Aw crap…

Well, this is just getting a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?

Here is this adorable blog, my own little corner of the internet, ready and waiting to receive my thoughts and opinions, and it’s sat neglected since last fall. I’m sorry bloggy! Let me dust you off and start again.

As you may be able to tell, sometimes I have trouble with deadlines. Especially when they are movable and set by me. I’m sure I’m not the only person who has this particular talent – super-procrastination and second-guessing when a hard deadline can’t be found. And yet here I sit, feeling delinquent and sheepish, hoping to finally make good on my desire to become that elusive thing – a regular blogger.

So in honour of actually doing some writing, here some tips on how to stay motivated when you (or I) feel like putting it off until tomorrow.

• Mark it down. If you’re someone who lives and dies by their ical, then putting tasks into your calendar might help. You can set alerts and reminders to make sure you’re staying on track.
• Break it up. Sometimes at work when I get overwhelmed when taking on a project. When this happens I usually break up the project into smaller bits to make it more manageable. At times I’ll even break the tasks down further into a series of mini-tasks that will combine into a larger component of the project. This might sound like unnecessary minutae, but as someone who often misses the trees for the forest (ie. I’m a big-picture person who sometimes has trouble getting down to the tiniest details) it’s really helpful.
• Tell someone. A great way to make sure something gets done is to make yourself accountable. Sometimes just making the plan yourself isn’t enough. So when I’m embarking on a project I know will challenge me and make me want to give up I tell someone and ask them to check in with me periodically. It’ll make you feel like you’ve got someone in your corner (because you do!) and will light the tiniest of fires under your bum to make you act.
• Put your money where your mouth is. This is a biggie, and something I just did with this blog. Spending money on a project can be a great way to make sure you stick with it, especially if you’re a value-hunter like me. I don’t want the $30 I just put into this blog to go down the drain, so I’m going to use that as motivation to write more. And it’s an annual cost, so it’s got a built-in evaluation mechanism to force me to reflect and decide if it was worth it.

There you have it. They might not be groundbreaking ideas, but they’re great go-tos when starting a project you know you want to follow through on.