Last update: January 07, 2018
Learning to feel motivated is essential to achieving your goals. Only when there is real motivation do we really strive to get what they want. But it is only thanks to the flame of passion that we finally succeed in achieving what we want.
Discipline and perseverance are very important. However, they are usually only helpful in fulfilling their duties. It is true that these duties are sometimes performed optimally, but it is the motivation that gives that magic touch to everything. It is that extra, that plus, which not only serves to keep faith with the intentions, but also to make one's dreams come true.
In any case, no goal is easy to achieve. This is why it is so important to learn how to feel motivated. Tenacity, an indispensable virtue to persevere in difficult moments, is the daughter of motivation. Fortunately, learning to feel motivated is within everyone's reach. Below we will outline nine strategies for doing so.
“I can only grow as high as I push myself. I can only find based on what I search for. I can see as far as I look. And I can become as big as my dreams are ”.
-Karen Ravn-
Strategies for feeling motivated
1. Visualize a cause
The first lesson in learning how to feel motivated is to know that the reality with the greatest power to mobilize us is a cause. Goals and goals are intermediate steps. In other words, we don't need to accomplish something specific, but to define the underlying reason that pushes us to do it.
In this perspective, our goal could be to get to know another country. But the cause that moves us is to discover what our true abilities are when we are alone in an unknown context. The raison d'ĂŞtre could also go further. In this example, maybe it could be the goal of overcoming a fear or widening the limits of thought and canceling prejudices.
Then, if the raison d'etre of a behavior is deep, the motivation becomes stronger. It is impossible to learn to feel motivated if you do not first learn to identify the root causes that push us to act.
2. Thinking about the future by drawing inspiration from it
What awaits us in the future should be looked at with inspiration and passion. The future must be there, like a magnet that attracts us. Creating a powerful vision of everything we want to achieve is the best motivation to follow our dreams.
It is important to constantly project yourself into the future. How will I be in a month? In a year? In five years? The essential thing is to nurture these views with positive expectations. Allow yourself to dream. Put aside the fear of failure. Seeing yourself as someone who boldly advances towards a goal and will achieve it, no matter how.
3. Fuel the passion
Passion is an extraordinary feeling, one of the keys to feeling motivated. It makes us feel alive and strong. A flower that does not arise in every garden. It is impossible to feel passion when fear or anger keeps us stuck. These emotions consume us so much that they leave no space for the flame of passion to burn. On the contrary, they take away our vitality and lead us to inaction.
To recover the passion, we need to dissolve the bonds that keep us in this position. Passion only lurks in free spirits and we are all able to free ourselves.
4. Increase the reach of goals
It is possible and advisable to dream big and aim for higher goals. Only if the goal is high enough does a desire intense enough to reach it appear. We only set small goals when we are discouraged or unmotivated.
There is an exercise that can be very interesting to learn how to motivate yourself. The first thing to do is to write down the goal you want to achieve. Then you have to multiply its size by three. Finally, evaluate how the prospect looks to us after raising the bar. The mind is likely to react by saying, "Why not?"
We generally tend to appreciate what takes a lot of effort.
5. Build your own path
It is important to understand that our path is unique. It makes no sense to compare it with others or that other people judge it, because it is a personal experience, a path known only by those who walk it.
From the beginning we must understand that the only person to overcome is ourselves, that we are also the only point of reference for a comparison.
Both when defining a cause and when raising goals and fueling the desire to achieve them, one must always think in individual terms. Perhaps there are external elements or realities from which one can learn. However, the road must be built and it should be designed on the basis of those who travel it, that is, on ourselves.
6. Take it one step at a time
Learning to feel motivated means understand that we need to combine two perspectives: that of the here and now and that of the future that inspires us. We work according to future projections. But we live in terms of advancement in the present.
It is therefore important to take one step at a time. This is even more relevant in times of difficulty. When there are obstacles, it's easy to get overwhelmed and lose confidence. But if we remember to keep the pace and take one step after another, the approach is much more positive and encouraging. As well as more effective.
7. Learn to guide the emotional state
If we feel depressed or anxious, our actions will inevitably reflect these emotions as well. And of course the results we will obtain will also have the same imprint. This is why it is so important to learn to recognize your emotional state and how to work with it to re-stabilize it when necessary.
It is useful to know that there are three main areas in which our emotional state materializes:
- The body. Under the influence of a difficult emotion, the body reacts inside and out. Similarly, it must be managed in both areas. Through breathing, it is possible to regulate physiological processes. The body is refocused with posture and attitude.
- The language. When there is depression or anxiety, a series of expressions arise that reflect these emotions. For example: “I'll never make it”, “this is very difficult” or “I'm sick of everything”. If these expressions arise, they must be transformed. For example: "Part of me thinks I'll never make it, but in reality I won't make it if I keep thinking this way."
- The approach. When negative moods arise, attention begins to focus only on the negative aspects of reality. It is at this point that the will acts, taking the gaze to a new level with a more positive tone and evaluating different alternatives.
Along the on our way to big goals, we often need to take breaks, which offer us a margin to manage emotions. The important thing is to develop the ability to identify the feelings that block us and redirect them.
8. Own the cycle of success
It has been established that the cycle of success always works the same way. It all starts with belief. If a person believes in himself and in the cause that inspires him, everything sets in motion. The convictions or beliefs are transformed into actions, which are characterized by firmness and strength. What follows is obtaining good results. These nourish self-confidence and the cycle begins again, however it is always deeper.
And the opposite can also happen. The belief that we are unable to accomplish something leads us to do wrong or inaction. This in turn generates very limited results or even contrary to what we are looking for. And in the end all of this fuels our belief that we are not able. Now, it is up to each of us to decide which of the two cycles to activate.
9. Take advantage of inertia
After starting a successful cycle, you reach a point where everything seems to flow spontaneously. It's about inertia. Each reality tends to continue within its own dynamics. This inertia turns out to be very satisfying, but it could also involve some risk. This is not the time to "let everything go by itself". In reverse. We should take advantage of this inertia to give further impetus to the big goals.
Similarly also negative inertia must be dealt with promptly and decisively. One problem only leads to more problems. A conflict that has grown brings only other conflicts. Any inattention is capable of leading us towards a destructive inertia. The solution is to put a limit. Even if it means stopping to block the counterproductive dynamic.
Learning to feel motivated is a process. You can't do it overnight and in any case it's not a learning that lasts forever. We must maintain the will to fuel the motivation day after day. Reaching it is difficult, losing it is very easy. Especially when we are programmed not to believe, not to dream ...
What is certain is that all these efforts are really worth it. A person who feels motivated can do whatever he wants. Internal obstacles are always the most difficult to overcome. And when you do, life changes. You feel alive and in control of your own destiny. It feels free.
