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Like many people, I motivate myself through mundane or unpleasant tasks by looking forward to a reward. Sometimes seeing evidence of my accomplishment of said task is enough to make my effort worthwhile: seeing a pile of freshly raked leaves and a clean lawn; a garden bed that is neat and tidy next to a pile of weeds that were diligently removed.
Living in the surreal quarantine of 2020, I have learned that I need very concrete rewards to make it through my week. I love my work; I love my home, my partner, my family. And yet I look for the “thing” to motivate me from point A to point B. And in the last 6 weeks of quarantine, I have come to realize this need for external reward only after many of them have been taken from me. 
For me, it was Friday night “date night”: sushi and cosmos from our local sushi restaurant. We went almost every Friday without fail. We knew the manager, the bartender and many of the waitresses and waiters by name and they knew us. We were barely seated when the waitress would come over to confirm with us that we wanted our usual cocktail. When we deviated from our usual order, we were often met with looks of surprise. For the early weeks of quarantine our restaurant was hanging-in, relying on take-out orders. By week two it was closed-with a sign on the door stating they were closed due to a lack of people to work. Our Friday night ritual that carried me through the week had come to an abrupt halt. Now what did I have to look forward to?
The Covid-19 pandemic has left each of us dealing with losses on many levels: loss of loved ones, loss of job, loss of community, so the loss of Friday night sushi is trivial in comparison. However, the loss of motivation, the loss of something to look forward to is not trivial. High school and college students have worked for years looking forward to the ceremony that symbolizes their hard work and accomplishments as they walk across stage and move their tassels from one side of their cap to the other. Young people look forward to prom, to their engagement party, their wedding. Now what? And what about the summer and the beach? The vacation? We don’t know how long we will be quarantined or how long before we are able to resume activities that we once considered normal, like eating in a restaurant, attending the theater or gathering to celebrate a life event such as a graduation or wedding.
How can we stay motivated while we are traveling through a long tunnel and have no idea when we will get to the other side? For me it was reexamining my motivations and asking myself what I need to keep myself going through this long uncertain time. I don’t need sushi, although I find it tasty. My Friday date nights were a ritual to mark the end of the week with my partner; to review and process our experiences; to celebrate victories and mourn defeats. I can do that at home, by creating new rituals that accomplish the same goals. Now we make cosmos at home (and are experimenting with new options). We talk over a game of backgammon or in front of the fire. Small satisfactions can be motivating as well.
Soon it will be warm enough to sit out in the yard…I guess the challenge is to find the new thing to look forward to. 
Positive Intent 