Hacking the Motivation

 "I will do it tomorrow for sure". How many times have we said this to ourselves despite knowing the fact that we might tell ourselves the same lie tomorrow and stay stuck in this vicious cycle of procrastination? Some people complain, we are not motivated enough where as some have motivation but lack of will or energy to succussfully accomplish their task or start working for their goals. I have faced this problem since as long as I can remember and so have my peers. The problem with procrastination is that we do not think it is a problem. Who are we lying to? Who are we promising we will do it later? Have you ever promised yourself you will start working at 7:00pm and then you realize it's 7.48pm so you'll start at 8:00pm? Then you eventually lose motivation and leave the task undone. We all have faced it. When we are not motivated intrinsically we have to create motivation! Motivation is overrated. Environment is all that matters. Here are few strategies that I've learnt from various sources and have helped me and might help you too to hack your motivation and start working on your goals :

1.) MAKE A LIST OF THE THINGS YOU DO
a.) Make a list of things you do everyday without a fail. For example :
i.) I wake up
ii.) Brush my teeth
iii.) Pour myself a cup of coffee
iv.) Take shower
And so on.
Take a look at the list and get aware of what you do every day. First step is just getting aware. Then analyze how many positive, neutral and negative tasks you do everyday.
Now note down the thing you want to get motivated for. For example, studying for an entrance. Now think about the best time (from that list of tasks) of your day to accomplish your task, i.e start studying. Do not go with what people say. Your best time to be most productive is entirely different then theirs. If you feel you will study after college when you're tired, you will most likely procrastinate.
Try to figure our best time from your list!
Good luck.

2.) SPEAK - say the consequences
Our brain is wired to take things more seriously when its being told something out loud. For example : you want to get motivated to lose weight and stay fit. Whenever you catch yourself grabbing a chocolate bar, speak out loud the consequences. "It will make my weight loss process even slower and it is unhealthy for me at the point and I do not need it right now". That will help you stay committed to your goal.
Good luck!

3.) WHAT WOULD X PERSON DO?
This hack has helped me very much. Think of your goal. For example : I want to study more and be a topper. Now the hack is, think of a person whose identity is related what your goal is. A person who is a topper and who studies and prioritizes their goals. Now whenever you do something, ask yourself "what would a topper do in this situation?" This will make your brain think in a different direction. If you want to eat junk, think "what would a healthy person do?" You'd probably ending up eating less junk.
Good luck

4.) DIDEROT EFFECT
Diderot effect states "obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption which leads you to acquire more new things"
For example, if you own local clothes and then you get a chance to buy a branded over coat. After owning that, you will want to upgrade your whole wardrobe. You would feel weird owning local clothes. This will make you buy more and more branded clothes. You must be thinking how is this related to hacking the motivation?
We can use diderot effect in our favor. Lets upgrade a small thing in our life that makes us closer to our goal. For example, you want to be healthier. Now if you want to lose weight you would not think if I want to lose weight I will have to eat healthy, quit junk, workout, meditate. It sounds too much and you will eventually quit. Start with small, you joined a gym. Now when you worked out for an hour, you would not want to eat a cheese burger, would you? That pumped up energy will automatically make you want to eat healthier and the upgradation starts. Start with small.
Thank me later!




5.) IMPLEMENTATION INTENTION
This is a theory I learned from the book 'Atomic Habits'
The format is :
"When situation X arises, I will perform response Y"

This basically states that do not just tell yourself you've got a task to accomplish, mention day, time and place too. If I tell myself "after lunch, I will do 10 push ups", I might fail to do or forget about it. But if you simple state that "I will start with 5-10 push ups near my table in house at exact 6pm the moment I close my laptop and take a break". It will make a difference.
Good luck


6.) ASSOCIATION
We often associate various tasks that we don't pay attention to. For example : Work out and music, studying and being creative, meditating and relaxing music. So what this hack is all about? We know we always listen to music when we go to the gym and do our training. There must be few songs that pump you up and gives you that energy. If you can work out and then play music to get motivation. Why can't you use that same music when you're not motivated enough to visit the gym? Listen to that music and soon you'll feel antsy enough.



Hope that helps you!
Thanks
Have a good day!