The Power of Less: The 6 Essential Productivity Principles That Will Change Your Life

by Leo Babauta

Start out with a ridiculously easy goal, and then grow from there.

choose one goal, for now, and focus on it completely.

Know your reasons. Give them some thought . . . and write them down.

go the extra mile to do something we’ve said publicly.

inspiration from others

will get excited and want to start today. That’s a mistake. Set a date in the future

Mark it on the calendar. Get excited about that date.

post it up on your wall or refrigerator.

have big reminders about your goal,

The second half of motivation is to keep yourself going when you don’t feel the same excitement as you did in the beginning.

Here’s how you can stop from quitting, and get to your goal:

hold yourself back! Don’t let yourself do everything you want to do. Only let yourself do 50 to 75 percent of what you want to do.

slowly increase over time.

instead of thinking about how hard it is, and how long it will take, tell yourself that you just have to start.

stay accountable to that group of people. Commit to report back to them daily,

Squash negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones.

focus on how good you’ll feel when you’re done, and how your day will be so much better.

Think about why you lost your excitement . . . then think about why you were excited in the first place. Can you get that back? What made you want to do the goal? What made you passionate about it? Try to build that up again, refocus yourself, get energized.

read about your goal every day, if you can, especially when you’re not feeling motivated.

find someone with similar goals

blogs, books, magazines. I Google my goal, and read success stories.

stick it out and wait for that motivation to come back.

It helps to write down appropriate rewards for each step,

17. Never skip two days in a row.

One of the most powerful things you can do is to start being more conscious of those urges.

the human mind doesn’t really like uncertainty. It tries to find something more certain and comfortable.

putting off habits like exercise and meditation.

1. Notice the uncertainty. The next time you find yourself in the middle of uncertainty (hint: you probably feel some of it right now), just notice that you’re feeling uncertain.

feel gratitude in the middle of this uncertainty.

feel grateful for this feeling because it signals that you’re doing something courageous, life-changing, and powerful.