How to Motivate yourself

In my hard drive, I have several unfinished projects stored up which I find it a little sad. The projects were left undone due to lack of motivation and inspiration. Another reason will be feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the projects. But from those experiences, I got a better and realistic view to my abilities. I put them into pointers here.

1. Start with a small project.
Back then I wanted to make a feature film and after a few months, I stopped because it is just too overwhelming. Afterwards, I started making short animated films which I can actually finish. From those shorts, I gained new experience. On top of that, I have a finished creation that I can share with others. Today I am making a animated series but it is divided into short episodes that makes it easier to manage. So starts small first!

 My latest short film 'Soar'. Length: 1 minute

2.Watching movies
Watching related movies will inspire you to do what you are doing. For example If I am making a classroom horror animation, I can watch animations/movies related to school horror. That will naturally boost the energy to my motivation level as well as getting some new ideas for my animations. Some of the new ideas can add more depth to your creations.

Watch & eat...

3. A Plan
I got that idea from a book I am reading, "Rich dad, Poor dad". Having a plan will guide you to do what you have to do and also to know what to actually do. If there's no plan, you will feel lost and then naturally losing the motivation to do anything. A plan is crucial to your success because having a plan means that you have already thought things out. Once you finished what you have planned, you will feel more confident and motivate to plan the next thing.

 Use that brain muscle to create a good plan

I learned from my 10 years plus of doing animations and honestly I am still learning about myself and about raising my motivation levels. Recently I started to read a lot of marketing books which definitely raise my confidence even further.  

So do you have your own ways to motivate yourself? I would love to hear it!