There’s a way of motivating yourself to go running: instead of willing yourself to go running, your goal is to put on your running shoes and close the front door. It’s a way of putting yourself into a situation where you feel compelled to act. I sometimes use a similar thing on this series of posts I’m doing at the moment: I just write something in the book, and then I’m committed to making the post happen. Haven’t missed one yet, so I’ve got a bit of momentum.
So, that lead me to thinking about what might be a good way to motivate yourself into practicing. I heard a good one from Nigel Price [who is awesome]; I think the gist of it was that he had a book of horrible things that people had said over the years, and one look at that would be a great motivation to work a little more!
So, dear reader, in the interests of helping us all out:
How do you motivate yourself to do some work?
A while back, I decided to write down some motivational quotes and stick them all over my wall, such as:
‘When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses only results’
‘Those who believe they can do something are probably right – and so are those who believe they can’t.’
etc…
I found having them there motivated me for a while but their effect eventually wore off. I thought about just finding some new quotes, but that wouldn’t do it in the long term. I think that month or so of increased motivation didn’t come from having the quotes on my wall, but it was more from the fact that I decided to motivate myself, it wouldn’t have really mattered what I did, as long as I cared enough to act.
So I think motivation doesn’t necessarily come from external inspiration, but just asking yourself whether you care enough to act now.
Although doing this every day takes a lot of discipline.
Spot in, fella. Check out this from Merlin Mann: http://www.43folders.com/2010/02/05/first-care
Too true
cheers for that!
Caffine is my source of motivation. By the way, I’ve forwarded the Inner Urge EC to a few interested saxophonists. Cheers.
Thanks! The pentatonic thing is more of a cheat for guitarists, though :)
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