I've observed a growing trend in myself that I want to note here and perhaps get your insight into.
I too often and too easily fall into a cycle of being unmotivated to do things, then become overwhelmed with too much on my to-do list. When I have things to do, even when the tasks are pleasant and enjoyable, I sometimes can't bring myself to start them. I drift. I procrastinate. I stagnate and then more tasks build up until I am fully overwhelmed with it all.
I'm sitting at my desk now with a fairly short list: baking cookies, making holiday cards, sewing hats, laundry and light housework, some Japanese homework, a few business tasks, a bit of shopping. It isn't a lot - more than I can do in one day but probably less than two days' worth - and most of it I will enjoy doing.
And yet I am sitting at my desk. Not cooking, cleaning or creating. Just sitting and staring at news and other people's blog posts like I have been for most of the day. At the moment I don't feel overwhelmed, just unmotivated. But I know that if I don't cross off some of those things before I go to bed tonight, tomorrow I will be equally unmotivated and won't make any progress on the list. And then another day or two will pass and I will be overwhelmed with things that have to be done before a holiday deadline but simply can't be finished in time.
Some of the unmotivated side of the problem is that many of my friends are "in the computer" and we communicate via IM and other online tools. If I am lonely, I sit at my desk and wait for them to appear online for a chat. In the meantime, I surf around the web looking things I really don't need to be looking at. My brain fills up with interesting mind candy and drains of motivation to do things.
I am not sure why I do this. But I don't like it and I am going to have to find some strategies for making it stop. I don't have to be extremely efficient, but I do need to break the unmotivated/overwhelmed cycle. Any ideas?
I get into those unmotivated modes, too. Usually it's after a show has opened and I have time to catch up on all the things undone while the last minute rush was on. For me, if my list contains a house cleaning or tidying entry, I do that first. Everything seems to go better when the house is in order.
I also tried to stop making lists but that didn't work very well!
M
Hi,
you've just described most of my life. Since I haven't figured it out I have little help to offer other than turn off anything with a screen and stay away. Even reading a book is better because it somehow is easier to take a break. The computer is addicting for the very reason you mentioned and many more. It is easy to get tunnel vision and just see that computer world.
My only other suggestion is exercise. I find that helps me to get motivated to do the things I need to do. Go do some hooping and then see how you feel.
If you find a good solution, let me know. :)
Happy Holidays!
this might not jive with what you are feeling/thinking, but off the top of my head i would say that you should just give your self a break: not everybody is the kind of person who should be 'productive' all the time; personally i don't see anything wrong with there being an ebb and flow in life, even if somehow it seems that our modern world tries to tell us otherwise.
having said that, on the other hand i think i've heard it said that it is a fairly standard pattern for depression to come in cycles; i expect most people have down days and up days. and 'depression' covers a gamut of states, some which might require more serious attention and concern, some which only require some hot chocolate and some patience.
furthermore, having said all /that/, your comment about being "in the computer" and waiting makes me think you should try the thing where you log out of IM and shut down your mail UI and basically ignore anything which might be a distraction. that isn't easy, of course. i'll give you an example: i was once stuck in an all day series of lectures, and had my laptop, and had a project i wanted/needed to work on, and did not have any internet connection. while it was difficult at first, it turned out to be one of the most productive day's i've ever had simply because whenever i reached a potential stopping point ("hey, that last feature pretty much works, i should reward myself by checking email" is sort of the [subconscious] thought) i couldn't get de-railed since i had no internet (and no games on the machine :-). so i would probably pause for a minute or two and then be resigned like "oh well, nothin' else to do, guess i might as well start in on the next feature, even if i was sort of dreading it a little bit potentially..."
$0.02,
sincerely.
I like Raoul's point about the ebb and flow of life. From an economic point of view, its easy to say "Well, im capable of producing this much, so I can produce that much everyday and then the overall goal of xxx can be achieved in x amount of time." But of course output is often averaged, and wise economists build latencies in as well... But I think people are more like the tide in how much we can take in and put out, there is an irregularity to it.
At the same time, im finding that when i sit in front of the computer i get into a certain mode, and its not as passive as watching tv but its close. And I dont enjoy it so much. So Im finding it harder and harder to get myself infront of the computer...
Agree with Raul in that when there are no other distractions possible, you get into a groove and then it is a snow ball effect of productivity.
But also, how motivated you are really depends on how "mission critical" those tasks are. The mind will put something off it is can, but in true NLP style, if you want to get stuff done then you need to re-prioritise it in your brain so there is no option other than to just do it.
The other thing that the brain does, is self-sabotage and it will easily let its owner down, but rarely will a brain allow you to let another person down who is relying on the results of the task. Well that is me perhaps. Some people don't give a crap if they let others down but I die a thousand deaths if I think that my "laziness" has caused problems for another.
Actually, you asked for ideas to break the cycle and i didnt give any, but i was thinking that perhaps you could limit the surfing time to one hour, and either switch it off or switch activity after that? Not much of your stuff to do is computer-based, so walking away from it would probably help. I find that if i sit and so nothing for a while, i get bored and then motivation comes. And for me, nothing motivates me more than crossing something off the list. On low motivation days, I make sure my lists have lots of things on them that are easy to cross off (like shower, breakfast etc)and then I aim to do half of them. Pathetic, I know, but it actually motivates me a lot and I end up getting most or all done. And if I do things that are not on the list, I write them down on the list and cross them off before I throw it away. I just love crosing them off.
(Im relatively new to lists, and I am still amazed by the difference they make to my productivity!)
Frangipani posted an interesting link on her site a while back. This is for a firefox widget called leechblock.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476
A review of it here:
http://lifehacker.com/374812/save-yourself-from-time-sinks-online-with-leechblock
How ironic. Here it is mid-afternoon, and I am surfing the net rather than being productive.
I do think sometimes you just have to force yourself to "back away from the screen". The next tip would be something like j-ster's: tackle an easily done task. Don't worry about what's most urgent. Crossing ANYthing off the list might be motivating, and lead to more.
I see you have started the holiday baking...looks like you've picked an enjoyable task off your list. That's another good idea!
Good luck to you.
I get frustrated when I hit a downtime especially when there is no reason for avoidance i.e. the tasks are not likely to be irksome. The feeling of sitting and waiting for something to happen is familiar too. I think the only suggestion is to start. If you are tethering yourself to an IM possibility etc, just turn your sound up and pick up something to do nearby. By the time you are into your list you'l be having so much productive fun that you will not even hear it. :-)
Thanks for all the thoughtful comments and insightful suggestions. It is helpful just to know that I am not the only one struggling with this.