One step at a time

The simplest of them,as we have seen in week three, is to take it one step at a time, and to make those steps doable. Unreachable goals are the enemy of motivation. Reachable goals, however, are grounding and satisfying. In most of my work with PhDs it is this simple step that gets people unstuck: aim for less. Aim for one work session that is shorter than you think it should be (say 20 or 30 minutes). If that goes well, congratulate yourself. Start small, and build more work sessions into your day gently, all the while being relentlessly kind to yourself.  It is all about persistence in small doses.

Forget about deadlines. Think about the next step, only. You can do this.

Intrinsic motivation

If you want more, try shifting from extrinsic motivation (by deadlines, publications, achievement, seeking approval), to intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a far more sustainable source of energy. It doesn’t rely on a fight-or-flight state. You shift from being motivated by fear (fear of failure of not meeting that deadline, not getting your paper published, not reaching your own standards, not getting approval – or other manifestations of ‘never there – never good enough’ thinking), to being motivated by feeling states that energise you. You will be working from a place that drives you, without you having to ‘do’ anything or strive to ‘get’ anywhere to motivate you.

One place to find intrinsic motivation is your work itself. Really get into what you are doing, into what you are trying to say. What is the argument? What is it you want and need to say? What does that next paragraph need? Suspend your worries, and dive into the heart of the work itself.

(If your passion has dwindled and your work makes you want to scream and give up, take heart: at some point this is also normal, and you do not need to feel great about your work. All that is needed is for you to take the next step. You can do it. Keep going. Your motivation can come from other places than your work itself. Sometimes it has to.)

Your core qualities

Another way is to work with what I call your core qualities (they are sometimes called core ‘values’ or in another variation ‘core desired feelings’). They are inherent qualities that connect you with who you really are, qualities that uplift you, inspire you and feel right. We all have such core qualities and we cannot lose them. But if we don’t watch out, and we start worrying, overthinking and over-analysing, they become obscured by our troubled minds, and we may lose touch with them. Once that happens, our natural zest and motivation wanes and we start wondering where our sense of humour has gone. Life becomes dreary. Momentum dwindles. Reconnecting with these qualities makes all the difference.

For me personally, one of these key ‘qualities’ is abundance. I don’t mean financial abundance (it would be nice, though), more so a sense of excitement and potential. It’s a bubbly, light-hearted, alert type of energy, and I know that whatever happens I will be more than okay, as long as I stay true to that abundant state. Other qualities that inspire me, and feel very personally close to me are open-mindedness and open-heartedness. Maybe I could summarise these simply as openness: the world becomes an exciting place when you are open to possibility. Imagination, creativity and brilliance are also core qualities. They connect my imaginary world with the world we live in, the inner and the outer. Finally, I feel very true to myself when I connect with a sense of wonder. It’s what makes life worth living, for me.

When you are searching for your own core qualities, it’s important to note how these qualities make you feel. Take, for example the quality of being smart, or intelligent, which doesn’t really do much for me at an emotional level. As a core quality intelligence feels lacking. Brilliance, however, fires me up. Not to say I think I am brilliant, in the sense of being a genius, but it gets me going. What works for you is highly personal. Maybe intelligence is a core quality that does uplift you. There is no judgement in this. It isn’t better to have ‘love’ as a core quality than to have ‘knowledge’ or ‘reflection’ or ‘leadership’ or ‘playfulness’ or ‘adventure’ or ‘learning’ as a core quality (though I do draw the line at ‘hygiene’ – which was on one list of core qualities I found online). All that matters is that it feels true to you, and that it makes you feel alive.

Ask yourself: does it lift me up, fire me up, inspire me, make me smile? If yes: you’ve found a core quality. By staying connected to the energy they provide you’re doing yourself a real service. If you’re in touch with your core qualities you feel good. You feel alive. It is the best long-term strategy for high performance and sustained motivation.

It is worth exploring what some of your core qualities are, and which activities (or lack of activity!) ignite them. I remember life becoming one-dimensional, whenever I was focused on the PhD too much, as if the colour drained from the picture. Sometimes that is alright, sometimes it is time to push through, especially towards the very end. It cannot be your steady state, however. Infusing your day and week with small bursts of something else, of something that breaks the spell of work, and thereby replenishing the well is what is called for. It can be as small as a song or a playlist. It can be a hobby, or a place you visit. It can be going hiking or doing yoga. Or watching a film. It can be making plans for a break or holiday. It can be calling or meeting up with someone. It can be some small act of self-care, something that delights you. Or it can be using your meditation time to shift towards your desired state (as we are doing in this week’s meditation). Hold your core qualities dear, and find out how you access them.

If you need another reason to pay attention to your core qualities, apart from it being fun and pleasurable, and it lifting your spirits and motivation, there is plenty of scientific evidence that supports the claim that positive feeling states lead to higher performance. Specifically, positive feeling states, such as core qualities can provide, have been associated with increased cognitive flexibility (Ashby et. al, 1999), improved memory (Isen et. al), improved decisionmaking (Carnevale & Isen 1986), increased creativity and innovative problemsolving (Isaen et al 1987, Estrada et. al. 1997), and better performance at work (Wright & Staw 1994, Staw et. al. 1994).

Your desired qualities

There is another way you can work with core qualities, that is explicitly ambitious. It is discovering your core desired qualities. These are the qualities you admire in others and would like to develop in yourself. For me two of those qualities were courage and competence. I will tell you why I desired courage: I switched fields completely after the first year of my PhD, and I felt out of my depth! I don’t know whether it was a courageous or stupid thing to do (probably both), but I would definitely need courage in going forward and especially in speaking up about my work. Cue a severe case of imposter syndrome: I felt I knew nothing and started with a blank slate. Of course, that wasn’t entirely true, but it was intimidating to participate without the same kind of background knowledge as my peers. Reminding myself of my (latent) courage, which I could use to my advantage helped me speak up in seminars. The desired quality of competence also spurred me on. How great it would feel, I imagined, if you could really nail what you are doing. Worth putting the work in for (and worth putting (self-)doubt aside for). I feel very lucky to say that I felt competent when my defence came around. It was the best experience I could have hoped for.

In short, there are two ways to motivate yourself. The first is using the energy of worry and fear. It’s what most of us do, as we move through our days in a state of ‘never there, never good enough’. It works in the short run – fear can get us going alright – but in the long run it depletes us. The second is using the energy of your core and desired qualities. They propel you forward effortlessly. You still have to do the work, and the work may still be hard, but you will feel so much better. If you choose the second path, the source of your motivation is internal, not external. It’s a well that doesn’t run dry, and you don’t have to ‘get anywhere’ to get somewhere.