Staying Motivated: Strategies That Really Work
I talked about Motivation last week, and again - thanks to all of you that I heard from that really appreciated the topic! And I mentioned that was a tough topic to write about because there is just SO MUCH to say about it, so I saved some how-to’s for this week!
Today, we will look at supports and strategies for helping us stay motivated! Specifically,
Scheduling the Work
Positive Work Environment
Body Doubling
Pomodoro Technique
Accountability
Batch Work
And I will use Finish Line Friday as an example.
A few weeks ago, I sat on a sunny back deck with a client and friend and explained the point and process for Finish Line Friday. It seems that sometimes, even the people who know me and my company and process well might not quite understand what Finish Line is or does, and today, I want to explain.
This client will know exactly who I'm talking about when she listens! We were reviewing a project that we had just worked on in her home for a couple hours and we were discussing what her next steps need to be. She is amazing, as are all of my clients. She is motivated, she is competent. And she is also juggling about a million things. Again, as most of my clients are. We discussed motivation and procrastination, and maintaining the progress we had made and also making more.
She asked, “Is that kind of what you talk about in your meeting on Fridays?” And I laid it out for her:
No, was my answer, I don’t teach too much during Finish Line Friday. Though, I hope to start hosting more webinars soon!
For the two hours we’re together in my Zoom Room, we don’t talk much, other than some chat at the beginning and end and maybe on breaks. At 9 am, we check in with each other socially and since all the people there are kind and friendly people, that is fun. Then we each state what we want to work on or complete during the work sessions that day. I set an on-screen timer for 25 minutes, I share that screen with the zoom room, we all mute ourselves and I start the timer. And then we get to work. For the two hours, we work in 4 25-minute increments, with optional 5 minute breaks between.
Everyone brings their own work. I do not dictate or assign the work, each participant comes with what they want to work on. One of our regular participants uses alliterations, so there are a lot of “F”s for Finish Line Friday! Filing Friday (paper management), Finance Friday (that was mine recently, bookkeeping, paying monthly bills, sending out monthly invoices), Fashion Friday (doing laundry, or swapping out the closet from Summer to Fall, or sometimes people pack for trips) are just a Few examples. Other attendees work remotely full time, and they enjoy the interaction with others and work on their professional tasks during our 2 hours.
I am a productivity coach and a certified professional organizer, so occasionally - like this past Friday when I was working on a handout for 3 upcoming Paper Management presentations - we will chat at the end of the two hours for a few minutes about organizing strategies or local resources or, in this case, websites for getting our names off of mailings lists (added bonus, I share those at the end of this article).
Let’s look at strategies, why they work and who might benefit from them!
We Schedule Time To Work Work
I was talking with a fellow coach the other day who is one of my accountability partners and who inspired my Finish Line Friday with her own Work It Wednesday 2 hour productivity session. (check out her website here!), and we discussed just how much we ourselves appreciate the two hours of productivity in a busy week to get our own work done! I have a list of tasks that I always complete during FLF, like weekly bookkeeping and client scheduling, and I also will park more tasks on my Friday to-do list because I know I will have the opportunity to complete them! I am so grateful knowing I will have at least 2 hours of in-office productive time on Fridays.
Positive and Supporting Work Space
Do not underestimate the power of a friendly and supportive environment for getting things done! And as I discussed with Annie, a library coordinator this past week before a presentation, that can make ALL THE DIFFERENCE some days!
Body Doubling
Finish Line uses the concept of body doubling. Body doubling is a productivity strategy, for all of us and especially for people with ADHD, where we work together with someone on a task. Pretty simple. We’ve been doing this for all of human existence, of course. But this is the intentional application of the strategy. Body doubling is useful for some of us to keep us focused and motivated. It’s not for everyone, or even for all the time, and that is fine.
In 2020 when so many of us shifted to remote work, some struggled with working alone in a room for the first time, and realized that being at work with others had been helping them focus.
In body doubling, we keep each other focused and motivated and anchored to the work, meaning if we know someone is waiting for us, we are less likely to get up and walk away!
As an organizer and a coach, I provide body doubling to my clients in-person and virtually. I bring my clients back to The Work if they start to stray because that is my purpose for being there! The same strategy can also be used with friends or co-workers, so long as both agree to stay focused and gently bring the other back if they start to stray. (Meaning, the session is about the work and not about chatting or conversation, sorry!) Let me mention again, we mute ourselves during the work sessions on Finish Line!
One of my participants just this week referred to us as Work Buddies in FLF, and I love that. I have also used “parallel play”, like how toddlers will play next to each other but with their own toys. They don’t developmentally interact with each other in play for a few more years, but they happily play next to each other! We are together in the space that Finish Line creates.
For my client’s purposes, as we sat on her deck, I explained she could schedule the time for herself to check in to the Zoom room, say Hey to everyone, and have the screen up with everyone’s faces, doing their own work side by side with her if she would find that supportive. Camera optional, if she didn’t want people to see her space before she organized it!
Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management and productivity technique that uses 25 minute work sessions and 5 minute breaks in cycles to help people focus and get work done. It is based on productivity research that tells us that the ideal ratio for getting work done while not burning yourself out is 52 minutes of work and 10 minutes of rest.
Imagine - in our 2 hours for Finish Line Friday we have 100 focused minutes to complete meaningful work, and also 20 minutes of rest to get up, walk around, grab a drink of water or snack, step outside for sunlight and deep breathing, or however you want to spend your breaks.
I also find the 25 minute sessions with a countdown clock help me pace my work - I can slow down when I realize I have plenty of time, or it generates urgency, which is often lacking when we work independently. It’s amazing, and it teaches us a better balance of work and rest.
My client and I, on her back deck, had noticed that after 1.5 hours of very physical work in her space without breaks, we were physically tired and a little mentally maxed out. So we took our break at the end, to sit and drink water and talk about planning.
Accountability
When we are accountable, we are responsible for and ready to explain our behaviors and actions. We do what we say we will do in the time we said we would do it. Sometimes when using the Pomodoro technique, we misjudge the time needed for a task, sometimes we need to adjust, sometimes something else comes up in that 25 minute session and we have to attend to it. But reporting back on progress, celebrating wins, reviewing learning we gained about working while we worked - that makes accountability a useful tool for staying on track.
Batch Work
I use Batch Work to help me stay focused and motivated. I mentioned earlier that I have tasks I always work on in Finish Line Friday, like bookkeeping and client scheduling. Those are groups of related tasks that I batch together to get them done more efficiently and effectively.
For example, for bookkeeping, I log into my bank on-line, and open up Quicken and my client hours tracking sheet in Google Sheets. I make deposits, transfer money, pay bills and send invoices and reminders. I’m motivated to do this weekly to care for my company’s financial health, and doing the work as a batch means I complete it with ease and flow.
For my client on her back deck, we discussed how, even if she didn’t attend Finish Line Friday, she could achieve similar results working with friends who had offered to help, either in-person or virtually. She could schedule the work with the friends, make a plan for what she wants to get done in that time, set a time to work and also to take breaks, and be together with them while she gets her work done and they get their work done. Or perhaps the friend is truly there for body doubling and is willing to listen to my client process her decision making out loud, because some of us need that as we organize our spaces.
To Sum up, the supports for motivation are:
Scheduling the Work
Positive Work Environment
Body Doubling
Pomodoro Technique
Accountability
Batch Work
Thanks to my client for reminding me to talk about these in the context of motivation! And, if Finish Line Friday appeals to you, give it a try! I hope to add an additional weekly productivity session soon. And there are other platforms like https://www.focusmate.com/, for hopping on when you just need some accountability and body doubling to get something done!
(and here are those bonus websites I mentioned earlier!)
Direct Mail Association, https://dmachoice.org/
Identity Theft Resource Center, ITRC, https://www.idtheftcenter.org/
