Top 10 Ways to Stay Motivated
Sir Isaac Newton got it right with his First Law of Motion: Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest. Often the biggest problem people have with achieving their goals is getting started or keeping the momentum going to achieve their goals after
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
they’ve begun. We’ve listed ten ways to help keep you motivated toward the success you ultimately deserve!
1. Stay aware of the goals you’ve already reached and the goals you plan to reach
Review your goal list every day. Review the next steps you need to take today that will move you closer to achieving your goals.
2. Recognize your successes
Take a moment to relish to goals you’ve already achieved (or the steps you’ve completed toward achieving a goal). Picture the accomplishment in your minds-eye and be grateful for the accomplishment.
3. Reward your successes
Remember that we humans operate off of a very basic reward system. It makes it much easier to put in the work to achieve a goal if we have an immediate reward following the achievement. It doesn’t have to be something huge, but it should be something that is meaningful to you.
4. Keep visible signs of your progress
Keep a list that visibly shows the status of your goals. I’m a big user of digital technology in every area of my life and absolutely love it, however, even though I use digital software to track my goals, I still like a piece of paper that I can see and touch that shows my progress.
5. Keep track of your progress daily
Review your progress literally every day, even on the weekends. Make sure you look at the list and review it, don’t just skim over it. The visual and mental combination is priceless on keeping you motivated and moving toward achieving your goals
6. Add some variety to the routine if it starts to become monotonous
There may be times you need to get creative. For example, if one of your goals is to clean the leaves up in your yard and solo raking is really becoming a grid, then switch things up. Recruit some friends to come help, use a leaf blower instead to speed up the process, hire someone else to do it, etc.
7. Identify new ways to challenge yourself
One of the reasons you’ve set goals and need to be motivated is because you need to grow. It’s inherent in all of us, and so is complacency. If you are motivated by challenges, then you’ll do well with this approach and it will help to get you moving again.
8. Create a little friendly competition
You may feel that you just need to compete with yourself, but ideally you should compete with someone else. Keep it light, but focus on winning. This could be between a friend, family member or your competitor. This is a great motivator!
9. Immediately forgive yourself for failures and setbacks.
Let’s face it – you aren’t always going to succeed in every goal or task with flying colors, and sometimes you may fall flat on your face. It’s extremely important to stop negative self talk dead in its tracks if you have a tendency to beat yourself up when you have a failure. Instead focus on what can be learned from your mistake and immediately get back to the task of achieving your goal.
10. Don’t go it alone.
Share your goal with others. This helps with accountability and motivation. Having someone to share your dreams and goals with will take you much further than trying to go it alone.
