Earlier this year I graduated from a Master’s of Computer Science Program for Video Game development and found myself like many others in an amorphous world of isolation. This has been the result of numerous factors but the simple truth was I had time on my hands. With excess time it is simple to procrastinate and let time flow by. For me, this meant a lack of motivation and, from that, I found new ways to make sure that I stayed motivated for the various projects I am working on. Mostly on Morning Table Talks I talk about design theory but for today, I want to talk about tips that I have been using to finding motivation.

I realize the irony of writing this post with years since my last post and that is part of why I am writing; so that you can find your way to make sure you are motivated to do what you want to. There are number of steps that I have taken to help me navigate this and in short they are meant to help you focus on what you want to do, find a plan to accomplish that goal, and stick to it. These ideas obviously need to change based on your personal circumstance and you are the best judge of that.

First, the two things that you need as a base are a consistent sleep schedule and some form of exercise. This is harder for some lines of work than for others and so this can be expanded to having a consistent amount of sleep each day. By doing this you can ensure that each day you start refreshed and ready to go. This also helps make sure that you have some structure to your day as well which can help with the nebulous nature of some of these days. For exercise, this can be harder with gyms closed, parks crowded, or a lack of time for being outside. If you need to stay inside, simple exercises like squats, pushups, yoga, a few minutes a day can help a lot.

The next thing that I found was that you do not need to be single-minded on you goal. This is not to say that you can’t be nor that you should have no focus but rather that constantly working on one thing is exhausting. Being stuck isolated is monotonous and can cause you to fail to find inspiration from a variety of activities. I found that making a list of the things that you want to improve on or do was helpful in preventing me from becoming too singularly focused.

Third find some way to organize the goals and interests that you have. For me I like to use to-do lists on my phone with timers. This organization can take any form that you find to be comfortable but needs to be a way to help you remember the things you want to do. By organizing your thoughts and putting them down in some way you can make sure that you make time for these goals or activities.

Finally, part of building motivation is celebrating the successes that you have in a day. Not every day is a wild success and it is alright to accept a day as not as successful as you would like it. The important thing with this is to reset yourself the next day to make sure that not meeting your goals becomes a habit. All of this work takes time to bare fruit and so patience with yourself is your greatest ally and accepting that none of this is instant.

In short, for me building up the motivation to even write this article was a series of smaller steps culminating in a larger gains after weeks of working on these smaller goals. This came from first taking care of myself with exercise and sleep. Then working on articulating my goals through writing. Next, taking those goals and putting them on a to-do list to help build structure through reminders. Finally, with all of this remembering that this is a process and takes time for the work to sink in and stick.

I hope you have found this helpful and look forward to hearing how these tips have helped.