Sometimes I become side-tracked. I let my lazy mind overtake my willpower. I let my mood get in the way of what I ultimately want to achieve. I procrastinate, put things off, and feel even worse later when I try to get things done in such a short period of time. The next thing I know I've fallen back into this hole of laziness, procrastination, and not doing what I know I should be doing. Then I wait for the new year or my birthday to come around in order to get excited about my New Year's Resolutions as if the date is going to make any difference. If you feel like you can relate to this and are starting to feel unmotivated, even though it's only February, so!
Here are 5 tips on how you can remain inspired and motivated:
1. Get used to forcing yourself to do things.
This sounds tough, doesn't it? Our mind has muscles. It memorizes patterns. By doing this over and over, you're building your willpower and self-discipline. Forcing yourself to do things that you don't feel like doing (but you know you should be doing) is a habit you can learn.Every time I don't feel like doing something like going to the gym or abstaining from eating chocolate, I tell myself that if I keep doing it for several weeks, one day it will become a habit. At that point, doing it will become second to nature. The next thing you know, you won't even feel like breaking your good habits anymore.
2. Seek inspiration -- every day.
No matter how intrinsically driven we are, we can easily lose our motivation if we don't continue to seek it out. Ever since I was a child, I have made it a habit to look for inspiration. The Internet has given us the power to find anything and everything. It is up to you to use that power to your advantage. Because I am a creative person and I feel stuck, bored, and stagnant the moment that I don't feel inspired. To feel alive again, I look for inspiration. I read books, watch videos, read articles, and do things that reflect what and who I aspire to become. I find ways to better myself and find inspiration every day.If you have lost motivation with work, see if you can do more challenging tasks. Read articles and watch videos that inspire your creative spark. Meet new people. Go to events.
Everyone is different and you're the only one who knows what suits you the most.
3. Focus on the emotional reward you will get.
When you're on the fence of fear, doubt, laziness, and tiredness, you have to focus on the emotional reward you will get if you just push yourself a little bit more to jump over that fence.
Be clear from the beginning what the reward will be and keep your eyes on the prize the whole time. Aim for something substantial and take into account the things you will learn along the way as well. The journey is just as important as the destination, but the biggest reward will be reaching your goal in itself. You will have taken a step towards making a habit out of achieving goals
4. Track your goals weekly and periodically.
Tracking your goals is crucial. We hold ourselves accountable when we don't achieve our goals.
Writing things down is a way to reinforce to our subconscious what we want. Just like the practice of prayer. The more we tell ourselves what we want to achieve, the more likely we are to take action. We're not letting those goals slip through our minds. The subconscious is powerful. The thoughts you say out loud are not as powerful as the thoughts you whisper to yourself. Positive affirmations hold their power. By tracking your goals and telling yourself over and over what you want to achieve, eventually you will overcome your laziness.
5. Set a reward for yourself.
Who doesn't like rewards? Rewards can keep us motivated. And if a reward can keep us motivated for 30 days, then we might have successfully changed our habit by then too. Pick a healthy reward for yourself. While a material reward like a new outfit, a vacation, or a massage can be great, an inner reward feels better and is more sustainable.
What is an inner reward? An inner reward is the emotional reward you feel from within. This brings us back to point 3 - focus on the emotional reward. Instead of focusing on rewards such as "if I lose 10 lbs, I'm going to buy a new outfit," focus on the confidence and happiness you'll feel from being fit and healthy. Think about how much more productive you'd become when you feel energized. If you focus on a material reward, you may get excited when you get the reward, but after a while, you will lose your motivation again. The emotional reward is sustaining and it is built from within. Make it a habit to focus on the emotional reward and it will become easier to make real change in your life.
