Chinese man ice fishing on the Haihe River in Tianjin, China.
This is a guest post by Brian Armstrong.
In any creative endeavor it can be difficult to stay motivated. Most people go through periods of super-productivity followed by periods where you don’t accomplish much at all. This is entirely normal, and the idea of a 40-hour work week for 50 weeks a year is a false concept left over from the industrial era of factory workers.
If you’re doing anything mentally intensive or creative (basically any valuable work in the modern day), then you won’t be inspired, motivated, or productive all the time. Here are three tips I’ve found that help me to stay motivated.
1. Don’t Complete 100% Of Any Goal.
You typically get the most done at the beginning of any project. If things actually start to work, you can feel that rush of excitement come over you as you get closer and closer to your goal. But at some point (perhaps about 50% of the way toward completing your goal) your sense of excitement will start to wane. You know you’re going to get there. The mystery has been solved. You’ve figured out what’s working and what’s not. It’s only a matter of time now and the end is in sight.
This can be a dangerous point for some people because you still haven’t completed your goal but your mind is ready to move on to other things. Some people can even engage in self sabotage – for example, throwing out what you’ve done to start over and feel that rush of excitement all over again.
So what’s the solution? Don’t ever complete a goal. If your goal was to hit $5,000 per month in profit for your new startup and you just hit $3,000, then double it to make your new goal $10,000 per month. If you wanted to finish by year’s end, then ask yourself what it would take to finish in the next two months.
If you’re the kind of person who thrives on challenges, then don’t give your mind a chance to get bored. Continually set new goals for yourself instead of waiting for the uneventful moment when you actually complete one.
2. Realize It’s Okay Not To Work.
If you’re like me, you sometimes feel guilty for not working. This is a mistake.
If you’re uninspired at the moment, this is a great time to take a breather and go back to hone your skills.
Some of my favorite tasks to engage in during times like this are:
* Talk with other people in your field to see what they’re doing. Meet at their homes and offices to see what their work spaces look like. Meet them at conferences. Build your network. Maybe they’re doing something better than you that you can learn. Maybe they’re doing some things worse and you can volunteer to help. Maybe you’ll decide to partner on your next project. Getting around other like-minded people is perhaps the best motivation I know.
* Read everything you can get your hands on, books you’ve been meaning to get to, books in unrelated fields that you’ve always found interesting, blogs from other people in your industry, etc.
* Take a class in something you’ve never tried, like martial arts, dancing, or cooking.
* Get outdoors, whether it’s vigorous exercise like running, or lying in the sun on the beach.
* Eat some great food, get tons of sleep, and take long hot showers.
3. Get creative.
Creativity often comes from bringing an outside perspective to a field where everyone is thinking the same. By taking time like this to “go back to school” you can get yourself up to date on what everyone else in the field has been doing. You can also take some time to broaden your horizons and gain perspective.
Chances are you’ll be so fired up with new ideas that you won’t be able to stop yourself from working! Then you’ll be back into another period of intense work and creativity – until it’s time to take a break again and the cycle will repeat. This is the natural and most effective cycle of the knowledge worker – not stuck in a cubicle pretending to work – embrace it!
Brian Armstrong is an entrepreneur, currently living in Buenas Aires. He runs the following websites:
Breaking Free
Buyers Vote
FeedmailPro
UniversityTutor.com
Related posts:
Subscribe Now 
G'day! I'm Gordie, founder and editor-in-chief of Lifestyle Design For You. I want to welcome you to the center of the universe when it comes to lifestyle design and personal development blogs. We're a team of ten writers providing you with articles to help nourish your mind and improve your life. Lifestyle design is about designing your life so you can do what you want when you want. 
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
Good post!
I often feel a little guilty if I take a breather for a day or so, and have to remind myself that it IS okay. Glad you reinforced that point. Think I’ll go kill a few hours now
Thanks for Sharing, Brian and Gordie.
Jimi,
I know you are one hard working guy. Don’t forget to smell the roses!
Really like that second tip, I find since I taught myself sketching and the guitar, when I’m feeling a bit stuck all I need to do is pull out my sketch pad or guitar and just change gears for a half an hour. That creative reboot is normally enough to get even the most meandering evening back on track.
Hey Michael,
I don’t know even if I’ve ever done the creative reboot. I think I just ended up watching DVDs or something. I think the creative boot sounds much more useful. Will give it ago.
Thanks for sharing this Gordie. Interesting notion of not finishing a goal to stay motivated. Tony Robbins talks about this and says “beware of the disease called success.” I think people get content and just stop trying at a certain point.
Hey Srinivas,
That’s a cool sentence, “Beware of the disease of success!” I know many people feel deflated after reaching a goal and end up struggling until they find another goal.
Very interesting concept. I knew there was a reason I was not finishing my goals. Now I know I don’t need to, or better said, set them higher to motivate me to do more. Thank you, Steve
I think it’s a cool idea to keep resetting goals. It will keep our success momentum going.
Thanks for posting this Gordie! Hope it helps folks.
Thanks for such a great post Brian. It’s really appreciated.
Continuing to work on your blog when there is no motivation through tiredness etc is suicide. The quality drops, being arrogant enough to think my quality is ok, and your reputation goes downhill.I ‘m fortunate in that I live in the middle of nowhere and within 30 seconds I am in open countryside and walking clears the mind.
Im looking to moving back to New Zealand where there is clean air. After being in polluted cities for the last 8 years in East Asia, I’m sre my brain and lungs must be clogged.
Hey Brian, thanks for your post. I really like your take on how to get motivated. This isn’t usually the stuff that I would read when it comes to motivation (I usually think of phrases like “grit your teeth and just do it” or “stop whining and get through it”). This was more of a funner, down-to-earth, and more relaxed approach to staying motivated.
Trying to use share will power everyday to try to get things done can be exhausting and even unhealthy. The ways Brian mentions seem much more practical for us lifestyle designers.
Great tips here!
I’m also the restless worker type. Can’t sit still and feel terrible when I’m not as productive as usual. This post gives me some constructive ideas for what I might do instead.
Glad they helped.
It’s funny how excited we are when we pursue our goal, but midway, just as you’ve said above, we start to get bored. I believe there is where the true test for your dedication comes.
It is worth to get yourself motivated and I agree to your suggestions here, especially on being creative.
I have found that I also go through lulls when nearing the completion of a goal. Procrastination and distractions of other projects can delay the completion of a project a lot.
I never finish a job 100%. I pareto that badboy by only doing the 20% that will get me 80% of the results.
Hey Jonny,
Gotta love Pareto’s Law. I have to really start applying by analysing my tasks in more detail.
Great Tips – I particularly liked “Read everything you can get your hands on, books you鈥檝e been meaning to get to, books in unrelated fields that you鈥檝e always found interesting, blogs from other people in your industry, etc”.
I sometimes feel that reading blogs and ebooks isn’t actually work, but I have reframed this point of view and now call it training.
Hey Sean,
I think reading is basically inexpensive education. You’re right to consider it as training.
this has been a nice lesson for me…some times i’ll feel so excited to start my work…and some that excitement wanes and i stop working…
Hi Sagar,
As long as you keep readjusting your goals, you should be okay.
I really enjoyed this post. Love the idea of never completing a goal 100%, that’s a neat idea! Thanks for the tip!
Brian is the man!
I am a huge goal guy and I know what you mean about the initial excitement phase. I’ve learned how to temper my expectations so that I expect the excitement to wane. This doesn’t mean that I’m OK with not succeeding, it just means that I have to be prepared for the hard work.
I think that’s the difference between successful people and those that aren’t. Success happens after that excitement wanes…when you dig in and get it done after the fun is over…that’s also how you know that your idea is something you can do forever.
That’s right, Nathan. People know how to keep going when the excitement wanes. I think Brian’s suggestion of readjusting goals is also a very good way to help one get through this.
Big lesson in number two Brian. It is OK not to work sometimes. So often I’ve put in an extra couple of hours, only to find that they were wasted as the work wasn’t up to scratch or I simply didn’t actually achieve anything.
Like Brian said. This concept of working for a set amount of time is left over from when it worked in the factories. However, it doesn’t work so well when creativity is needed.
Sometimes we feel that we do not have the time from our daily work for creative pursuits, not realizing that the quality of work we will put in after going for those creative breaks, will be much higher and subsequently of greater value.
Following up on Brian’s observation that “the idea of a 40-hour work week for 50 weeks a year is a false concept left over from the industrial era of factory workers”, I think it is high time that a different appraoch to work hours and weeks becomes more widely applicable and acceptable around the globe.
Interesting and thought-provoking post. Thanks, Brian and Gordie!
Hey Amrita, you’re doing great things to bring the female Indian demographic commenters back to my blog.
I agree it’s about time a government got the balls to do something about bringing work hours more suitable for he industrial age.
I really enjoyed reading this post actually. It seems everyone hits this ‘halfway point’ barrier.
I think you suggested a good strategy to conquer this. Going that extra mile in terms of target, new skill e.t.c
A similar principle is used in athletics training, when doing a 100meters dash, you actually prepare your mind to run an extra 5-10 metres to ensure you finish well.
I had a science teacher in high school who always said it’s better to train harder than the actual event. I guess that’s similar to what you’re saying.
I think it’s important what you said in point to about taking a class in something or having a hobby besides what you focus on most. I find it helps and compliments what you spend most time on.
I love to take long runs in the morning and I spend way to much time in those hot showers.
Gordie, you have an awesome community here! Thanks for visiting my site. I’m working my way through your RSS feed now.
FWIW, I’ve already exceeded my November blogging goals, and have recast them higher!
Dave Doolin’s last blog ..Top 5 Biggest Lies About Blogging for Money
That’s great to hear, Dave!