What to do to motivate yourself? How can you keep motivation high?
To achieve any goal a fundamental element is motivation, without it you can not reach any goal or even come close to this.
In this article, you will learn practical strategies forself-motivation that you can apply right away. But before you even proceed further, I recommend that you take this test to check your current level of motivation.
When you want to change some aspects of your life, or you want to change your habits, motivation is your very precious ally; therefore learning as much as possible on the subject will help you to move forward even in the most difficult times.
We are going to see 3 strategies you can use for automotive.
Self-motivation: 3 foolproof strategies
Below I present to you the three techniques that I believe are most effective for self-motivation. But first of all let's define once and for all what is meant by self-motivation:
It is the ability to do what needs to be done, regardless of the influence of others or other situations. People who are able to motivate themselves can find the motivation and energy necessary to complete a goal within themselves, even when it is ambitious, without giving up or needing the support of others.
1. Know your why
As the name implies, motivation is closely related to reason for which you want to achieve a goal. Many believe that it is enough to set yourself a goal and then the achievement of it happens automatically. But that's not how it works.
What you need to achieve your goals is one reason to fight. The more reasons you have for achieving a goal, the more these reasons are important to you and the higher your motivation will be.
As Anthony Robbins often says: "People aren't lazy, they just have goals that don't inspire them enough!"
Not being motivated is mainly due to not having goals that you crave to achieve.
Having a goal is very useful but for self-motivation it is also important to know why you want to achieve a certain result.
To find out what prompts you to act in a particular direction, ask yourself:
- Why do I care about achieving this goal?
- Thing my motivates to act?
- Why do I want to achieve this?
- How will I feel once this goal is achieved?
- Why is it important for me to achieve this?
Answering these questions will help you define exactly what prompts you to take action.
For all your most important goals you should know clearly why you care to reach them. That way, when things get tough or you're tempted to quit… you'll just keep going anyway.
For example, if a person wants to become a doctor because he is keen to help as many people as possible because he has suffered a lot and does not want others to suffer, this reason will give him enough determination to study with the utmost commitment. No matter what obstacles he encounters in his way, he will overcome them all.
Let's say instead a person feels a particular vocation to be a priest but his parents do everything to get him to enroll in the university in the faculty of medicine. If he does not find within himself the reasons to continue, his studies will be very slow. Every obstacle he encounters will cause him to waver.
Having your goal in mind and why you want to achieve it is a great way to motivate yourself.
2. Divide the goal
People often make the mistake of considering a goal in its entirety without ever dividing it into many small steps. Just thinking of having to do it all at once, it reveals itself in their minds as a wall, tall and with thick walls, which can seem insurmountable.
Instead, when subdivide what you have to do in many small goals, everything becomes easier to manage.
For example, if a person wants to quit smoking, they may consider eliminating this bad habit as too difficult and this will reduce their motivation.
If, on the other hand, he divides the goal into smaller steps such as progressively reducing the number of cigarettes he smokes, this will help him a lot, also giving the body time to get used to the reduced nicotine intake.
The system of breaking down a long and difficult task into many small actions to do not only makes it easier to achieve a certain result but also helps your esteem, because after you have done the first task, you will feel better and this will motivate you to take other actions.
The question you will have to ask yourself to identify the next step is: "What is the next action I need to take that will bring me a little closer to my goal?".
This question keeps your focus on the next action to take and is critical to keep moving forward towards your goals, avoiding deadlocks.
3. Choose motivating phrases
Many athletes participating in triathlons have stated that one of the techniques they use for self-motivation is repetition of motivating phrases. Phrases that are not created by them but that are taken from films or from people they admire.
We each have people we value and appreciate as well as examples we want to match, so it's helpful to identify what motivating phrases these people said to create a personal collection to use when you need them most.
To find the phrases, just follow these steps:
- Choose 3 people you admire a lot
- Search the internet for phrases they said, or listen carefully to their interviews or read what they write on their social media accounts. On our instagram page you will also find an abundant collection of motivational quotes to take inspiration from.
- For each of these people, identify 3 phrases that motivate you
- Collect a total of 9 quotes and among these choose only the three that most give you the charge (one sentence for each person)
- Once you have identified the 3 most motivating phrases, repeat them often, write them, sing them, or write them down and post it where you can see it many times a day.
This method will allow you to often use the 3 motivating quotes of the people you admire most in order to memorize them well and all this will help you in times of difficulty. In fact, it will be enough for you to repeat these quotes over and over again for a few minutes to change your mood for the better.
Another ploy for be motivated is to pretend to be one of those people you admire and try to behave accordingly.
To do this you can ask yourself: "How would this person behave in this situation?". Then he starts using his facial expressions, his posture, his typical words and his gestures. Try to emulate him in every way and to think and act like him.
If you have chosen a person who is usually courageous, I assure you that your courage will increase. If, on the other hand, you have chosen a person who always knows what he wants and is willing to do anything to succeed, it will be your motivation to grow.
This method works because the brain does not distinguish a real event from a sharply imagined one, so you can use this principle to act as you wish.
