Motivation for most people is a tricky thing; it often comes in waves. One day you’re all set to jump out of bed and accomplish tasks oriented toward your goals and the next day there’s a total lack of drive. Motivation is similar to food; you need it more than once a day and every day to keep you going. So what can you do when you’re just not up for it? Follow these tricks to motivate yourself to work.

Why is Motivation Important in Life?

Motivation isn’t innate; it is not the case that we can wake up every morning and turn on the motivation switch to work effectively throughout the day. There are forces within us that control our thoughts and moods that can interfere with our goals. Therefore a system is needed in place to keep ourselves motivated throughout. Here are the reasons why you need a source of motivation in life:

  • Interest in the task at hand can wane with time and as the toil that goes into getting to our goals starts to unfold. Motivation helps us stay on track.
  • Failures can often make us feel defeated and lose the interest to carry on.
  • Motivation and success are interdependent; the presence of one catalyses the other.
  • Motivation is what keeps you going towards your goals when the going becomes difficult or painful.
  • Motivation clarifies goals when you figure out exactly what it is that want to accomplish, the drive to achieve it develops on its own.
  • Confidence is a by-product of being motivated, and confidence is an important driver to help us take on challenges.

How to Motivate Yourself-Checkout These Simple Steps

Here are some tips to motivate yourself which work like a charm:

1. Jump into The Task and Let Motivation Catch Up

It’s often the case that you are ready to go and start that task you need to, but there’s no motivation, and the distractions are stronger. This is the time just to get started and get moving. Eventually motivation catches up to you, and after a while, things start to get easier.

2. Start Small to Avoid Procrastination

It does not matter how big the goal is; procrastination is common. Just the thought of the drudgery involved in getting to the goals can make us want to give into diversions and postpone important work. If you often feel this, break your goal down to small manageable bits and every time you complete the smaller tasks it gives you a little kick that motivates for further.

3. Avoid Distractions

You would know all things that distract you; maybe it’s the urge to check social media of your messenger, or maybe it’s that episode of your favourite series that you’ve been longing to watch. Distractions are waiting to pounce on your at the first opportunity. Therefore log out of social media during work, put your phone on silent and keep that episode on the side as a reward for when you do a good day’s work.

0:00/0:00

4. Write Things Down

Nothing makes plans for your day more concrete than writing them down on a note pad. Keep this list on your desk or write it on a post-it and stick it to the cabinet. Each time you complete a task, strike it off, it gives you a little boost of motivation, and you feel good about yourself.

5. Get Accountability from Someone in Your Life

It could be anyone; a mentor, a best friend, someone you admire or your partner, tell them to keep tabs on you and your work periodically. This trick will help you stay on your feet, and you’re less likely to procrastinate or lose motivation at the first obstacle you come across.

6. Get Motivated By Others

Learning from others is a powerful motivator to keep you going. Your source of inspiration could be your mentor or a highly competent boss who motivates himself and the rest of the team to work harder. Then there are blogs, books or podcasts of the popular gurus of success who can give you valuable tips. It is equally important to stay away from negative or pessimistic people who can bring you down with their analysis of the dark side of things.

7. Focus on Optimism

Although a pessimistic view of thing can have value at times and may even have deeper truths hidden it, it’s not really what you need to be focussing on when you need motivation. Pessimism can sap your energy and motivation. Optimism, on the other hand, is betting on things despite the odds and working towards making it happen. It can energise you and recharge your motivation.

8. Be Kind to Yourself When Things Don’t Go Well

When you stumble or fall, it’s easy to beat yourself up. This is a trap most of us fall into. It doesn’t often work well; the only result you’ll get is feeling worse and further lack of motivation. Instead, be more kind to yourself when you fail and nudge yourself back on track one step at a time.

9. Develop a Healthy Competition

Engaging in healthy competition with your peers can help spice things up at work or even improve productivity and bring in more innovation. To make things more fun, you could compete for an insignificant prize like a bar of chocolate or ice-cream!

10. Make Yourself Your Own Yardstick

Competing can often get you carried away, and when you’re not the better one, feelings of inadequacy and hostility can establish themselves. Therefore always compare your work to what it was the day or the week before and measure progress on that.

11. Always Know Why You are Working Towards Your Goal

When low on motivation, it’s easy to lose sight of your goals. Therefore take time aside to write down why it is that you do what you do. Maybe you’re working to save for something, or for your education or it is a long cherished dream. Always keep that end goal in mind.

12. Be Grateful for What You Have

One of the tricks on how to inspire yourself is to count your blessings. When motivation is low, look at all the wonderful things you have in your life that keep you going, and which you might be taking for granted.

13. Take Failures in Your Stride

Motivating yourself after failure can be especially difficult when it gets to you. Therefore always be prepared to see failure in a better light. Remember that failure is always an event and not a person, therefore take the lessons that are needed and leave the rest behind.

14. Get Help When You Need It

Difficult times will interfere with everybody’s will to persevere. Therefore surround yourself with supportive friends and family for motivating yourself when depressed.

15. Keep Your Workplace in Order

Having a decluttered workspace that is minimalistic can influence your mind profoundly. Therefore take time to clean your place every day to help keep your work and mind in order.

16. Take Breaks to Reset Yourself

Non-stop work can make you dull and lose motivation in the long run. Breaks are often needed to refresh your mind and help the ideas and motivation to flow.

17. Look Back at Your Success

Make it a habit to look back at your previous accomplishments and how you did them. Especially when your motivation is running low. It could give you new ideas.

18. Exercise Regularly

Exercise is a wonderful way to release stress and reset your mind every day. When things get monotonous, an exercise session can help clear up the muck.

19. Reward Yourself

This is essential. Rewarding yourself with something you enjoy after your success builds a positive reinforcement that can help you stay motivated.

Things That Can Always Keep You Motivated

Ideally, to live a life of constant motivation that doesn’t require explicit motivational techniques, you would need to set up your work/life in such a way that it’s not a constant battle. To do that keep these things in mind:

1. Passion

Nothing kills motivation than to engage in work where you don’t put your heart and soul in to. A work-life that is built around something you’re passionate about often doesn’t need motivational tips or tricks to keep you going. It is something that will come naturally to you, and you would enjoy every bit of it.

2. Habits

You cannot put your work on autopilot and fly with it; work is ever dynamic and unpredictable. There are other habits that you can put in place to bring some structure into your day so that you are motivated to work at the time you need to. Having a fixed routine and timings for work helps you stay productive which in turn drives motivation.

3. Flow

Flow is the state of mind where you are completely in sync with the task at hand with razor sharp focus. Although many factors go into achieving this state, challenge combine with strong motivation is one. Getting into the habit of developing flow is finding that balance between frustration and boredom in all tasks at hand.

Motivation is similar to a muscle that needs to be constantly worked to have it develop strongly. When you have a system in place to help you motivate when things start to go bland, it’s possible to achieve the goals you set.