

How (and when) to motivate yourself - c0riander
http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2010/05/how-and-when-to-motivate-yours.html

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10ren
It's commonsense that motivation comes before action; but in reality, action
comes before motivation (where motivation is the _feeling_ of wanting to do
it; you can decide to do something whether you feel like it or not).

Some argue that this applies to other feelings, even to love; that if you act
as if you love something, then the feeling of love will follow: _love is a
verb_. Here's a striking clip from _Paris Je T'aime_ that demonstrates it
(though not, of course, proves it):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIa0454xfyI>

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jacquesm
That's a very moving fragment, I'll have to go see the rest of the movie now.
Thanks!

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sh1mmer
Good article, it gels with my own experience.

People often ask me how I manage to stay vegan (especially as I travel a lot).
The answer is simple I don't need will-power all day I just need it for the 30
seconds when I'm ordering a meal or shopping for food.

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leftnode
I used to be a personal trainer, and the saying goes that 99% of getting in
shape is just showing up to the gym. Once you get there, the exercise is easy
and usually fun.

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cema
I found that having some equipment at home helps too. I am using Total Gym and
it was the best investment of $200 I have made so far.

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michael_dorfman
You'd be surprised how many people have equipment at home, but never use it.
There's still required the equivalent move of "going to the gym", that spark
of motivation/movement to get one's ass off the couch.

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MWinther
I can usually argue with myself to get motivated. The problem is when I cheat
and pretend I already had the internal conversation and decided not to bother.

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joelhaus
Anyone can fit in a 15 minute workout, but committing to an hour at the gym
can seem daunting.

Setting up these micro-commitments helps me get started on things that I would
otherwise be making excuses about.

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sumeeta
His story reminds me of the Bhagavad Gita, which talks a lot about motivation.

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10ren
Can you elaborate? Sounds interesting.

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jcl
You might be more familiar with it than you think:

<http://humanscience.wikia.com/wiki/Legend_of_Bagger_Vance>

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10ren
OK, that's awesome. Thanks!

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swaroop
Seems to me that this is what the GTD Weekly Review is all about - you take
stock of your world once a week, decide what is important and then spend the
rest of the week executing those decisions - you are not allowed to second-
guess yourself because GTD is all about having "integrity in the moment of
choice" regarding your decisions.

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sdgdthfd
I use a similar trick to the scheduling - if I'm undecided, I just start and
do all the weighing up while I'm getting on with it. Once you've started,
chances are you'll continue as you've already done the hard bit. If not, you
don't feel like you've cheated, which, for me at least, is for too easy a
habit to fall into.

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JeffJenkins
I was in this exact same scenario yesterday: standing outside my building
under the awning with my bike watching the rain come down. I tricked myself
into doing it since the rain and sort of been off and on, and in the worst
case I could just check out the farmer's market near me and then head home. As
it turned out, 10 or 15 minutes into my time outside the rain stopped and I
ended up riding for more than two hours. I was really glad I sucked it up
instead of going back inside, where I might not have gone back out when the
weather got better.

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stretchwithme
once begun, you're half done.

