Things People Might Say or Do to Motivate and Stay on Task

Have you ever been somewhere, where you wanted to be when you first got there, and then you wanted to leave?

And you wanted to leave a little before it seemed socially appropriate?

I usually want to be where I am, and my brother usually wants to be where he is going next.

I have noticed that once I get somewhere, I tend to need to prepare for a time that I’ll move on to something else if I don’t have something specific scheduled. I’m not a big crowd person, so as things thin out sometimes that’s my favorite part of a social activity.

I think an accurate description for my brother and me is that I have a little less inertia at times (or a little bit lower than some), so I like to stay where I am. He has a little more forward inertia, because he tends to want to be moving to the next thing just a little before what he’s doing ends.

He tends to set a timeline which allows him to stay long enough, and then he frequently leaves just a little bit before that time is up. He’s ready for his next activity, and starting to prep for that as he gets close.

As you may guess, he tends to be a little early to things, and my natural inclination is to be right on time, with a little room for error.

An example of me preparing for my next step is that I start to think of myself in the next time zone if I’m flying somewhere or driving somewhere different than where I live, and a little before I arrive there.

Then when I get there, my pretty consistent meal schedule is a little closer to what will occcur.

I was sitting in my local Starbucks last week, where I have gotten to know several other people who also spend time in Starbucks.

Currently, I have custody of the grand-pup.

My son, one of the puppy’s dads, was home sleeping, and so was Mosby, our puppy. He is just about 1.5, so he’s still got another 1.5 years of puppy-dom.

The person I was sitting next to had to leave to drive to a different town. I utilized that opportunity to leave as well, since I wanted to make sure I got home to the puppy at a decent time related to when he woke up. He was on college time, which has a later start than my natural tendency to start my day.

I said ‘I need to let the puppy out’. This was a true statement, and was what was helping motivate me to move from my current location of Starbucks.

My new friend was reminded of someone who used to say that as his goodbye-line. The person, according to the man telling the story, used to say that everytime he was ready to leave.

It is probably the equivalent of saying ‘I have to go, I have a meeting’, which I said a lot in my previous role of one of the directors at a local social service agency.

The thing was, I almost always did have a meeting to attend.  I supervised 13 staff, had meetings in four counties, and I have a tendency to chat.

To help curtail my tendency to chat a little too long, in that role of work I would try to limit my chatting times to right before I needed to leave to be somewhere.

That gave me a little time pressure, and my bag of stuff to come with me, or coat, were indicators to the staff who may have been using that opportunity for questions or getting some feedback on their role…or just an anecdote.

Kind of like building in room for traffic, or an emergency, or allowing for error.

So, this leads me to a couple of things to think about for today:

What things do you like to say when you need to transition from one location to another, and you don’t have a ‘work’ or ‘obligation’ reason to do that?

What helps motivate you to go somewhere, when you would rather stay where you are?

If you are someone who has trouble motivating yourself to start doing something; what self-talk, action, or reward do you give yourself to help yourself get it done?

If you are someone who is more likely to stay where you are:

What words, phrases, or incentives do you use to help yourself get to that next place?

If you always want to move onto the next thing, what timelines do you give yourself to stay where you are before moving on?

Now for today’s goal:

Here’s an idea:

Set yourself a goal to do something, whether it is a work obligation, a fun obligation, or just something for you, and try to make that happen.

Now set a goal for when you want that to happen:

…how about today, tomorrow, or at least this week?

Maybe longer?

Have a great day!

Hope your motivational efforts are effective and help you complete a task or two today.

🙂