How to motivate yourself to do even the dullest of tasks
[ad_1]
Getty Images| DigitalVision | Getty Images
We all start the New Year hoping that we can finally get rid of the boring admin tasks.
However, even with our best intentions we still put off these projects.
These motivation tips will help you get going if that is you.
James Danckert is a Canadian cognitive neuroscientist who is also a professor at the University of Waterloo. He told CNBC by video that boredom can be explained in part by how people deal with boredom.
Two were the words he used. studiesStudy of high school students to see how they deal with boredom in the classroom.
A behavioral approach to boredom meant that people would choose to take on other tasks and defer to the main task. Meanwhile, Danckert explained that those with a cognitive coping style reframed their thinking to “try and make the task that they have to do into something else … to give it some meaning, to give it some purpose.”
Danckert stated that studiesIt was found that students who practiced cognitive reframing were less bored and more able to finish monotonous tasks efficiently.
Intrinsic or extrinsic?
It doesn’t matter if you are organizing your finances, or cleaning out your closets; there are some parts of “life administration” that we never get around to finishing.
Each January, we start with the intention to finish those chores we have been putting off. But our motivation soon wanes by the end of the month.
Jessi Smith is a psychologist at the University of Colorado. She told CNBC via phone that both “intrinsic” and “extrinsic motivation played a part in her research.
Smith believes that intrinsic motivation is the best way to motivate people to complete a task. This means they have internal rewards.
She suggested that intrinsic motivation was particularly crucial during the coronavirus epidemic. Social distancing and forced socialization have made it harder to find intrinsic motivation.
Smith suggested that one way to increase intrinsic motivation is by making mundane tasks fun. This can be done through having a competition between yourself and others.
Smith also suggested using colorful pens for administrative tasks that are less complex.
This helped to cultivate motivation, she explained. It “changed how you see” what you are working on.
“Activity doesn’t become something that’s merely a ‘[I have to]She said, “Mindfully work on a task. It becomes, ‘I can do this fun thing.'”
Indeed, 2014 U.S. studyA group of professors came up with the following term:temptation bundling.”
This basically means that you combine a source for instant pleasure, such as listening to music with an unpleasant task like folding laundry.
Lotta Harju is a French researcher who specializes in organizational and work psychology. She told CNBC by video that it was a good idea to try to find out what can be learned from boring tasks.
Additionally, she recommended that “more dull tasks be done in the middle” of more exciting tasks to provide some rest and relaxation for the brain.
You can check out these: Struggling to focus right now? Here are a few tips to help get your mojo back
[ad_2]