How to Motivate Yourself in 10 Easy Steps

Do it especially when you know you're going to procrastinate. This means:

• That you have to decide what you're going to do. Be clear about the timing of your tasks.
• That you have to plan when and where you're going to do it.

When you lack motivation, take some time to visualize the parts of your work that inspire you the most. 

Studies show that having a purpose leads to being happier at work, which leads to being more productive. If you do something you love, you'll have a reservoir of vitality to draw upon when the going gets tough.

Similar to Steve Jobs's approach of holding walking meetings to get the creative juices flowing, try to go to an offsite place that inspires you to be creative and focused.

Studies show that taking a walk (especially where there's nature involved) helps restore our brain's ability to block distractions because it allows our mind to wander.

Counterintuitively, mental fatigue isn't caused by the exhaustion of the part of our brain that focuses. It is actually caused by the exhaustion of the part that blocks distractions.

A consistent exercise regimen has a significant positive impact on willpower.

When you have a tough choice to make and execute, go to the gym for 30 minutes in order to get your heart rate up and feel more energized. 

Make follow-through a core value by developing an image of yourself as someone who follows through:

• Promote your core value of follow-through to others. It will become much harder to not follow through.
• Practice following through on all of your small commitments. These small actions build your identity too.

When you have a task that you don't enjoy, dedicate a few minutes to write down:

• How the task fits into the bigger picture.
• The impact on other people, dependent tasks, and clients.
• How the task fits into your goals.
• The long-term worst-case scenario of not completing it (for particularly mundane tasks).

Even if it goes against the most popular time management approaches, consider starting your day with working on tasks that are energy-sucking.

Take advantage of your most productive time of the day and force yourself to delegate it, delete it, or complete it. Once all of these open loops are closed, move on to the most important tasks of the day.