Crunch time — 4 ways to stay motivated when you need a big push

If you want to live like the one percent you have to work like the one percent. This isn’t something I’d say to people that I work with, as I definitely try to make sure I’m not encouraging ‘over working’ within the culture in the agency I work for — but in confidence, to the people I care about and hustle with I believe it’s a great way to live if you’re passionate about what you do.

I’m about to get married and go on a honeymoon in a couple weeks, and as the date approaches I’m closing some business to keep me engaged and busy when I get back. I do have a couple projects that are outstanding before I leave and to be honest — my mind is already in NYC and Rome. To feel fully relaxed while I have my time off, mine is the type of personality that needs to get a ton done before I go though. So I’m gathering some methodologies for staying highly motivated when you’re mind is elsewhere.

Sleep is crucial : This is first because it’s likely the most obvious, sometimes I’ve gone through an entire day not feeling focused only to realize it’s partly because I just wasn’t well rested. I’d rather cut out a couple hours at the end of my night or beginning of my morning, if my brain is going to be fully re-charge to tackle the days challenges with ferocity.

Make a clear an obvious push goal for a 3 day stretch: Just like working out, there’s a benefit to making yourself entirely uncomfortable for a set period of time, knowing that you’ll have time to regenerate afterwards. Giving yourself a clear period of crazy productivity allows you a unique opportunity to rip those mental muscles and regrow them stronger.

Take a good solid look at the long-view: When we’re in the middle of a highly stressful albeit productive period we may need to put things in perspective. Writing out your larger long-term views and how the current push plays into them might allow you to get some perspective, shed some dead weight if you’re the one defining your goals, and may shift around your priorities. Don’t spend 3 months climbing the wrong ladder, zoom out and look at the high-level view to make sure your focus is on point. You should never get stuck in the trap of being busy just to be busy, everything should be building something that aligns with a powerful overall vision — when the current action items are in line with that it will generally serve to energize you in the day to day.

Focus on getting 1% better each time: Giant earth-shattering improvements are the subject matter of cults and self-help books but die on the vine when it comes to really making significant changes in our hearts and habits. If you just take a more acute look at how you can make your current project just 1% better this time than the last, it might be a more long-term shift, as you have the opportunity to really shore up and make sure this improvement sticks and is supported through your other actions.

As a web designer — this means I take a stab at comparing my last design to this one, how can I add just a bit more ingenuity and professionalism to this user interface project?

As a marketer — this means I can take what worked previously and add just a slightly modified spin on it to make it get a little more visibility and stick in people’s minds just a touch more.

As a developer — how can I create just 1% cleaner code and pay just a little more attention to how well the design matches the mockups or adds an appropriate amount of interactivity to the design.

As a human being — how can I act a little more sane and humane toward the people I’m around today and give them a tad more respect.