How To Motivate Yourself In 6 Simple Steps
12 Comments May 29, 2009 / Posted in Personal Development, Productivity
Image courtesy of damongarrett
Motivation
If you want to excel in life, you will need to be able to motivate yourself. There will definitely be tough times when everything seems to be going against you and you will be too tired to carry on what you are doing. If you do not know how to motivate yourself to carry on, most likely you will quit what you are doing and fail to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Here are the steps that I have used to motivate myself and I found it effective.
1. Goal Setting
First of all, you need to have something that you want to achieve. Set goals that you truly want and not because others want it and you want to follow what they are doing. More often than not, people fail to motivate themselves to achieve their goals because the goals they set are not truly what they want.
2. Reasons
You always need to know the reason behind setting your goal. Are you trying to lose weight because you want to be like the model in the magazine or it is because others are poking fun at your huge waist line. You need to know what is the reason that makes you set your goals and this will be your main source of motivation.
3. Write Down Your Goals and Reasons
Write down all your goals and the reasons of why you want to achieve it. Paste it some where that you can see it easily. This will help to remind you of your goals daily so that you will not lose your focus.
4. Baby Steps
It is discouraging to try to achieve a huge goal in a short frame of time. Break down your goals into bite size nuggets so that you won’t be discouraged when trying to achieve it.
5. Get an accountability partner.
This is a great way to help you get motivated. Get an accountability partner and tell them about your goals. Tell them of a punishment you will accept if you fail to achieve your goals at your deadline. Do not set a deadline too far away in time because it will cause you to lose your focus easily and it doesn’t creates a sense of urgency. I always set 30 days deadline for my mini-goals because 30 days isn’t too long to cause us to lose focus or too short to achieve results.
6. What You Have To Gain and What You Have To Lose
Whenever you don’t feel motivated to do your tasks, it may be because that the tasks are too huge. If it is, refer back to step number 4 and break the tasks into smaller sizes. Another way to motivate yourself to start taking action when you don’t feel like doing it is to remember what you have to gain if you take action and what is it you may to lose if you did not take action.
For example, if your goal is to lose 30 lbs and you break your goals into smaller sizes such as exercising for 30 – 45 minutes for everyday. Whenever you do not feel like following your exercise routine, think about what you will have to gain and what you have to lose will help you to weigh the consequences of your decision which will motivate yourself to take action.
Example
Parting Words
People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. ~ Andrew Carnegie
Nobody wants mediocrity and knowing how to motivate yourself can help you to take more action to escape the world of mediocrity. Learn how to motivate yourself now and let your own motivation help you to achieve your desired success in life.
To your success,
Vincent
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Woohoo! I feel motivated now! I love the idea of the chart…such a great thing to do to keep you on track!
Hey Vincent,
Thanks for sharing. This is really great. I don’t know if you read Steve Pavalina’s latest post on creating a belief board, where you put goals and beliefs on a cork board behind your desk. I bought a posterboard because I”m cheap
, and I put 20 index cards on it with my beliefs and goals. And it just sits there in the background. What I love about it, is that it requires no work. Anyways, cool post. I think the reasons for wanting what I want is a good thing to keep in mind.
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Hi Positively Present,
The chart where you list down what are the things that you will lose and gain will help to motivate you. It taps into the pain and pleasure emotion of yours to help you to start taking action.
Hi Srinivas Rao,
I haven read the article by Steve’s yet. But placing our beliefs and goals in places where we can see clearly and regularly will help to empower us.
Cheers,
Vincent
Hi Vincent,
This is great and just what I need, I’ll give it a go. I want to lose a few pounds before my summer holiday (in August). Problem is I really like eating
I need to be motivated to exercise everyday just to stay as I am, so will need to add something extra to lose weight, having my goals written out will definitely help 
Good post, Vincent.
It can be difficult to stay motivated but I think your advice on writing down why we’ve chosen our goals is good because it gives our actions pupose and direction.
This is great advice.
You may want to check out http://www.GoalsOnTrack.com, a very nicely built web app designed for tracking goals and todo lists, and has time tracking. It’s clear, focused, easy to navigate, worth a try.
great post and wonderful picture!
watch the picture I already get motivated!
@Bonnie
When you can look at your written goals regularly, you are constantly being reminded that of it. This is definitely a great way to help you stay focused and motivated.
@Laurie,
Purpose and direction is needed. When we lose track of the reason of why we are trying to achieve our goals, we will start to feel demoralized and hence lose the motivation to achieve our goals.
@harry
Thanks for sharing with us the link. I’m off to check it now.
@hellen
I’m glad you like the post. I love the pic too.
Cheers,
Vincent
I like how you used the lose weight example, as it is a very common failed goal for many, especially in the summertime. Its also great to block out those hurdles that may stop you. These will help to accomplish your goals and further motivate you, for the weight example, it’s a good idea to rid yourself of those temptations in your kitchen. Only go to the supermarket when you are full , because you tend to not want to buy any junk food… whenever you are full you tend to think .. oh I could never eat again .. etc a great mindset to be in when around junk food in the supermarket!
Motivation is key and it is amazing how quickly 1 step at a time can add up to a snowball of motivation. There is also great power in accountability.
Another great article…keep them coming!
Go Big!
Kristen
@gas card
It is a great idea! Blocking out the hurdles make it easier for us to achieve our goals. Your example make it clear for us to understand too.
@Kristen Howe
The snowball effect due to consistent small action is so powerful that it may be hard to stop once our momentum keeps going. Many people fail to leverage on the power of momentum but those who use it will achieve great results.
Cheers,
Vincent