On This Page You Will Find 100+ Easy Ways To Motivate Yourself For Continuing Your Journey Of Success
Know what you want to achieve—If you don’t know what you want to
achieve, how will you know when you achieve it? Deciding exactly
what you want to do is the beginning of staying motivated to finish it.
Determine the steps to reach your goal—There are things you need to
do for anything you want to do. Knowing what the steps are will give
you a guideline. They’ll also give you mini successes as you complete
each step.
Devise a plan—Though there may be many steps to take, it is
necessary to know in what order you need to achieve them. If
possible, alternate between those that are easy to achieve and those
that will take longer. This way, you don’t go through long periods of
time without completing part of your plan. It will help you feel more
successful if you complete parts of the plan often.
Goals provide focus. With no guiding plan, people tend to drift. Goals
also provide a measuring device for progress, enhance productivity,
improve self-esteem, and increase commitment, so you're more likely
to achieve whatever you set out to conquer.
Increase the challenge of your project—If you’re lacking motivation to
do anything, try something you've never done before. Simply the
thought of doing something new and exciting can give us temporary
motivation.
Remember success is your personal responsibility—You need to
believe that initiative, effort, and persistence are key factors in
achieving success. Too many times, individuals are more likely to view
success as dependent on available resources and situational
constraints. They simply say the task was too difficult for outside
reasons. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and it is your
responsibility to find it.
Think of demanding tasks as opportunities—When facing a task where
success is uncertain, think of it a challenge or an opportunity. Don’t
think of them threats that may lead to failure and embarrassment.
This causes you to give up before you start.
Remember striving for achievement can be enjoyable—Perseverance
pays off. Approaching each task with dedication, concentration,
commitment and involvement can help you maintain motivation. You
may find you enjoy it, and the obstacle isn’t nearly as difficult as you
figured it to be.
Learn to value achievement striving—If you value hard work in and of
itself, you’ll enjoy it more, and therefore, be more motivated.
Unfortunately, too many people view it as not “cool.” Their typical
excuse is that working too hard may only keep them from having a
social life, or even cause them to have a heart attack. What it really
does, however, is lead to success and happiness in their lives.
Improve your skills—Sometimes you may have a goal that you don’t
have the necessary skills to achieve. Don’t give up! Skills can be
improved. Sometimes all it takes is practice.
Learn what you need to learn—If information is keeping you
from achieving your goals, determine ways to fill in the gaps, and build
this into your action plan. Be willing to study and work hard to reach
your goals.
Persistence works—Continued effort and commitment will
overcome initial obstacles or failures. Don’t see an early failure as a
sign of things to come. Remember the old saying, “If at first you don’t
succeed, try, try again.” Once you achieve your first success this way,
you’ll be less apt to give up and lose motivation too quickly in the
future.
Try living in the now as if it were the future that you hope to
have—For example, if you want to lose weight, don’t think of yourself
as someone struggling to lose it. Think of yourself as someone pounds
lighter. See yourself as healthier, and having a different lifestyle. To
maintain this lifestyle, you have to eat healthier and exercise. Just
think of how your life will be then, and do it now.
Put your goals in writing—Sometimes, the act of writing down
what you are going to do is a strong motivator. Writing down goals
helps you make them more specific and less vague. When you write
them, use action verbs.
Give all your goals measurable outcomes—By doing so, it help
you know when you’ve achieved each goal you set.
Specify completion dates—You won’t always complete your goals
on these dates, but setting them helps you stay focused on
completion. Many people work better with deadlines. Don’t make
them unrealistic, but do set them so you’ll have to push yourself to
achieve them.
Plan and write down what your reward will be for achieving the
goal—It doesn’t have to be an elaborate reward, it can be simple.
Rewarding yourself along the way is a big motivator. Remember your
reward each time you start to feel your motivation drain, and it can
increase your desire to reach the goal.
Make a list of obstacles—Always think of everything that might
stand in your way and decide what you can do about each obstacle. If
you design a plan, you’ll reduce the influence of each obstacle and
increase the chances that you will be successful.
Write down the benefits of achieving your goal—One strong
motivator is knowing exactly what you will gain from reaching your
goal. For example, keeping your checkbook balanced will give you
more spending money, or walking every day will help you stay
healthier and reduce stress.
Break down complicated plans into manageable tasks—Be
specific about what has to be accomplished. By setting goals along the
way, your tasks will seem more manageable, and not overwhelming.
Don’t be embarrassed to ask for help—A partner can help you
stay committed and motivated. Look for role models, people who have
already achieved the goals you seek to reach. Ask them for advice and
suggestions. Find how they got where they are, and incorporate what
you learn into your plan.
Get organized—Being prepared and organized, can help you feel
better about your ability to reach your goals. Having information
scattered in too many places makes you feel out of control and
undermines motivation.
Be serious about each step in your process—Think about
learning to ski, for example. The beginner I given a list of
instructions: "lean forward," "bend the ankles," "keep weight on the
downhill ski," etc. Each of these is an explicit step. The extent the
skier is seriously trying to learn each step will determine the outcome.
Each step is separate, but functions together to reach the goal. Failure
to focus on any part of the steps can cause you to crash.
Enhance your interest in the goal—Be sure it's related to your
values, and if the connections aren't obvious at first, think through
how the task at hand complements your values and overall goals. If it
doesn't, you should think about why it's on your "to-do list.” Maybe
it's a task you should delegate or delete.
Don’t procrastinate—Procrastination is a form of self-regulatory
failure.
The old saying, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today”
is one you should live by. If you to this too often, your “tomorrow”
may never come, and you’ll never reach your goal.
Remember that willpower is a limited resource—Think of
willpower as a muscle. If you don’t use the muscle and exercise it, it
becomes weaker and weaker. The more you use your willpower, the
stronger it will become, just like a muscle does. If you don’t use it,
eventually, you may lose it.
Avoid preconceived task difficulty—If you believe a task is
difficult without truly knowing it, it will also give you a perception
about how much effort you’ll need to put into it and how likely you are
to fail.
If sharing a goal, divide the tasks based on interests—You’re
more apt to stay motivated in something you’re interested in. If
working in a group, dividing the tasks into areas each member is
interested in will keep the entire group motivated and help improve
chances of success. It may be impossible to have a few areas to work
on that aren’t at the top of your interest list, but having many that you
are interested in can keep your overall motivation going.
Don’t self-handicap yourself—Too many times we handicap
ourselves with the word “can’t.” Remove that work from your
vocabulary. Don’t say things like, “I can’t do it” or “It can’t be done.”
These cause you to fail before you begin. You’ll be handicapped by
your negative feelings in your own ability.
Keep a positive attitude—There is nothing more powerful for
self-motivation than the right attitude. You can’t choose or control
your circumstance, but can choose your attitude towards your
circumstances.
Avoid negativity—If you’re can’t approach something with a
positive attitude, at least approach it with an open mind. Negativity
will only achieve negative results.
Keep motivators around your work area—Maybe you want a
better life for your family. Keep family photos in sight to remind you
why you’re working toward that goal. They can help constantly spark
your motivation.
Keep good company—Make more regular encounters with
positive and motivated people. This could be as simple as texts or IM
chats with peers or a friend who likes sharing ideas.
Don’t just think about it, do something—If you find motivation
for a particular project lacking, try getting started on something else.
Something trivial even, then you’ll develop the momentum to begin
the more important stuff.
Know yourself—Get to know how you think. If possible, keep
notes on when your motivation starts to fade and when it’s extremely
high. There may be a pattern that, once you are aware of, you can
work around and develop.
Track your progress—It will help to keep a tally or a progress
bar for ongoing projects. Seeing the progress bar grow can be a big
motivator, because when you see something growing you will always
want to nurture it.
Help others—It may be surprising how much share your ideas
and helping friends get motivated can help you keep yourself
motivated. Seeing others do well will motivate you to do the same.
Write about your success and get feedback from readers—Start
a blog or a place on your website where you can write about your
success. Getting positive feedback from others can help you maintain
motivation.
Take a break—No one wants to work all the time. Sometime it
helps to take a break and rejuvenate yourself. Then you can return to
the project with a clear head and a renewed motivation.
Have a cause—Having a cause you care about is a powerful
source of motivation. Such cause can inspire you to give your best
even through the difficulties. It can make you do things you thought
were impossible. Some causes could inspire you temporarily, but a
cause that matters to you can inspire you indefinitely. It’s a fountain of
motivation that will never run dry.
Have a big dream—Karen Ravn said: “Only as high as I reach
can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I
see, only as much as I dream can I be.” Having a dream is important
because it’s difficult to be motivated if you don’t have anything to
shoot for. Just having a dream, however, is insufficient. Your dream
must be big enough to inspire you. It must be realistic but challenging.
It must stretch your ability beyond your comfort zone.
Be hungry for it—Wanting something isn’t enough. To be truly
motivated, you need to have hunger and not just desire. Having mere
desire won’t take you through hard times since you don’t want things
badly enough. In many cases, hunger makes the difference between
the best performers and the mediocre ones.
Do it your way—Don’t try to do it better than someone else.
Comparing yourself with others is an effective way to destroy your
motivation. Even if you start with enthusiasm, you will soon lose your
energy when you compare yourself with others. The only competitor
you have is yourself. The only one you need to beat is you.
Take one more step—Every journey begins with the first step.
When you meet obstacles along the way, there could be the tendency
to quit. You may think that it’s too difficult to move on. You may think
that your dream is impossible to achieve. What makes a winner
instead of a loser is the courage to continue. In difficult situations,
focus on taking one more step forward. Don’t think about how to
complete the race. Don’t think about how many more obstacles are
waiting for you. Just focus on taking one more step.
Let go of the past—One of the most destructive things to
motivation is your past. Your past can drag you down before you
realize it. Your past can give you a heavy burden on your shoulders.
Take it off your shoulder and leave it. You might have made mistakes
in the past. You might have disappointed others with what you did.
The good news here is—It’s over. It’s already in the past and there’s
nothing you can do about it. Remember today is a new day and you
have the chance to start again. No matter how bad your past might
be, you still have a bright future ahead waiting for you.
Try tackling the worst jobs first—By doing this, you get the worst
job out of the way first and then the rest of the day is a piece of cake.
Once we’ve done those horrible, distasteful jobs, everything else on
your list looks much more appealing.
Face your fear—The truth is often much less dramatic than we
make it out to be in our minds. Don’t allow false expectations and
fears keep you from doing things. You’ll learn that if you do, your
success never stood a chance against your fear. Before you work
yourself into hysteria try to face your fear instead. What is the worst
thing that could happen if you fail? There may not truly be something
absolutely awful that could occur. You may just be setting up false
expectations due to fear.
Reconsider Your Path—If you find that you’re frequently not
motivated to do the things that need to be done, maybe you should be
examine things, and then consider doing something else on a regular
basis instead. If you have to talk yourself out of bed in the morning by
saying you have no choice in the matter and must resign yourself to
the task at hand, this could be a good choice for you.
Life should offer some excitement and adventure along the way…at
least enough that you don’t mind so much about all those little things
that make up the mundane parts. If you’re finding that the mundane
drastically overwhelms the adventure, then no amount of motivation
will make you see it differently. Try to find something that doesn’t
require so much motivation to get it done. It should be something
that lights that fire and gets you excited without any extra effort on
your part. If you do, you won’t need to worry about self-motivation.
Hold yourself back—When you start a new project, you are
probably full of excitement and enthusiasm. You probably have no
sense of self-limitation. Moving full-steam ahead can be great, but it
can also cause you to burn out fast. If you force yourself to hold back
in the beginning and plan out a course of action to gradually increase,
you’ll prevent burnout and keep your motivation high.
Join a group to keep you motivated and focused—It can be
online or offline. By being a member of this group or association, you
will have regular conversations with people with common goals that
are free to speak their mind about your ideas. If it is an online group,
you won’t know or probably ever meet the other, so you don’t have to
worry about hurting each other’s feelings. You can get really great
ideas, share your ideas, improve your success and keep your
motivation high.
Put up a picture of your goal in a visible place—putting up
pictures of things that motivate you are one thing. Having a visual
picture of your goal is another. Say you want to take your family to
Hawaii with the bonus from this project. Your family would be your
motivator, but pictures of Hawaii would be your goal. Seeing it
regularly can give you a visual sense and keep you focused on the goal
without losing motivation.
Find a way to make it a pleasure—One reason we might put off
something that will help us achieve our goal is because it seems like
hard work. The key is to find a way to make it fun or pleasurable. If
your goal activity becomes a treat, you actually look forward to it.
Be patient—This may seem easier said than done. The problem
with today’s society is we want the quick fix. We need instant results,
and when we don’t get them, we give up. Don’t think of your project
as a sprint, think of it as a marathon. Pace yourself, and don’t expect
instantaneous results. If you don’t see the results soon, don’t give
up—give it time. The results will come. Remember, “Good things
come to those who wait.”
Find inspiration daily—Inspiration is one of the best motivators,
and it can be found everywhere. Every day, seek inspiration, and it will
help sustain motivation over the long term. Sources of inspiration can
include: blogs, online success stories, forums, friends and family,
magazines, books, quotes, music, photos, people you meet.
Have powerful reasons and write them down—Doing something
for your family is a great motivator, but why are you doing it? Be
specific.
Be prepared for your urges to quit—We all have urges to quit,
but they are mostly on a subconscious level. One of the most powerful
things you can do is to start being more conscious of those urges. A
good exercise is to go through the day with a little piece of paper and
put a tally mark for each time you get an urge. It simply makes you
aware of the urges. Then have a plan for when those urges hit, and
plan for it beforehand, and write down your plan. Without a plan,
when those urges hit, you will not feel like coming up with one and
give up too easily.
Never stop working toward the goal two days in a row—It’s OK
to take a day away from your goal. You can do it often, just never
consecutively. If you feel yourself saying, “Oh, two or three days
won’t hurt,” tell yourself, “NO!” Long breaks lead to procrastination,
which leads to quitting.
Keep a daily journal—If you are consistent about keeping a
journal, it can be a great motivator. A journal should have not only
what you did for the day, but your thoughts about how it went, how
you felt, what mistakes you made, what you could do to improve. To
be consistent about keeping a journal, do it right after you do your
goal task each day. Make keeping a journal a sensory pleasure.
Make a big public commitment—This will very often do the trick.
Create a blog and announce to the world that you are going to achieve
a certain goal by a certain date. Announce it at a family gathering or
party with friends. Commit yourself to the hilt. You’ll be surrounded
by people who will remind you of that commitment.
Drink coffee—If you have difficulty getting that beginning spark
each day, drink a big cup of coffee. It has the caffeine you need to
jump start your day without all the calories of energy drinks or soda.
Stay Active—Living a sedentary lifestyle will lead to a lack of
energy, which will directly impact your level of motivation. Try to do
something active each day, even if it’s a 20-minute brisk walk around
your neighborhood. You’ll feel much better once your blood is flowing.
Open the curtains and windows in your work area—It’s difficult
to feel motivated when you’re in a dark room. Keeping your work area
light and cheerful will improve motivation.
Get More Sleep—If you’re sleepy, your energy level suffers. Try
to get to bed earlier by turning off the TV and putting away the phone
and Internet at a reasonable hour. Then you’ll be ready to go to work
the next day fully rested and ready to take on the challenge.
Ask for motivation support—Keeping yourself accountable is
tough, but when you bring other people into it, it’s much easier. Ask a
friend or colleague if they’d be willing to help keep you motivated for a
short-term project. When you reward yourself at the end, perhaps you
can invite your motivation buddy along as well.
Move your alarm clock—It’s easy to hit the snooze button over
and over and over. If you have trouble getting out of bed, put your
alarm clock across the room. It’ll force you to get up. While you’re up,
you might as well get started on your day. Getting a good start helps
you be more motivated to reach your daily goals.
Schedule early meetings with those involved—Early morning
meetings because force you to meet the day head on. You’re dressed
and ready to go from the start, so the rest of the day can only get
better from there.
Wake up to upbeat music—Sometimes waking up to music that
gets you going instead of whatever nonsense is on the radio can help
get you moving and get your day going in a positive direction. It helps
you undertake your goals in a much more positive way.
Prepare the night before--This is an essential component to
motivation because it cuts down on the anxiety you may feel when
diving in. If you have small things that can be done in advance of a big
workday, do them the night before. When you wake up, those menial
tasks will be complete, so you can head straight into the heavy stuff.
Eat breakfast—Breakfast is the most important meal of the day
for a reason. It gives you the energy you need to get going in the
morning. Be conscious of what you’re eating. Fruits and low-fat yogurt
will fuel you better than bagels and donuts. You’ll also feel better
about yourself, which is never a bad thing.
Develop a personal mantra—Take some time thinking of a
motivating mantra to keep you focused. It can simply be a few
positive sentences about reaching your goals should help keep you
moving in the right direction when you feel like you’re starting to
derail.
Sign up for motivation emails—Face it, sometimes you just need
encouragement, even if you don’t know who’s sending it. There are
lots of websites that will send you daily motivational e-mails that will
make you feel better the second you read the message.
Start the day doing something you enjoy—If you’re looking at
your to-do list and just can’t seem to muster the motivation to chip
away at it, take an hour or so to do something that you enjoy instead.
This will put you in a happy place and help put yourself in a better
situation to want to get down to business when you’re finished.
Cut back on alcohol—Alcohol is a depressant. It can cause you to
sleep less and give you a hangover. When alcohol is involved, all
motivation goes out the window. You should at least try to eliminate
alcohol from your diet during the week or at least cut back when you
know you have to get something done.
See the light at the end of the tunnel—Think of the end result
and keep that finish line in the back of your mind the whole time.
Focus on how good it will feel when you reach it.
Spend your time on tasks you enjoy—Given a choice, people
usually select things they enjoy. This is important to keep you
motivated. If you have a task you hate doing, delegate a small
portion of your day to doing something you enjoy.
Take pride in what you’re doing—There’s usually no way to
avoid at least some activities that seem wasted. Perhaps you’re a
small cog in a big machine at work, and it’s tough to see how your
contribution matters. The truth is...it does make a difference. If what
you do isn’t important, your company wouldn’t have hired you in the
first place. Live by the philosophy that anything worth doing is worth
doing well. What you’re doing is worth something to those you work
for, so do it well. Take pride it and do it to the best of your ability. It
will help you feel good about yourself and keep you motivated.
Don’t rely too much on your use of rewards—Motivating yourself with
rewards can be a good thing, but you don’t want to rely too much on
them. If you do, you become dependent on the reward and not your
natural motivation. Try to find some rewards that are inherent to the
task itself. Instead of seeing the task as another item on your list,
think how it impacts others. For example, answering thee emails
helps keep customers happy.
Stay confident—Sometimes this can be difficult, especially in an
area we are unfamiliar with. Struggling to do something well can
cause you to feel insecure and lead to lack of motivation. Don’t be
afraid to learn a new task. Learning how to do it properly will help you
keep your confidence and improve motivation.
Stay focused while you’re working—It is often easy to be
motivated to start a task, but wandering attention can cause you to
struggle to keep that motivation. Switching to other tasks like your
phone or other distractions breaks your concentration. You should try
to stay focused on one thing at a time, even if that means turning off
your internet connection or blocking websites that distract you. If you
keep stopping and starting, it’ll seem like your task is dragging on
forever. You’ll find it more motivating to make steady progress.
What you’re doing right now is the most important thing in the
world—Think of every step you take toward your goal as important.
Adopt the mindset that each action you take is the most important
thing in the world, and it will help you stay focused on it.
Be the best "you" you can be—We all have natural strengths
and weaknesses. Instead of focusing on your weaknesses, choose to
work on your weaknesses and capitalize on your strengths. Creating
the best “you” will help you feel more confident and stay motivated.
There's always more—There is always more you can do to reach
your goal. Don’t settle for what you can do right now. Don’t focus on
what you’ve achieved in the past, focus on what you can do in the
future. You can always achieve more.
Results matter most—No matter what anyone says, it isn’t just
that you try and do your best. Never forget—Results matter most.
Never get complacent or comfortable just because you check a lot of
tasks off your list every day, or you use strategies that your friends all
agree are the best. Don’t confuse activity for accomplishment. There's
a big difference between the two. If you aren't getting the results you
want, you're probably working too hard on the wrong things.
Science and technology aren’t everything—Use technology and
science, but don't make them everything. Use the latest and most
effective research to help you reach your goals. It doesn’t mean
anything that you can use technology if you don’t ever reach your
goals. That's like a person priding himself on being a business school
graduate but losing the sight of the fact he wants to become a
successful businessman.
Perfection isn’t everything—Look for effectiveness, not
perfection. A strategy doesn't need to be optimal in order to be
effective. An optimal strategy, without desire and determination, can
be just as ineffective as a terrible strategy. Although perfect is great,
you don't always need the perfect strategy if your head and heart are
in the right place.
Let yourself be motivated by others—If you see people who have
better accomplishments than yours, admire them. Use what they've
accomplished as a source of inspiration. Don't assume they have done
anything extraordinary to reach their goals or were bred by geniuses.
Use them as motivation that can end up proving you sold yourself
short.
Associate with people at the level you hope to achieve—If your
goal is to get a promotion to a specific position, hang out with people
holding that position. See how they got there, and learn from their
successes. You’ll find hanging out with determined, optimistic, and
driven people will help you maintain motivation and reach your
success faster.
The basics work—Things don’t have to be glamorous or
ingenious to work. Remember that the basics work too. Sometime
getting back to basics helps you focus on the goal itself instead of a
creative way to achieve the goal.
Keep moving forward—It’s not uncommon to get in a slump
when working toward your goals. Remember—it will pass. Keep on
striving for success and focusing on the goal.
Think it and do it—There’s truth to the saying, “If you think you
can, you can.” Just think you can do it and start doing it. It may take
a while, but always believe you can, and you will. Instead, too often
people think they can’t, so they can’t—or don’t.
Actualize your potential—Potential is nothing until it’s
actualized. People often say, “They have great potential” when
speaking of someone. You might have it, but what good is it if you
don’t put it to work. Knowing that you have the ability to do it isn’t
enough to keep you motivated. Seeing that you can do it and actually
achieving it, however, is a great motivator.
Measure from start to finish—The most successful person
creates the largest gap between where they started and where they
are now. The person who starts with few advantages but works his tail
off to produce remarkable results is far more successful than the
person who is extremely gifted and only ends up with good results.
Being one of those who reaches remarkable results will be motivation
to start your next project with gusto and you’ll be surprised how your
motivation for new tasks will grow over time.
Remember…you’re not alone!—You’re not the first person who
has struggled to reach a goal, and you certainly won’t be the last.
Everyone struggles with staying motivated and reaching their goals.
The reality is that refocusing, changing, or making a new start on
something, no matter how small, is a big deal, but it's not impossible.
With the right approach, you can definitely do it.
Recommit to your goal if you slip up—We all slip from time to
time. If you slip up, don't give up. Forgive yourself and make a plan
for getting back on track.
Don’t beat yourself up for mistakes—Instead, pat yourself on the
back for everything you did right. Remember, mistakes are a natural
part of the process.
Learn from your mistakes—Look at your mistakes as lessons and
reminders of why you're trying to make a change. When you mess up,
use it as an opportunity to learn something new about yourself.
Adopt a stick-to-itiveness attitude—Don’t just stick to working
toward the goal. Stick to doing everything you can to make sure that
you reach the goal. That includes learning more if necessary and
revisiting the goal at a later time.
Use positive self-talk—Tell yourself things like, "I deserve to get
the promotion because I've really been working hard" or "I feel great
when I swim because I'm doing well on my exercise plan."
Create more than a resolution—If you want to make a change or
achieve a goal, it takes more than a resolution you make at the
beginning of the year. Just declaring you want to do something isn’t
enough. Just doing something that’s expected of you isn’t always
enough either. You have to create a way to make your commitment
more than that. It has to be something you want.
End non-supportive relationships—If people are constantly
tearing you down and depleting your motivation to achieve desired
tasks, just break away from them. A friend isn’t a friend if they can’t
be supportive. You can't stay focused on your goal if your friend
doesn't believe in you or, even worse, is trying to hold you back.
Focus on what you can actually control—Worrying about things
you have no control over can be a real motivation killer. Just stay
focused on what you can control. The rest is not up to you, and trying
to control what you can't control is a prescription for failure.
Stay true to your beliefs and values—You’ll find motivation also
blossoms when you stay true to your beliefs and values. Assigning
value to an activity can restore one's sense of motivation and
reflecting on why an activity is meaningful could make you more
invested in it.
