Staying Motivated

Temperature blankets are a long project. Even if you’re not tracking a full year it can be hard to keep yourself working on it the whole time. I’d like to share a few tricks I’ve used for staying motivated.

 

Keeping the streak alive

If you make your crafting a habit and track it, then it can help you stay motivated. Your desire to check every box so you don’t miss a day will give you an extra push. This is especially useful on those days that you just aren’t in the mood to crochet or knit.

You could track with some simple graph paper or a printout of some squares. Or you could use a Bullet Journal type tracker. The latter can maybe be more effective because it would be more pleasant to look at and therefore could motivate you to use it more.

 

Deadlines & accountability

You can also create a deadline for project to help keep your motivation up. I’ve found this works best if you have a real deadline and not some arbitrary one. An arbitrary deadline is far too easy to move to accommodate my laziness or inability to find time to work on my project.

Hand in hand with making a deadline is finding an accountability partner. Yes, this is more business-type stuff but it can work. Telling someone else your plans can give you external motivation from the peer pressure of their expectations. Posting your daily progress on social media can be an accountability partner in a pinch.

 

Quick win

Another trick I’ve used is doing smaller, easier projects, too. If your project starts to become something to avoid then you can distract yourself with a smaller project. This also gives you a little distance from your temperature project. So if you were finding your project unpleasant, you can more objectively decide if you want to continue working on the project.

For my “normal” projects, I try to keep myself from abandoning them by rewarding myself. I typically reward myself by starting a new project for every three I finish. For a temperature project, you could reward yourself for each month you finish, as one example. This is especially motivating when I get to buy more yarn!

 

Anticipating mental barriers

Sometimes what keeps us from working could be avoidance of something unpleasant. For example, you could avoid working on your project because those unwoven ends keep staring accusingly at you. This drains your project of the enjoyment that will, in turn, dampen your motivation.

You know the things that are the hardest for you to tackle. Try to set up a system that makes sure they won’t take over your project. So if weaving in ends is a big deal to you, then you could make sure to weave them in every day or every other day.

 

Taking a break

The last suggestion I have to stay motivated is to take a break. Yup. Seems counterproductive, but hear me out. If you find yourself struggling to keep working on your project you may need to put it aside for a time. I’ve found the times that I need a break I put all my crafting away for a few days. I spend my time on other things that either I enjoy or things I’ve been neglecting. Then when I pick it back up again it’s easier for me to keep working.

 

 

 

What are your tricks to staying motivated? Share in the comments below!