When it comes to being successful in life, in your career, relationships, anything really, you need to understand what’s motivating you. Motivation comes from why we’re doing something, what we’re getting out of it or how it’s going to benefit us, and how it will change our lives or someone else’s. Motivation is often bunched together with productivity. Productivity is how efficiently we complete work or tasks that we’ve set out for ourselves or that have been set out for us. It’s how well we’re able to complete tasks in a specified time. Motivation on the other hand, is what makes us start in the first place, and continue after we’ve gotten tired or bored.
So how do you increase your motivation? This is something that people are never truly going to be satisfied with, so it’s challenging to benchmark your progress. That being said, it is do-able, but you have to be persistent and be patient.
To start out, you need to understand your why. If you want to increase your motivation for working out, you need to understand why you want that. Why do you want to work out? Why haven’t you been able to get yourself motivated in the past? Are your goals in alignment with working out? Is there something physically stopping you from working out? You’re basically analyzing why you want something, what was stopping you in the past, and how it’s going to improve your life. So for example, if your goal is working out, but you always struggle to stay consistent with going to the gym after work because you’re too tired, but your doctor is telling you to lose weight, you’re not stuck.
The second step is identifying a solution. You can’t just create or recognize a problem and then just accept it. Well you can, but you shouldn’t want to. You should want to fix it and move on with your life.
So for our example of going to the gym, maybe your solution is getting up earlier and working out, or only working out two days a week instead of five. Maybe you start with working out on the weekends or your days off, and then slowly build yourself up to more days a week. Your solution is what’s going to lead you to your plan of action, so you need to make sure that it’s something you can and will actually do. If you’re not a morning person whatsoever, maybe trying to wake up even earlier and workout isn’t a good solution for you. If you struggle with finding a solution, you can reach out to your support system (friends, family) and seek advice from others. You might be surprised how eager most people are to help, especially if it means only giving a suggestion or helping you sort through ideas.
Lastly, you need a plan of action. Now that you’ve identified what your goal is, how you’re going to achieve it, you have to basically take the first step and move towards your goal. Here is where your motivation comes in. If you’ve identified why you couldn’t be properly motivated before, and you’re approaching the goal with a different solution, this is already going to boost your motivation. If you find yourself still struggling, we have some more pointers for you.
Try asking a buddy!
If your confidence is something that’s stopping you from taking that cooking class or going to workout at your gym, try asking someone to join you. This way you don’t feel like the new person in the room, and you have someone to lean on for courage and confidence.
Look at your lifestyle
What’s a habit that seems to be in the way of achieving your goal? If your goal is to save $200 a month, but you aren’t motivated enough because you would rather spend that money going for dinner with friends on weekends, then you might want to re-evaluate your lifestyle. How important is it to save $200? How important is it to go out with friends? If you can’t decide, you can take baby steps. Try suggesting your friends go somewhere cheaper, or to someone’s house for a potluck.
Reward yourself
If you break up your timeline with small goals and achievements, you’ll be more likely to stay motivated as your next reward is close. This also encourages you to reach your goals to their fullest potential (larger goals) as you also check off small goals at the same time.
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