Need an energy boost to achieve your goals, or to improve your overall quality of life?
Change your mindset, your daily tasks, and how you view your life to stay super motivated towards your goals.
1. Set Goals
How can we stay motivated if we don’t know what we are working towards? Goals without plans are really just wishes. So set a goal and make a plan to reach it. Visualize everything to the last detail – see it, feel it, breathe it.
2. Write Everything Down
A great way to stay motivated, is to stay organized with clear and consistent goals. To do this, start by writing everything down. I mean everything. It may seem tedious at first, but I guarantee you it’s the best way to gain clarity to what goals you are trying to achieve, and how they align with other goals.
Write down and say your goals as if you have already achieved it. Grant Cardone talks about this at length in his book The 10X Goal: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure, and it has given me the motivation needed at various times in my life. Grant Cardone is the man! While he’s not specifically a motivational speaker, his drive, determination, and no nonsense kick ass attitude is the ultimate motivation to get you thinking and moving in the right direction.
The Importance of Goal Setting
You can’t read Grant Cardone’s book without realizing how important goal setting is to improving your quality of life, and achieving all your dreams. Goal setting is always the first step. But Grant informs us that how we word our goals is just as important.
Instead of “I want to own a successful business” write “I own a successful business”. Instead of “I want to have a healthy relationship with my partner” write “I have a healthy relationship with my partner”. I can’t stress enough how this simple change in mindset and the way in which we address things can change the outcome dramatically.
Speak and write everything into existence by addressing them as if they have already been accomplished. Not only with this be empowering, but it will also help to maintain your enthusiasm.
Again, make sure to write these down… with a pen. And say them out loud. When we write things down, and say them, we engage more use of our senses which helps us to retain the information better and longer. Ideally, do this in the morning before you start your day, and at night before bed.
3. But Whhyyyyy?
This is important. What is your “why?” What is it that you want to stay motivated for? Figure this out and use it to fuel your motivation. Is it material gain you seek? Monetary? Personal gratification? Feelings of accomplishment? Whatever it may be, if it is significant to you, it is valid. But you must recognize it first.
4. Break Things Down
Tony Robbins, and many other motivational and successful individuals, have stated that one of our biggest stress factors stem from feeling overwhelmed. As we know, these feelings can, and do, occur on a daily basis.
We tend to always seek instant gratification. I know I have been guilty of this many times. When we want something, we want it all at once. But that’s not the way life works, is it? We tell this to our young children, but do we follow and realize it ourselves?
Break your goals down into smaller steps and do one thing at a time. Not only will this help to reduce procrastination, but with each completion I guarantee you will feel a small level of success. And as we know, that feeling of dopamine will have us yearning for more.
5. Strategize
… but pivot if necessary. Whenever you are planning, it’s always best to have some sort of strategy to get you to your final destination. The same concept applies to achieving your goals and staying super motivated.
Take some time to figure out the best strategy that you will employ in order to stay motivated, and to reach your goals. It makes no sense to write down your goals, visualize them, but have no concrete or sensible way in which you will achieve them. This is why all these steps are so important to one another.
Staying organized allows you to stay on track, while writing your goals down allows you to align them with others. These two steps are vital to your ability to strategize and pivot in order to stay motivated. Always put more energy into the things that bring you closer to your goals and keep you motivated. So if you realize (through strategizing) that something is draining your time and energy… pivot to the next.
6. Be Fearless!
I know, I know… easier said than done. But like I always say, hard is not impossible! And becoming fearless may be hard at first, but it can be achieved.
Unfortunately, a large number of our thoughts are fear based. Of course it’s good to be cautious and not jump into everything we do without carefully thinking things through. But when we let our negative thoughts constantly hold us back, we accomplish nothing, and then lose motivation.
Think about it, it’s crazy to fight what life has given us instead of appreciating what it has given us, and work to improve. Thinking about things in a negative light and dwelling on what could be, what should or could have happened is only dwelling on our current situation. The only thing that this type of thought process will do is drain your motivation. Instead we must face those fears and dispel them.
7. Kill Procrastination!
One of the biggest killers of motivation is procrastination. The more you procrastinate on something that you need to complete, the more motivation you will lose. While procrastination can stem from our personality, it can also be generated by lack of proper time management. If you’re constantly binge watching a Netflicks series or scrolling through social media, then you’ll never get anything done. Don’t get me wrong! A good Netflicks show is sometimes a much needed break… but moderation is key.
Manage Your Time Effectively
Time management is a hard skill to master. I mean, do we really want to be working all the time? Not to mention all the distractions that come with social media, gadgets, and even family and friends. Always aim to use the time that you have wisely, and consider the draining effects that certain factors will have against it. Maximizing your time begins with organization and goal setting.
Set your goal, and get yourself organized so that you can see exactly what needs to be done.
8. Get Energized
While many of us would like to think we are superhuman and can complete all our daily tasks, stay motivated, and slay our goals all at the same time… This likely not true for the majority of us. Maintaining motivation while fighting through setbacks, upsets, and what we think are failures, is a difficult task.
Get help and find people who will energize you. This energy can come from a pep talk, advice, or simply helping to take a few tasks off of your list. Either way, the people around you should help to keep you motivated, they shouldn’t drain you. They should understand your priorities, and help you to maintain them. They should recognize what drains your energy, and help you to avoid it. Someone who energizes you in various aspects of life, will help you to stay motivated.
9. Check In & Recognize Progress
What can be the biggest boost in motivation? Progress!
This is also linked to your “why”. The reasons why you what to stay motivated on a particular task. By checking in you can re-evaluate if this is something that is still important to you.
If you have noticed a drop in your motivation, maybe it’s because your reasons for staying motivated are no longer valid. If this is true, then its time to pivot to the next and strategize.
But checking in also allows you to recognize your progress. Looking back and realizing how far you’ve come will give you a boost in momentum that will keep you motivated to the next step. It will reassure that achieving the goal you are working towards is possible.
10. Laugh & Learn
The most valuable step by far. With all that we do in life, and with all that we accomplish, we must never forget to laugh and learn in every situation.
Not only are there many health benefits associated with laughter, but laughing also helps to breed joy and humour in our lives. Finding the positive in all circumstances keeps us motivated to continue even when faced with hardships. When we are able to do this, we are also able to learn from the situation.
Final Thoughts
Maintaining motivation can be a difficult thing to do. There are many external and internal factors that produce discouragement, fear, and obstacles. The only way to address this is to do what you need to do anyways… just like Ruth Soukup talks about in her Do It Scared Podcast. The more you find ways to produce and preserve positive energies and motivation, the easier it will become to accomplish your goals, and to stay super motivated.
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