Start Motivating Yourself by Forcing Yourself to Make More Choices.
We all have days when our motivation drops. Just the thought of getting to work is overwhelming. If you need to make the gears turn, you can motivate yourself simply by making a choice, big or small.
In this YouTube video from Tech Insider, Charles Duhigg , author of Smarter Faster Better , shares a classic motivational trick used by the U.S. Marines to reform boot camp. To train their recruits to motivate themselves, they redesigned boot camp so that they are forced to make far more choices. For example, in the cafeteria after dinner, recruits are told to clean up the kitchen. That’s all. They were not told where the detergents were, what to do with leftover food, or how to use an industrial dishwasher. They had to make a choice to complete their task of cleaning and remodeling the kitchen for dinner.
According to Duhigg, decision making cultivates an inner locus of control, or the belief that you are in control of your destiny. By making a choice, you show yourself that you can determine how your life will turn out – or at least direct it in a certain direction. Because of this, making choices is key to motivation. So, if you are sitting at your desk and you find it difficult to motivate yourself, make a choice. It can be big or small, it doesn’t matter. Choose to start looking at your email in the middle of the inbox instead of at the top, or tell someone who asked you to dine that it will go but that you want a certain type of food. Find choices that make you feel like you are in control, and go for it.