Motivation

Create Habits To Keep You Motivated

It should come as no surprise that the habits we form will determine our success or failure. After all, habits already dictate a lot about our lives. If we, for example, eat large amounts of food regularly and don’t exercise, we can expect to have physical consequences for our actions.

That’s why it’s so important to form good habits so that we can reach our fullest potential.

What’s even more interesting is the fact that these same good habits can help us to stay motivated when it comes to realizing our goals.

Let’s look at some examples of habits that you can create for yourself that also boost motivation:

1. Take Care Of Yourself

If you’ve ever been sick then you know it’s impossible to be productive, or even to have a positive attitude when you’re not feeling good. That’s why it’s so important to take charge of your health.

Carrying extra weight not only drags you down but affects energy levels which in turn affects productivity.

Setting up some healthy habits such as going to the gym more often, or making changes in your meal plan then will help you to stay motivated longer just because you’re feeling better when your body is in sync.

Your improved health makes this a win-win all the way around.

2. Revisit The Reason You’re Doing What You Do

When you make goals, you tend to feel that initial surge of enthusiasm for the project.

Sadly, this motivation tends to wane over time. Build a habit that forces you to revisit the goal to bring that motivation level back up.

For example, if you’re doing something that will benefit a specific group of people somehow, then plan to spend time each month with that group to remind yourself of why you’re doing this.

3. Be Proactive

Getting the jump on things is a habit that not only keeps your boss happy but also gives you a rush of dopamine to the brain.

Build habits of being early or do things that help you to think ahead.

For example, make lists that keep you not only on task but ahead of the game.

4. Focus On The Small Stuff

If you’re dealing with a big goal, such as some serious weight loss, it’s easy to lose your motivation when it feels like you’re not making progress.

Having small goals gives you milestones to celebrate and builds motivation back.

These kinds of goals come from small changes, like planning to eat a little differently (cutting carbs for example), or in taking the stairs instead of using the elevator.

5. Surround Yourself With People Who Motivate You

That is an easy habit for you to build, in that it involves choosing a little more carefully what company you keep.

Building a habit of meeting with this group on a regular basis not only keeps you motivated but has the added benefit of cementing relationships with those around you.

Building good habits is an awesome way to stay on track to reach your goals.

The best part? As with any habit, if you do it enough, you’ll wind up acting without thinking, making motivation an automatic part of your life. How cool is that?

As you are probably already aware, creating habits takes discipline so lets look at how you can develop the self-discipline needed to create habits in the first place.

Discipline in Bite Sized Steps

One of the ways that people struggle with developing self-discipline, is trying to make too many changes at once. Not just by doing more than one goal at a time, but by making those goals way too large.

Either of these approaches tend to lead to failure.

An example of too many goals at once might be someone choosing to quit smoking, go on a diet, exercise regularly, build a successful business, and get out of debt.

All of these are good goals that can be done. If you try to do them all at once, though, you will probably find it to be too much and quit. This is one of the reasons why resolutions rarely work out. Instead, focus on one or two of these for at least 1 to 2 months and make them consistently a new habit first, before tackling new goals.

For example, take quitting smoking, you might start with that one since it has the most negative impact both on health and finances.

So you might start with just quitting smoking. You could spend a couple of months getting rid of the cigarettes and using aids like the nicotine patch to help. Then once you have completely quit smoking and no longer need the patch, you can move on to the next goal or goals on your list.

You may find changing your diet and exercising more to be really overwhelming goals because they are huge ones. So, another tactic to help you with discipline is to break them down into smaller goals. Instead of just quitting overeating, maybe you break it down into this week you cut your soda intake in half, then week two you cut it out completely.

If you do this week by week making one SMALL change, you may find it easier to stay in control.

Another way you can break it down is by intensity. So say you want to exercise more, but you have not exercised in years. If you start with something like a full workout, you may give up or get injured and then be unable to exercise at all.

So instead of going full tilt, you can start by doing mini workouts at a lower intensity for a few days, and over time add more minutes to your workout until you reach at least 20 to 30 minutes of activity. You can also over time increase the intensity of your workout as you get stronger and in better shape.

By breaking down the goals into bite-sized steps, you can make it easier to develop the discipline you need to accomplish them. You will also improve the chances of success in changing your habits.

And having a strong mindset is critical to any attempt to staying disciplined and motivated to achieve success, so click on the featured resource below to get a free report on how to develop a strong mindset. Download, it read and take action 🙂

Roadblocks That Get In The Way Of Motivation

Though people are all different, we all have one thing in common – roadblocks that get in the way of what we really want from life. Roadblocks stop some people from ever making a change, but they motivate others to keep on going to find a way to what they want, regardless of the roadblock.

You might have one of these roadblocks or you might experience more than one of them. A major roadblock to change is fear. When things change, it ushers in differences that can make us afraid.

We’re afraid to leave behind the bad job for fear we won’t like the new one – fear that we might not fit in as well. Remember though, that one of the acronyms for fear is False Evidence Appearing Real.

Your fears are usually based on what if myths – and they almost always never come to pass. Don’t let fear cause you to sit on the sidelines of change. Another roadblock that gets in the way is a lack of knowledge.

It’s hard to make changes when you’re not sure exactly how to go about those changes. You might be branching out into an area that’s completely beyond your scope of knowledge at the present time.

Remember that what you don’t know can be learned. Use educational resources as your catalyst for change and success. Strive for new levels of insight that you previously didn’t have.

Thinking that you simply can’t add another thing to your already full life keeps many people stuck where they are. Making changes requires work. So many people see the effort as not worth the payoff – and that’s a mistake.

This belief is what keeps you rooted to that job that you hate, to those messy finances, or to that relationship that’s sucking the life right out of you. Learning better time management skills can be a catalyst for a better life as you clear out things that are a waste of time and make room for what offers the most benefits.

Being just comfortable enough where you are can be a roadblock to motivate you to change. You’re not 100% happy, but you’re “happy enough.” All this means is that you settled for a life that keeps you locked in your comfort zone.

You’re trading a full life for one that’s half empty – because if you’re not 100% satisfied, then something is missing. That something may be the very thing that you always wanted, but because you were “happy enough,” you’ll never reach it.

Visualization can be a catalyst for the changes you need to make. Picture the next level of success in every area of your life – finances, career satisfaction, relationships, health – everything that matters most to you.

Focus on how it could be improved and then make a game plan to get you there. If you block out those thoughts in an effort to stay content, you’ll never know what you could have made out of your life if you’d give it a chance.

Wanting everything to be perfect is a huge roadblock to motivation. It’s here where people stall out. They want the new situation to be perfect before they attempt any changes.

They want the new job to have everything in place. They don’t want to take the chance that they’ll make a switch and find it’s not what they wanted. These are people who wait for the “perfect” relationship before getting into one.

Perfectionism is the killer of change because what you see in your mind as perfection doesn’t translate that way in life. That’s because there are no perfect scenarios in a life that’s lived to the fullest.

There are experiences to encounter – and not one of them will be perfect. That’s okay. Perfectionism kills progress. You don’t want to be sitting on the sidelines waiting to get into the game of life.

The number one roadblock that keeps too many people from letting a catalyst be their motivation is the fear of failure. They falsely believe that they haven’t failed yet because they haven’t even tried – so they’re safe.

But whether they realize it or not, they have failed. They’re choosing to stay stagnant in a lesser life than what they dreamed of. That, in itself, is a form of failure.

Another roadblock happens when people wait for change rather than seeking change. They wait for the perfect joint venture partner to come to them instead of seeking one out, because that requires putting themselves on the line.

They wait to see if the person they’re in a relationship with is going to treat them better, rather than speaking up about what they want and deserve. They avoid tough situations and tough conversations because they’re waiting for everything to work out on its own.

Change isn’t something that happens on a whim. It’s something that you make happen. You have to find the motivation within yourself to make that change. And it’s uncomfortable at first.

That’s okay. Take that sign of discomfort as a compliment. It’s proving to you that you’re taking action and bettering your life, even in the face of fear or uneasiness.

Motivation requires a strong mindset and it is an unfortunate fact that many of us simply aren’t born with a strong success mindset.

The good news is that you can do something about it and rewire your brain and change the way you focus on things and what you focus on.

Humans appear to be wired to focus on the negative but that doesn’t help you to thrive and succeed.

You really need to work on your focus and to grow and nurture a strong success mindset and it is easier than you think; you may just need a few pointers to help you out along the way.

To that end, please check out the featured resource below as it features a free report that will help you to develop a strong mindset that can help propel you into the success you deserve. Download, read it and take action 😊

Lack Of Motivation? How To Overcome A Lack Of Motivation In Your Life

It happens to us all. One day we’re motivated and the next day we’re in the dumps having ourselves a pity party. Staying motivated is not easy and lack of motivation can be a serious problem that affects every one of us.

If keeping yourself motivated were easy, everybody would do it and we’d all be successful, but as you will know, that simply isn’t the case!

But, it can be done. You believe it can be done and that’s why you’re reading this right now – good for you!

Think about this: You may have felt good about a certain job or project when it began. You were filled with enthusiasm and motivation.

Then you hit a few speed bumps and unexpected failures and your motivation waned. You may have fallen into depression and decided to give up. All of those positive thoughts turned into negative ones.

This is nothing new and, believe me, you are NOT alone! We’ve all experienced these emotions that can cause us to give up prematurely. All that upsurge of energy when we started a new project inevitably ends as dreams become reality and we lose our confidence.

You get bogged down with “life” and those feelings of hope just disappear as “reality” sets in!

Don’t be so hard on yourself; you are allowed to dream, and dream big.

The trick is to turn these negative emotions around and the best way to do that is to understand them, analyze them and find out what caused them. We lose our motivation as we lose our focus, our confidence and our direction.

If you can learn to control these three emotions you can control your life. Let’s take a quick look at each of these now:

Focus on what you really want

Focus can make or break your dreams, it’s as simple as that.

Be specific and be positive. We generally think in terms of what we don’t have rather than focus on what we want.

Try flipping this around; it’s also a good idea to be grateful for what you have and where you are at present.

You can find a great post about gratitude and self-reflection here.

Don’t focus on your fears but what you can do to overcome them. Don’t focus on being poor but on a plan to create wealth.

To do this make a plan to get there one step at a time. You don’t become the president of a company until you’ve come up from the ranks.

Focus on your plan to achieve your objectives and your goals. Be realistic on your goals.

Goals that are unreachable can lead to depression. But even small goals that are achieved lead to increased motivation.

Boost your confidence

So many people think that confidence is something you either have or you don’t, but, like any other skill or attribute, it can be acquired and developed.

To quickly boost self-confidence, you can do this by taking stock on what you already have and not what you lack. This is closely linked to the gratitude point made previously.

You’ll probably discover you’re more successful than you think.

We waste our mind power being jealous of others instead of working on achieving our own aspirations.

Don’t take your strengths for granted and count your failures one by one.

Count your blessings one by one and whatever your mind thinks it can accomplish.

Mindset is very powerful, but we hear it so often it can appear trite or cliched, but it really is a powerful tool to enable you to achieve whatever you want out of life.

So, confidence is a powerful motivator, but without a sense of direction, you won’t make the most of it, so let’s look at that now.

Without direction there is no motivation

You must create a day-to-day strategy. Make a to-do list and do it. Mark off each item once it’s accomplished and do not mark it off until it’s done.

You’ll eventually get tired of looking at it on your list and do it.

By making a list or outline of what needs to be done, you’ll find ways to do it and you’ll believe that you truly deserve success.

Don’t waste time by worrying about the future. Start today by doing something to change your future for the better. Today’s actions can create a better future.

Set goals that challenge you to grow, and don’t forget to enjoy the journey and not just the destination. And also, don’t be afraid to “fail” once in a while.

A great post about reframing “failure” can be found here.

Don’t be surprised or depressed about a lack of motivation; it will affect us all many times during our lives, but it is how we react to it that can make all the difference.

Look at it as an opportunity to step back and analyze what you’re doing wrong and what you’re doing right.

Discover your faults and correct them. When you re-evaluate your plans and goals from a fresh perspective, you’ll feel a new surge of enthusiasm and motivation and that lack of motivation can quickly become a thing of the past and you can move onto bigger and better things.