Motivation, Again

Remember that bit about bookstores? There are lots of books on motivation, and some are going to be better than others. I'm not going to try to top that here in 750 words. But let's spend another moment with this before we leave it entirely.

Some things we need to do. Some we want to do. Some things will improve our lives, our careers, our homes or our families. Others are just ordinary duties that come up on some regular basis.

Some tools I have used, to keep me on track and get the work done, include treating myself for reaching some milestone, secluding myself from distractions, focusing on the future, when the goal will presumably be reached, and the nuclear option: walking away from it all for a time.

None of these work all the time, but they all work some of the time. I make no promises, but I'm reminded of the Hunter Thompson quote, "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."

It's a rare task that can't be broken down into manageable chunks. You don't sit down to write a novel. You write a word, and that becomes a sentence. You re-read that sentence, editing until you are happy, and you write another. Eventually it becomes a paragraph, a chapter and then a book. Most work is like that.

Sometimes I'm able to get a work done if I allow myself a little pleasure after passing some milestone. I will get myself a soda, when I finish making these phone calls. I will see what everyone is laughing about down the hall, when I finish this outline. I will sneak a peek at Amazon.com or Facebook after I get this Web page validated.

That kind of thing can work for a lot of people, but it depends upon having enough discipline to forgo that reward until the work gets done. Now we're in Chicken-Or-Egg country. If you have the discipline to delay gratification, you probably have the discipline to get the work done anyway.

I can get a lot done in the middle of a room, with conversations and music going on all around me. In fact, some of my best work has been done in busy coffeehouses with a constant distracting din as people drifted in and out, clinked cups with spoons, laughed about that guy in the office and whatever else. But, sometimes, you need to be able to shut everything out and just focus on the task at hand.

Maybe half the time these days, I close my office door. And now and then I'll even turn off the lights, so all I can see is my monitor. With class in session, people use my office hallway as a conduit from Where They Were to Where They Need To Be. And it's a hallway with not a stitch of fabric, so every sound from their start to their finish, the width of the building, echoes around and, I swear, amplifies as it makes its way to my door. When a class empties out, there may be twenty conversations, forty feet shuffling, doors creaking and slamming and so on. So where in summer my door was mostly open, these days, it's mostly closed.

I have a small selection of jazz guitar (no lyrics, no vocals) that I play on iTunes while I'm working on something. Often, though, I'll listen to a selection of podcasts. Some about Web design, others about technology, news and even comedy. Each requires various levels of attention. I don't want to replace the distraction of the mobile crowd with an interview with a comedian I like, so I'm careful with what I select to listen to and when. Still, I can't control things like the Band practicing outside my window. It can be hard to write JavaScript with the drumline ten yards away working on Boom-chacka-lacka boom-boom-Boom!

Sometimes, just imagining how great it's going to feel to be done with something is enough to keep you working toward that end. Man, I'm going to put my feet up and enjoy a cold one, tonight!

Sometimes you just burn out. That's what vacation days are for. I find that a day or two off often helps clear my head and get me back in the groove, again.

What works for you?