I find myself often finding it hard to get out of bed, or get on with a new piece of work, call that friend, do my taxes. Whatever it may be I think there's a very simple method that can work wonders when you just need that small amount of accountability to get you moving.
When you're stuck in bed on a lazy Sunday knowing full well the first few hours of the day are going to be filled with chores, the last thing you want to do is actually get on with them... but you will at some point. When you find yourself struggling to find the motivation just try counting down from 5. As you get closer to 1 you realise that your enjoyment of bed is almost up, getting to 2 you gear yourself up to move and 1, BAM! Your already up.
For me the fear that sets in at 1 if I don't make it is that the whole rest of the day will follow in the same vein. That fear of being sluggish and lazy gets me right up.
We are always thinking things, we think a lot of things all day long that we don't even realise, or act upon. We can have unwanted thoughts we try to bat away, or comforting thoughts that we try to grasp on to when it's about to slip away. Unfortunately, inside our heads is abstract, we don't have full control over how or what we think. Once you project your intentions into the physical world is when we take more notice of something.
So don't just think it. Say it. "Five, four, three, two ..." and as you standup "...one", with a smile of triumph on your face. You'll live a more productive and fruitful life if you take accountability for what you want to do.
Sometimes counting down from 5 just doesn't quite cut it anymore. You need prolonged accountability. I find this is hard to figure out and I have struggled throughout my entire life to come up with a really motivating way to do this.
Telling a friend that you are going to do something, tell them to ask you about it and hold you accountable. The more they ask, the more you'll feel guilty if you haven't done it! It's simple psychology, but it does work for medium level tasks.
Set out what you are going to try to achieve in a post. But don't frame it in the future tense - start with "I have started...". This means people and yourself immediately understand that this is something that you are achieving currently. People may see this post, or likeminded randomers will comment. This interaction about your intention forces your mind to invest itself further into this activity
You HAVE to set a deadline. If you don't have an end date the intention becomes too abstract. You're always able to push it to next week, next month or even next year depending on how big the intention is and how much you're able to justify and trick yourself with an excuse. If you want something enough you will set a deadline.
This deadline doesn't necessarily have to be met, but if it is not, you better introspect and reason as to why you didn't meet it and redo your deadlines. Things pop up, shit happens, just make sure you're as honest with yourself as possible. If you try and justify and trick yourself you will have a hard time sticking to these intentions.
When you find yourself undertaking a big task and you feel like the end will never be in sight, take a break to really think about all of the different components of this intention. Understand what it means to "complete" every single aspect. Ultimately this all must go into a numbered list. A set of sub-intentions. Then one by one you can refer back to the list as you slowly and methodically work through every single aspect of that intention. You'll find yourself taking immense pride in what you do. Finally, the celebration at the end of this massive undertaking will wash over you and you can feel pride in what you have achieved, not guilt in what you haven't.