Originally Posted by
jewels
I have this problem as well, so I focus on the end result. Working for myself, if I didn't learn to do this I'd probably go insane and get nothing done. I think us IEEs are more easily motivated by external things, so learning to be more internally motivated is not an easy thing to do.
Anyway, if I go to the grocery store Tuesday at 9pm instead of Sunday at 5, does it really matter? No. If I feel like NOT going Sunday, and I go on Tuesday instead, who cares?
If I miss the gym on Wed and Thurs out of laziness, but then play a sport for 3 hours that weekend, ok fine.
Now, sometimes things can't be delayed. This form is due NOW or face bad consequences. If I don't take the trash downstairs tonight it will smell in the morning, etc. In those cases, I use that bad possible result to ensure it's definitely finished by the deadline. So I've never had trouble meeting deadlines because of that fear of them.
I would sometimes miss details and feel horrible about it, so I started using my cell phone calendar which has an alarm. I'd write a reminder the day before something so I remembered to go to it the next day. I keep just about everything on that one calendar and it works well for me.
Also, I have a running long list of tasks that I check off whenever I feel like doing them. And I keep all of that stuff in one little box where I can see bills to be paid, etc., or anything else that has to be done. Otherwise I lose all of it and forget to do it.
I used to have a huge problem w/ things that never "needed" to be done, such as keeping my place clean. When single, no one stopped by, except maybe once a year. So it would get horrid, because I had NO motivation to clean. Then, my motivation became the horrid depression I'd feel when it was disgusting and no one was coming over, so I started to clean just for myself. And now I clean every day regardless of if anyone will see it.
I did the same thing w/ work and other stuff...trying to find my own discomfort as a good enough motivation for doing it. It seems to work pretty well, and it means I now do hated tasks more easily. Not always w/ a strict schedule, but in an end result this needs to be done sorta way.