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Monday is here again and sadly it's one of those Mondays when I wish I could have stayed in bed. Of course that's out of the question so here I am sitting at my desk trying to get motivated enough to tackle at least some of the things that are on the list of things I have to do today.

For people like you and me ... people who work for themselves ... waking up to that kind of feeling can really be bad for business. We don't have anyone looking over our shoulder telling us to get on with the job. We don't have other people around us who can encourage us to get on and do something.

We only have ourselves and when we're in the kind of mood I seem to be in today about all you really want to do is sit and stare out the window. At least that's what I tend to want to do on days like this.

Sometimes we can get away with doing not much for a few hours but if we let it drag on we start missing submission deadlines and then things start to snowball from there. And the longer we leave the work to pile up the less inclined we are to actually make a start.

But today of all days I really do need to make a start and push a number of projects along because this is probably the one day this week when I won't have a lot of interruptions and distractions. So what am I going to do to get myself back into the work groove?

Well I've got my list of things I want to achieve today ... it's fairly extensive so it's written on a large piece of paper that's sitting on my desk right where I can't miss seeing it. When I wrote it out on Friday I prioritized it but the first job on the list is something that will take a couple of hours to finish and I don't have the motivation to jump into that job first.

Instead, some way down the list, there's a small job that should take me no more than 15 minutes to finish so I'm going to tackle that first. It's not hugely important and it wouldn't matter if I left it till tomorrow to get it done but it might be just enough to get me out of my lethargy and get me focused on work.

Then there's another little job that Steve just sent me some details for. It's another one of those 15 minute jobs that can help motivate me to get on with the other work on my list.

And that's what you have to do if you're finding that your facing days when you just can get motivated enough to achieve anything. As I said earlier, those days can be deadly for you and your business so as soon as you realize that you're facing one of those days you need to start taking action to motivate yourself to get on with your work.

Make a list of all the things you must achieve today and toss in a few things that you must achieve in the next couple of days as well. Rank those tasks according to their importance but don't necessarily tie yourself to that ranking.

Now look at the tasks on your list and add a reasonable estimation of the time it will take you to complete all those tasks. Don't be surprised that the more detail you add to your list the less you actually want to make a start on them but don't give up just yet.

Before you even think of tackling those big jobs look for the jobs that will take the least amount of time ... look for some of those 15 minute jobs that I had on my list and if you have one or two that are short start with those jobs. As you finish each of those short tasks cross them off your list of things to do and you will begin to find that you're working yourself back into the work groove.

It won't take long to get to the point where you will be tackling those big jobs that you really didn't want to make a start on and the more you cross off your list the more interested you will become in working today instead of sitting back and doing nothing.

Does that sound all too simple to actually work? Well try it and see for yourself ... what do you have to lose? Of course if you can't shake yourself out of that lethargy that makes you want to sit and do nothing you have a lot to lose because in this business the only person who is going to make you money is you.

In this industry there's no boss or business that is going to cut you a paycheck simply because you turned up for work and you're sitting in your cubicle. The only person who is going to generate any income for you and your business is you so the sooner you get yourself back into the work groove the sooner you're going to get back to making money.

And sometimes it is the simple things that are the most effective so the next time you need to get a heap of work done but really can't get yourself into the mood to achieve anything try what I suggested.

If it can work for me then it can work for anyone!