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Motivation seems like a difficult nut to crack. Somedays it comes in truckloads. So much more than you want. Pity, you can’t store it up. And sometimes it doesn’t come at all. You leave all the important work to wait for it to show up and yet it doesn’t. These tips will motivate you right away:

#1: Give up.

The first step in this difficult to crack problem is to accept your lack of desire to work. Tell yourself that it’s okay even when it’s not. In other words, give up.

And then observe if you can stop yourself at that. Notice if you can move on to the next task.

You’ll realize that you will if your reason for doing the task, in the beginning, wasn’t crystal clear. Otherwise, you will get a lot more clarity on your reasons and this clarity will motivate you.

#2: Don’t take any action. Now.

This may sound absurd. Counterintuitive.

But you know what? It works. Because anticipation is great. Especially when you are starting. Anticipation will help culminate the idea. Not only that you will be excited about it but you will also find clarity on your purpose.

In addition to that, you will get time to make a plan. And making a plan helps you to increase your odds of success multifold.

Defer action. But not forever.

If you manage to motivate yourself and want to do a task, don’t do it right away. Many of us tend to get excited and want to start right away. That’s a mistake. Set a deadline — a week or two, or even a month — and make that your Start Date. Mark it on the calendar. Get excited about that date. In the meantime, start writing out a plan.

#3: Permit yourself.

I will ask you a question. You are presented with the task of writing a book review on a book. You have two things to choose – two famous books, one that is easy to read and the other one which is an extremely complicated one to read. Which one will you choose?

The answer is inconsequential.

Because you will end up doing the review on the one that is the easy read. Even if you decide to do the complicated one, in the beginning, you will be all set and pumped up for it until the time you have to start. Then, your motivation will suddenly vanish. After a few days, the deadline will loom closer and you will suddenly find yourself doing the easy one, even though you wanted to do the complicated one.

Only if you have a clear sense of why you wanted to read that complicated book.

Quite often a lack of motivation will lead you to procrastination.

And one important reason for this procrastination is the fact that you don’t permit yourself, not permission to succeed (because you feel you are not worth it), nor the permission to fail.

Once you accept the imperfect outcomes, you are ready to start.

#4: Break up.

This means breaking your goals into smaller ones so that the resistance level that you face concerning the task comes down.

Low resistance = High motivation

A rational-thinking person will always choose a task that involves lower effort because he (like all of us) wants to save his energy. (And have more time left for fun.)

Cut down the tasks into manageable portions. Small chunks. Tiny bits. That’s simple but effective.

#5: Give yourself a break.

Do other tasks. Help others. Make dinner. Water your plants. Read the newspaper. Watch the latest cat video.

Or do nothing.

Forget about doing the task-that-must-not-be-named at that moment. Just go with the flow.

Have some rest. Let your batteries charge. Give yourself some time off. If this does not motivate you, it will help you.

So that when you are back, you are back with style.