Answers to the July Q&A

Techniques for increasing motivation

You can listen to an audio version of the free portion of this newsletter below and listen to the rest of the newsletter after the paywall break. Please note that this is unedited and I’m recording in my home office.

Desks by windows by Annie Spratt from Unsplash.

Before we dive in, a quick reminder that paid subscribers of Tending are welcome to join me for monthly coworking tomorrow July 28th from 9am-12pm EDT. You can access the Zoom link to coworking at the bottom of this newsletter.

Today I’m answering the following question: In lieu of coworking, which is extremely productive, what other techniques are available for motivation?

To answer this question, I started by thinking about what precisely makes coworking such a productive tool. (I also did some research on whether or not the word “coworking” has a hyphen, and I think I might start switching my spelling to coworking. For those wondering: either option works).

Coworking is a form of body doubling where, within the presence of others with similar intentions, you endeavor to progress on a goal through an intentional productivity session.

When I think about the 3-hour coworking sessions I host for paid subscribers of Tending, I encourage folks to focus on a specific task during three 1-hour chunks of time. When I reflected on the structure of my sessions, I identified three practice that could be increasing your productivity: I invite folks to identify a task that is actionable and achievable, monotask as they focus on it, and then report back to the group how they did once an hour has passed. Let’s dive a little deeper into each of these practices.