Motivation is one of those things that one can never have enough of. It is that magic ingredient that leads to our get-up-and-go and passion. Having more motivation is beneficial because it spurs us to action. It makes accomplishing things easier and channels us to increased productivity. Yet sometimes we can go through periods where our motivation drops.
Motivation can be a phenomenon that comes and goes. It is a rare bird who is always motivated. But do not despair if you feel a lack of motivation. Our feelings of motivation are not static, but rather fluid. Our level of motivation ebbs and flows, depending on a host of factors. This means that with some attention on your part, you have the ability to increase your motivation.
Some factors affecting our level of motivation are beyond our control. But there are factors within our control and things we can do to increase our feelings of motivation. Below is a list of ten things you can do to pump up your motivation.
What is motivation exactly? It is that feeling of purposefulness. Motivation is that force within that drives us to accomplish goal-oriented behavior. Motivation can be a seed that grows within us. The more we accomplish, the more motivation we can feel. Motivation is that base that our accomplishments are built upon. Motivation can see us through dark times, enabling us to have the drive to go on. Motivation can propel us to success.
So what can one do to increase their motivation?
1. Make Increasing Motivation a Goal
Realize that increasing your motivation is a goal that you have. Make that admission to yourself. Without a focus on bettering your drive in life, how can one expect an increase in motivation to just happen? Firstly, you should pay attention to your desire to channel your innate motivation more fully in your life.
2. Incorporate What Makes You Happy Into Your Routine
Being in good spirits is helpful in increasing both our energy level and our feelings of motivation. Think about what in your life makes you most happy. Then try to incorporate elements of those things that make you most happy into your daily routine. For example, if you enjoy socializing, find ways to socialize more, utilizing pockets of time or incorporating socialization into other areas of your life such as work.
3. Set Goals for Yourself
Set goals for yourself. These goals should be concrete and attainable. You should not set goals that are unrealistic for yourself, because this will sap your motivation and may make you feel like giving up. Major goals should be set in incremental steps, so that each step is something realistic for you to be able to complete.
4. Write Your Goals Down
Writing something out helps it to become more concrete in your mind. The written item acts as a reminder. It also gives us a chance to tweak our thoughts as we put them in written form. Lists are great. They help us to organize and prioritize our goals. The act of writing out our goals itself is an action that we are taking toward our goals. It is a first step to taking further action to attain one’s goal. It feels good to take an action toward one’s goal, however small.
5. Practice Visualization
Taking the time to visualize oneself attaining one’s goals helps one feel more connected to that goal, which increases motivation to attain the goal. Visualization involves imagining in one’s mind what success in an endeavor would look like. It is a way to remind ourselves of what the end goal is and what its benefits are. This keeps us in touch with the goal and why it is our desire. That spurs motivation to accomplish our goal.
6. Regularly Review Your Goals
Regularly assess and review your goals and where you stand with them. If you do not check in with the goals you have set out for yourself, it is easy to lose touch with them and consequently lose your motivation. It is important to remind yourself of your goals periodically, and also to think about the reasons for your goals, why you set them in the first place.
7. Replace Negative Self-Talk With Positive Self-Talk
How we feel both physically and psychologically affects our level of motivation. Watch for any negative self-talk, which can deplete one’s feeling of confidence and along with it, one’s motivation. Do your best to replace negative inner statements with positive ones. With practice, we can choose which thoughts to follow in our minds and delve further into. So try your best to cut off the negative thoughts and delve into those positive thoughts that you are doing your best to generate.
8. Optimize Your Energy Levels
Watch your energy levels. It is hard to be motivated to take action when one is tired. Physical energy is important in order for us to tap into our full reservoir of motivation. Maintain good sleep levels and healthy eating habits to optimize your energy. This will have a positive effect on your level of motivation. Energy needs an outlet, and it spurs one to action. Channeling your energy towards your goals will increase your motivation levels, especially as you get more accomplished along the path to conquering your goals.
9. Acquire a Taste for Being Busy
Try your best to subscribe to the theory that “busy is happy.” If you can learn to enjoy being busy, you will be able to accomplish more. That success in accomplishing tasks will in turn encourage you to have more motivation to try to accomplish more. The feeling of scratching items off of your to-do list feeds into your sense of self-confidence. And higher self-confidence allows you to set goals without getting caught up in anxiety that you may not attain them.
10. Drop the Goal of Perfection
Being a perfectionist can sabotage our motivation and lead to procrastination. All of that pressure to be perfect creates a barrier to action. We develop anxiety about making our next move. But if we drop the goal of perfection, and retool our goals to be in line with the reality that there is no such thing as perfection anyway, we can stop the sapping of our motivation. We can stop psyching ourselves out of trying. The goal should be to make our best effort, and that is good enough.
So remember, motivation is something we can increase in ourselves with some effort on our part. Motivation is a crucial factor in how much we accomplish. It is a base that we build from in our journey to move forward and attain our goals in life. As such it is well worth the effort of focusing on factors that can boost our motivation. Motivation is that feeling that gets us out of bed in the morning, giving us get-up-and-go. Motivation is the fuel that ignites our passions and leads to great accomplishment. Best of all, boosting one’s motivation is possible.
Follow these guidelines and soon you will be on your way to increased motivation!
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