Funny how I expected that after 4 weeks of vacation I would be full of energy and ready to rumble. The opposite felt more true. I seemed to have start-up problems and my energy was low.

Energy is a strange thing. The more you do, the more you seem to have of it, the more you seem to get done. At least, that is how it works for me. So I needed to start getting things done to get enough energy to get going. Kind of a “loop-hole”. Recognise this?

There is only one thing that works for me after a long period of relaxation to get me back on the right track again and that is sitting down and actively work on my Self-Motivation.

It is like starting the motor of a car and pushing the accelerator to make the car move. Getting the car from standstill to moving is the hardest work.

Remembering my own motivation and my objectives makes me pump up the energy and as a matter of speech: “set the car in motion and bring it on the road”. As soon as the car is rolling, it is easier to pick up speed and steer towards success.

Self-motivation is a very strong quality to have. Studies show that successful people have a higher ability to motivate themselves than less successful people. There also seems to be a correlation between a high level of self-motivation and personal fulfilment.

It is also true that it is easier to motivate others, when you are motivated yourself, so helping yourself in this case is also helping others.

There are two things you need to have an idea about if you want to work on self-motivation:

• what are my satisfaction factors and how can I increase them?
• what are my dissatisfaction factors and how can I decrease them?

A bit simplistic? Maybe so, but I hear myself often enough complain about things I am not happy about and not taking action and how often am I truly seeking out what makes me happy?

Like I have mentioned before, knowing the rules is no guarantee for success, it is in doing what you know is right for you, you start to make a difference.

Some simple things you can do when you want to increase your self-motivation on the topic you need to get going (“work” for instance):

1. list your satisfaction factors: “What do I like?”, “What do I enjoy doing?”, “What makes me feel good?”
2. list your dissatisfaction factors: “What annoys me”?, What don’t I like?”, What is not good for me?”
3. list what you are going to change for the better to increase chances to get what is good for you and to decrease what is not good for you.
4. act on the list by starting with the “little” changes and build on the success of these changes to go to the more important elements.

How did this work in reality for me in the case of getting back on track after the vacation?

Well, two of my highest satisfactions factors are

• to be able to meet people and talk with them about what keeps them busy
• “getting things done”.

So I started by making all kinds of lists.

I like lists, not so much to organise myself, but to remember what I need to do and most importantly, to be able to cross off topics that I got done. Highly satisfying for me. It helps to know what works for you.

Then I planned some activities of these lists on certain days of the week and on these days I decided on the order of these activities during the day.

Last, but not least, I promissed myself something of a “reward” every time I would accomplish all the tasks of the list as planned for that day.

Two things started to happen when I decided to work like this:

1. By communicating with others, all kinds of new topics came up and my lists keep going kind of automatically. No extra energy needed to find “TO DO’s”
2. When I started to get things done, I received more energy, which made me become more effective and efficient again, which gives me more energy etc…

Anyway, I am getting up to speed again and I am falling back in the ritme I know works for me best.

How do you motivate yourself? How do you get started after a draw back or a period of less activity? Tell us and help us learn from your experiences.

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Esther Celosse

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