Motivation is the powerful force you need to help you pursue your goals and improve not only yourself but your quality of life as well. However, staying motivated isn’t always easy and there can be many roadblocks that may get in your way. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to keep yourself motivated and stay on track. Wondering what they are? Keep on reading to learn about the best tips and strategies that teach you how to keep yourself motivated and why they work.
How to Keep Yourself Motivated: 11 Tips and Strategies
1. Use the Power of a Visual Reminder
Think about what you’d like to achieve in one, two, four, or eight years, and then put all of them on paper. After that, hang it on a wall so you can look at it every day. This will be a visual reminder that can help you stay motivated so you can continue working on your goals.
2. Be Aware of Your Weaknesses
Ask yourself what are the temptations and distractions that usually stop you from getting something done. Identifying them can make you consciously aware of these things, which will help you avoid or eliminate them.
So find your temptation or distraction and then come up with a way to get rid of it. That way, nothing will get in your way of staying motivated.
3. Have a Support Group of Your Own
If you find it difficult to stay disciplined, create your own support group comprised of your friends and family. Share with them what you plan to do and approximately how much time it’ll take you to get it done. Additionally, tell them that you’re going to give them occasional updates about how much progress you’ve made.
This way, you’ll have supporters who will be cheering for you every step of the way. In other words, you won’t be working on your goals just for your sake; you’ll also be doing it for your loved ones because they want to see you succeed.
Receiving such positive energy from your friends and family can make it easier for you to stay motivated no matter how hard things get.
4. Remember the Danger of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
A self-fulfilling prophecy happens when your belief or expectation eventually comes true as a result of your actions or thoughts.
For example, you may believe that you are going to fail the Biology test, no matter how hard you study for it because it’s not one of the subjects you are good at. This belief may lead you to become too stressed during the test, making you forget everything you studied.
But what would have happened if you believed that you’d pass the test as long as you studied for it? Then you’d be able to take the test in a calm and relaxed state, helping you pass it.
Unfortunately, self-fulfilled prophesies are more common than they may initially seem. And they are also one of the main reasons behind a lack of self-discipline or an absence of it.
So it’s important to address it by changing your perspective about things. After all, how do you expect yourself to stay motivated if you always expect to get the negative results your self-fulfilling prophecies tell you about?
5. Remember That It’s Not a Race
You shouldn’t compare yourself to others because everyone takes a different route in life. Not only that but even the pace of each person is distinct from the other.
This means that the only person you should compete against is yourself. So you don’t have to focus on anyone except yourself.
What happens when you shift your focus to someone else who seems to be doing better than you? You immediately feel worse, telling yourself that you’re not good enough.
So do your best to avoid these kinds of comparisons because they will only bring you down. Instead, try to lift yourself up by appreciating even the tiniest of progress you are making.
6. Try the Pomodoro Technique
This technique teaches you how to effectively break up the work time. More specifically, you should work uninterrupted for only 25 minutes. After which you should take a break for 5 minutes.
So why does this work? Because a session is sufficiently long to help you work on something and make progress. But at the same time, it’s not exhaustingly long, which means you get to keep your energy.
And what happens when you run out of energy and become burned out? You lose motivation to get anything done. So use this technique to prevent that from happening.
7. Don’t Beat Yourself Up
If things get difficult and you start to struggle, don’t insult or criticize yourself for not doing enough. Instead, be compassionate toward yourself and continue working at your own pace.
Beating yourself up will only work against you because you’ll lose motivation to get anything done. So the best thing you can do is to be patient with yourself so you can show yourself the kindness you deserve.
8. Remind Yourself the Source of Your Motivation
When things get difficult and you feel like giving up, ask yourself why you decided to do something in the first place. And then keep reminding yourself every day.
It doesn’t matter whether the source of motivation is external or internal. What’s crucial is not to forget the very thing that gave you the drive in the first place. This will help you stay motivated and keep getting closer to your goals. So continue moving forward until you finally get there.
9. Find Inspiration to Get Motivation
Inspiration can be a gentle nudge you need to get motivated in life. Fortunately, there are many ways you can find inspiration. For example, you can listen to inspiring songs with the message of not giving up and persevering through difficulties. Or you can listen to the advice of your role models and find out what helped them achieve their goals in life. So find your source of inspiration and you’ll surely be able to find your source of motivation too.
10. Visualize that You Are Already There
Close your eyes and imagine that you have already achieved everything you’ve been working hard for. Why does this work? Because visualizing success can make you feel more emotionally connected to your wishes and goals, which can motivate you to keep working diligently to achieve them.
11. Establish Deadlines
Set specific deadlines for all your goals and tasks. This will make you more aware of the time factor, creating a sense of urgency, which can help you stay motivated.
Final Thoughts
It’s only natural to get tired every so often, making you feel like procrastinating is a good idea. However, everyone knows what happens when you end up succumbing to the power of procrastination. Fortunately, you can use these tips to stay motivated and avoid the temptation to procrastinate.
