Motivating yourself is hard. Trying to sustain your drive through a task, a project, or even a career can sometimes feel like pulling yourself out of a swamp by your own hair. We seem to have a natural aversion to persistent effort that no amount of caffeine or inspirational posters can fix.
But effective self motivation is on of the main things that distinguishes high-achieving professionals from everyone else. So how can you keep pushing onward, even when you don’t feel like it?
To a certain extent, motivation is personal. What gets you going might not do anything for me. And some individuals do seem to have more stick to positiveness than others which is alright by me
Have you ever failed to reach an attainable goal because of procrastination or lack of commitment or consistency, and who of us hasn’t?
I encourage you to read on.
- Self motivation is one of the hardest skills to learn, but it’s critical to success.
Motivation is volatile.
Like with productivity, growth and progress, your motivation levels will never be linear.
These past 2 months were challenging for me mentally, physically and emotionally.
For a bunch of reasons including a lot of changes happening in my growth and personal life, I’ve felt extremely overwhelmed and anxious.
I think we can also all agree that there are a lot of heavy events happening in the world right now.
I felt burnt out and exhausted, lacked creative inspiration. I was also waking up later than I preferred and my body felt more tired than usual.
I would then reflect on each emotion that came up to see what was triggering this feeling and how I could effectively manage it in the future.
I eased into the day and slowly but surely I felt some productive and creative energy come back. Energy that I later used to establish new systems to reduce overwhelm and boost motivation.
Ways to Boost Motivation When You’re not in the Mood
This blog post is about daily motivation.
I encourage you to bookmark this blog post so you can refer back to it whenever you need to.
Design Goals, Not Chores
Slowly open your eyes, blink a few times, inhale, exhale and sit up.
Take a few moments and ask yourself these questions:
- How do I want my day to go?
- What emotion(s) am I leaning into today?
- How would I like to feel by the end of the day?
By setting an intention for your day, you can actively show up for yourself and your needs.
Lean into your strengths
When I’m lacking motivation, I tend to focus on the negatives and my shortcomings.
The problem is when we play to our weaknesses, we hold ourselves back.
We don’t allow ourselves to take risks that will move us forward and instead play small. This is usually out of a fear of getting it wrong, failing or looking bad in front of others.
But when you lean into your strengths, you gain the motivation you need to achieve more.
Sustain Progress
When people are working toward a goal, they typically have a burst of motivation early and then slump in the middle, where they are most likely to stall out.
If you break your goal into smaller sub-goals let's say, weekly instead of quarterly sales targets—there’s less time to succumb to that.
It's same as breaking down your tasks
Set a Timer
Use the Pomodoro Technique to stay focused and maintain productivity. Set a timer for 25 minutes and work on a task without any distractions. After the timer goes off, take a 5-minute break. Repeat this process, and after four cycles, take a longer break of 15-30 minutes. This technique helps manage time effectively and prevents burnout.
Change Your Environment
A change of scenery can do wonders for your motivation. If possible, move to a different part of the office, work from a café, or even take your laptop to a park. A new environment can provide a fresh perspective and help re-energize you.
Reflect on Your Goals
Listen to Music
Music can be a great motivator. Create a playlist of your favorite upbeat songs or calming instrumental tracks. Music can help improve your mood and focus, making it easier to get through your tasks. Just be sure to choose music that enhances your productivity rather than distracts you.
There was a time my playlist were just literally all depressing songs and at that period I was really depressed
Since then I've always knew that music can be a great motivator. There're also a lot of other things you could do, that could motivate you more like dopamine activities,like:
- Listening to feel-good music
- Exercising
- Trying a new creative hobby
- Completing a jigsaw puzzle
- Laughing
Celebrate Your Daily Wins
Never wait to celebrate reaching the bigger goal.
Acknowledge each milestone or win and celebrate how far you’ve come. Even if all you’ve done is made it out of bed, showered and got dressed.
This is still progress. So celebrate your daily wins no matter how big or small. I promise this simple act will not only boost your confidence but will also motivate you to keep moving forward.
Use positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations can help shift your mindset and boost your confidence. Remind yourself of your strengths and past successes. Simple affirmations like “I can do this” or “I am capable” can make a significant difference in your attitude towards work.
Final Thoughts
Remember what works for me might not necessarily work for you so I suggest testing out the above strategies first before fully committing to them.
Cool Article
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful
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