangeAppled]

^ Oooh yeah, music is a must. Especially for chores (or things that feel like one).

 

[OregonENFP]

what are the tools that motivate you? just curious!

Procrastinating until the VERY LAST POSSIBLE FREAKIN' SECOND works for me every time!!