The Keys to Motivation - BOGFF 22

Some time ago a person mentioned to me that they were impressed with my ability to put blog posts out on our farm blog on a regular basis.  They followed the compliment up with a question:

What motivates you to get things like that done?

They asked it as if I actually might know the answer to the question and I don't actually recall how I answered it then.  But, I've had time... probably a few years now...to consider the answer more fully.  So, here they are - the keys to motivation!

1. YOU are the key.

There is simply nothing quite like an impending deadline to get a person going.  But, even a deadline is often not enough.  To make it really work, YOU have to set the deadline and YOU have to broadcast to a bunch of people that YOU will be somewhere with the results of whatever it is that YOU said YOU would do.

Like - deliver 50 dozen eggs to a location that's a half hour drive away.  And, the time you need to leave to get there on time is only... oh... fifteen minutes away.

That'll motivate you to get a bunch of eggs washed that you were having trouble making yourself clean earlier in the day!  Works every time.

2. The key is blowing in the wind.

Sometimes you will find that you did not have the foresight to create your own emergency by telling everyone you would be somewhere with cleaned and packaged eggs.  This is where Mother Nature comes in.

I think nearly everyone who works on a diversified, small-scale farm such as ours can relate to the incredible amount of adrenaline, combined with a new-found sense of commitment, that a person can find when a glance at the radar reveals that you only have a half hour to do EVERYTHING before EVERYTHING blows into the next county.

3. The key is to leave it OFF the list this time

It's amazing how well this works.  

Are you having trouble getting that really important, but fairly unattractive, task done that's been on your to-do list for several weeks?  The simple solution is to remove it from the list and put a bunch of other important things on the list that are equally unattractive.

Suddenly, you find you have motivation to do that thing you've been avoiding for so long.

4. The key is to be able to get out of something else that's worse.

It never fails.  Now that you can't do that thing that you really need to do, you actually WANT to do that thing.

Go to the doctor's office and suddenly you LIKE the idea of finishing this year's taxes.  Sit down to do the taxes and it really feels like this would be a great time to scoop out the hen room.  Grab the pitchfork to scoop out the hen room and it makes those phone calls to ten people you don't know for a project you aren't so sure you want to be involved in look really good.

And, if you are an introvert, you realize that it is never a good time to make a batch of phone calls.  So, you go do each of the other things if it can get you out of that one.

5. The key is to have someone or something prevent you from doing it.

It never seems to fail.  You go visit someone or travel somewhere different for the weekend - and suddenly, you are quite willing to do a bunch of those things that you should have done before you left.  Now that it is physically IMPOSSIBLE for you to actually follow through, the task seems to have regained some of its appeal (assuming it had some to begin with).

Just a note to anyone who might want to try to use this technique for motivation - you need to MOVE FAST once you are in position to do that thing because the motivation is going to fade quickly.  Get out there and start scooping that hen room before your brain catches up.  It's much better to have your brain say "Hey! How'd I get roped into doing this?" instead of "Nope!  Uh uh!  You're not fooling me into doing this that easily!"

Well, there you are!  The Genuine Faux Farm's keys to motivation.

I don't know about you, but I suddenly have the desire to go mow the lawn and weed the perennial beds!

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!