Keeping Motivated: 5 Tips To Stay Motivated This Year

Keeping motivated is not easy, particularly when times are as uncertain and fleeting as these. But for us to continue bettering ourselves, learning to stay motivated is very important. You know that feeling when you want to do it, but not really? Yeah, that’s what we’re talking about today because you’re not the only one experiencing this feeling. Maybe you’ve hit a slump and are feeling a little less than motivated to work towards the goals you have set for the year?  There’s a big chance you are, and all you need is a little booster to get you back on track.

Sometimes high-stress or uncertainty can make us feel a little less than motivated to work, exercise, eat healthy, finish a book, get creative, or even finish the most basic tasks. For instance, you may have all these goals set out that you know will help your well-being, but keeping motivation just seems impossible.

Undoubtedly, it does take quite a bit of energy out of you to complete these goals or tasks. Keeping motivated to come up with a new idea, finish that online course, exercise, meditate, or whatever it may be, uses energy. And in most cases, there’s absolutely no reason for your lack of motivation. That’s why it’s very important to remember that you cannot rely on motivation. You won’t feel it every day because motivation comes and goes. FYI, this goes for all humans, so you can also stop comparing yourself to others.

Keeping Motivated Is Better Than Relying On It

Basically, what this means is that we can do our very best to find ways to keep motivation flowing. But we cannot expect to feel motivated every day when we wake up, because that’s just not human. We need to understand the steps to opening ourselves up for motivation to flow because it’s a massive driving force to success. And because you now understand that motivation is not a constant thing, you need to know what things motivate you to get back on track to focus on achieving your goals.

Often, keeping motivated doesn’t happen but accomplishing one goal after another does. Why? Because the person succeeding has made accomplishment a part of their daily schedule and routine. They might not feel motivated, but they know what they have to get done tomorrow.

Interestingly, there are many tasks that successful people may not like at all. Yet they find the motivation to complete them because they recognize how each particular task serves a greater goal. So we might not be able to stay motivated forever, but we can open ourselves up to keeping motivation most of the time.

Staying Motivated With Your Why

What was your reason for setting this goal in the first place? There must be a reason you are seeking to achieve it. Keeping motivation is simpler when you start writing these down as you ponder on them. Anything you do, no matter how simple, has a number of good reasons behind it.

That’s the other thing, you need to know what the benefits are after achieving that goal. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to stay motivated. You may not even find good reasons to do certain tasks at first. But, if you take just a few moments to analyze them, you will easily spot something good. Then there are those tasks that we do on autopilot without any motivation whatsoever. That’s because we’ve been doing them for so long it’s become second nature.

Lately, we’ve felt the heavy cloud of the pandemic and added pressure. It’s been tough keeping motivation which makes us feel stuck with some tasks, especially the ones we despise. It can’t go on like this, so it’s best to take some action. We found some really great ways to rediscover your good reasons.

Find Your Reason

People set goals all the time, but very rarely achieve them. That’s because when you set goals, there needs to be a solid reason behind them. Staying motivated will be difficult if you’re working towards a goal you don’t really understand. Also, when things feel difficult it can be tricky to see the reasons behind your goals but if you keep at it you’ll find some.

Lifehack shared some ideas for what a good reason can be:

• A material reward. Quite often, you will get paid for doing something you normally don’t like doing at all.
• Personal gain. You will learn something new or will perhaps improve yourself in a certain way.
• A feeling of accomplishment. At least you’ll be able to walk away feeling great about finding the motivation and courage to complete such a tedious task.
• A step closer to your bigger goal. Even the biggest accomplishments in history have started small and relied on simple and far less pleasant tasks than you might be working on. Every task you complete brings you closer to the ultimate goal and acknowledging this always feels good.

Find The Fun In It

It’s so important to enjoy what you’re doing if you’re interested in keeping motivated. Imagine working towards a goal and hating every minute of it. This is a common downfall, but on every journey, there are aspects to play with.

Your attitude and mindset will make all the difference. Just like some people will love doing something, yet others will hate it. Why? This is because some of us find ways to make any task fun and interesting to do. For example, you may be finding it hard to keep motivated to go to the gym and exercise. Mainly because it’s boring or too difficult for you. But then there are those who love it!

Again, we ask why? This is not just because those who enjoy the gym acknowledge the benefits of exercise, they have fun doing it. More importantly, they make exercise an important part of their schedule and soon think of it as a wonderful thing to do. Their time and worth start to be spent well and they begin to feel the rewards of that good feeling.

Every time you’re feeling low on steam, try to reframe how you’re thinking about a task and have fun doing it instead. Find ways to make it more pleasant. When you try hard enough, you WILL find them.

Ask Yourself These Few Questions

Lifehack has a really simple approach to start using whenever you’re presented with a challenging task. These can help make keeping motivation a little easier.

• How can I enjoy this task?
• What can I do to make this task fun for myself and possibly for others?
• How can I make this work for the best part of my day?

Basically, you need to try and make sure you’ve got some good, solid reasoning behind every goal and task to stay motivated. And yes, there are those tasks you need to do that no matter how hard you try they’ll never be fun. However, that’s why we’re saying there are no easy tasks and you need to constantly shift your mindset. It’s a good habit to practice since most tasks can be made more enjoyable.

When something doesn’t feel right, it’s always a good time to take a moment and look for a different approach for the task.

Celebrate Small Successes

Never forget to celebrate your progress, even if it is small. Everything you’re working on is split into smaller steps and parts and that’s very normal for most goals. Staying motivated is really tough if you keep overwhelming yourself with the overarching grand goal.

You’ll lose motivation very quickly if you focus so much on failure or mistakes and forget to recognize your progress. We don’t mean just tracking a task you’ve completed either. Recognizing your progress is looking at the bigger picture and realizing how far you’ve come from point A to point Z.

For some reason, we tend to skip to the good part, the end result, or the final destination. It’s human nature. However, keeping motivation will fade easily with this mentality because you’ll beat yourself up for not getting there. You’re setting yourself up for more failure. Instead of jumping the gun, start feeling satisfied with your little successes and achievements.

Make Necessary Adjustments

Listen, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with adjusting or adapting your plan slightly. It’s often necessary when you’re facing a hefty goal that requires keeping motivation for quite some time. If a certain approach doesn’t work for you, find another one. Keep trying until you find the one which will keep you motivated and get you the desired results.

Some people think that trying a different approach means giving up. They take pride in being really stubborn and refusing to try any other options on their way towards the goal. In our opinion, we believe that focus is what it sounds like and if you’re focusing on the goal you will find a way to accomplish it.

Give Yourself A Few Rewards

This is a trick everyone likes: rewarding yourself is always pleasant. This is also one of the easiest and at the same time most powerful ways to stay motivated!

The more you acknowledge your progress and reward yourself, the easier you’ll find keeping the motivation to accomplish the bigger, grander goal.

Read More

Waking up with a clear sense of purpose and meaning is the secret behind why Japanese people live some of the longest and happiest lives. Find out how to live until 100 years old.

References

How to Stay Motivated and Reach Your Big Goals in Life. Lifehack. https://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/how-to-stay-motivated.html

Finding Motivation: 4 Tips to Stay Motivated in 2020. Rachel Eyo. https://racheleyo.me/2020/02/29/finding-motivation-4-tips-to-stay-motivated-in-2020/

9 Types of Motivation That Make It Possible to Reach Your Dreams. Lifehack. https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/6-types-of-motivation-explained.html