Do you sometimes find your motivation lacking relative to making your day worthwhile? Do you find it difficult ot focus on goals for the day or even for an hour?

Here's a trick that has helped me on more than one occasion: nanogoals.

What are nanogoals? Just like what nano sounds like: goals that are so short in time that if you blink you might have finished it.

What are some examples of nanogoals:

1 - turn out the lights in the house that you're not using.
2 - take out the trash from just one room.
3 - write a single sentence for an article you are writing.
4 - jog in place for 30 seconds.

OK - so you can blink a few times during these goals. But you can see that by making them short enough, even with very little motivation (little is more than zero), you can get them done.

In my experience, getting a few nanogoals done helps me feel like I've completed something. I've attained closure and can choose to try some slightly more ambitious goals - microgoals if you will. And as this all builds on itself, you may soon find yourself motivated in a way you could not previously have imagined.

And if it doesn't work? You're out a few seconds, nothing more.