Sometimes you start with a crazy idea or something you wanted to do for a while now. You might even do several new projects at the same time and might feel overwhelmed. Wondering if what you’re doing is the right thing, could it be a waste of time, etc. Whatever it might be that makes you feel like that, today I will try to keep you motivated with some personal advice.
As stated above, I can not guarantee that what I will share will keep you motivated. Everyone has their own personality and freedom to choose if they want to follow any advice or not. With that out of the way, let us get to it, shall we? First things first. Ask yourself why are you feeling less motivated? Have you been doing something for while now with no results or not the results you were hoping for? Are there new developments in your life that could be the cause of demotivation? If you can somewhat get an idea what it might be, you’re already half way back on track to motivation land.
Getting demotivated doesn’t have to be because you’re undertaking something huge and it’s not paying off. Sometimes it can just be something small aswell. You could have reached a milestone in your life and have a empty feeling afterwards, making you less proud of said milestone and could withhold you from realizing other goals. A trick for that is to try and see beyond that milestone, especially when it’s getting closer. Think about what you might want to do after it and make that your new milestone. When you do achieve your goal, you won’t be left with an empty feeling. Think of it as binging a series and already knowing what other series you will watch afterwards.
If your motivation is decreasing because of dissappointing results, cheer up. Don’t expect too much out of anything. The worst case is failing, yes that’s a possibility we all want to avoid, but it’s always there. Still have some expectations in what might happen if you keep working on it, instead of thinking what will happen. Nothing is set in stone after all. So if you just started with a project, give it time. Try to maximize the potential to succeed ( e.g. new business, try as much advertising on social media from the start, even if almost no one sees it. Maybe you’re new to the gym and those exercises are getting tough, take some bigger breaks if needed, as long as you keep returning to the exercises ). Everything needs time to grow, most will say time is your enemy ( time is money, in most cases ) but don’t rush things. Rushing it will bring two major problems that will contribute to whether or not you will stay motivated. You will start making small mistakes that might end prolonging your journey to your goal. Depending on who you are as a person, you might also get stressed by wanting quicker results. Combined they can destroy any undertaking, big or small, if you don’t get a hold of yourself.
But how do you get a hold on yourself? You might be the somewhat lucky type who was born with the gift of stubbornness. People often think being stubborn is a negative trait and in general I do agree with that. Most of the time it is used in the wrong way, not wanting to admit something after making a mistake or cutting ties forever with people, things like that. However, you can control that same power to pour energy into your motivational levels. You don’t want to be defeated by a minor set back, you keep pushing because the amount of stubbornness is greater than what life can throw at you. Sure a set back will happen, but if it does just strike back twice as hard back by putting in the extra effort. It’s one way of taking more control over yourself and unexpected events in life.
If you can’t rely on stubborn traits, you could always take another approach on how you view things. As mentioned earlier, everything requires time to progress. Instead of focusing on deadlines getting closer as if it’s this huge undefeatable monster, just think about the flow of time. Time only goes forward, so yeah that deadline will come closer, but it will pass just as quickly and before you know it it will be in the past far behind you. Time is a one way traffic road, just let things come at you and deal with them when they arrive. No need to fret about it before the actual moment. In the case of our gym example, you can use this way of thinking too. During exercises, think to yourself ‘ I’ve held out this long, I can hold out for a couple of seconds more ‘. Get yourself motivated by your own strenght by simply doing a little bit of math. Suprised? Well, sticking with the gym, go like this; do an exercise for 10 secs, do it again and again. Keep counting in intervals of 10 secs, but also count your number of exercises. Try to go for 10 exercises. By the end of it you will have spend 100 secs and let’s assume this is a lot, be proud of it that you fulfilled it. Breaking up bigger things in smaller pieces is a great way to still achieve the bigger goal, while making it mentally easier for yourself. In this case you could just set a timer at 100 secs and simply try to do 10 repeats of the same exercise withing that time frame. The difference is you’ll feel more pressured to do so and it will feel longer to do so. Again, this might work for some people while others are more comfortable racing against time.
Lastly, this is something I am personally dealing with, is that you can get demotivated by repeated failure. Or atleast the feeling of repeated failure. Even if it’s something out of your control, if you try to do it with different approaches or styles and it still ends up bad. Just drop it. This is might seem like giving up and thus the opposite of keeping yourself motivated. But in this case, if you tried it enough that you can almost predict how it will end up. Just leave it alone entirely. Don’t expect anything from it. Weirdly enough it could still happen, when you least expect it, since everything falls within the realm of chance. It could just be that focussing on it, might hurt getting to that goal more than it would leaving it alone. It’s a bit of a contradicting one for sure. One that could also affect anything else you might want to accomplish. It might take away time, a sense of self worth and it can make you less rational when you let emotions run up high.
In the end, being motivated and keeping that motivation isn ‘t easy for anyone. Sometimes you just need a bit of luck, other times you have to rely on your own. I hope my words are motivational enough for anyone who needs it. Know that you’re not alone in this matter, as we all have experienced it and can experience it again. It’s one of life’s eternal battles.
Business photo created by jigsawstocker.