It is not always possible to find other people who can hold us accountable for our goals. That means we must rely on ourselves, and learn how to use self motivation to get things done. Here are seven self motivation tips that will help you accomplish your goals.
1. Stretch out that comfort zone
Sometimes when we are lacking self motivation, it is because we are limiting ourselves too much. You may not realize it, but you could be keeping yourself in a very tiny box. There’s a lot of opportunity out there. It’s up to you to find it.
Our comfort zones include all the things that are familiar and ideally stress-free to us. Anything outside of that is unpredictable, scary and something we might even perceive as dangerous or too risky.
Instead of going outside your comfort zone, though, try stretching it little by little. Do small things that make you uncomfortable. Do them often enough that they stop causing you discomfort. Keep pushing your own boundaries and see how good it feels.
2. Train yourself to believe that doing it wrong is better than not trying at all
We often also avoid things not just because they make us uncomfortable, but also because they make us afraid. Many of us are afraid of doing things the wrong way. When we aren’t sure of the right way to do something, it sometimes seems easier just to give up and not even bother.
It’s okay to be afraid of failure. It doesn’t have to be a permanent fear, though. You have to gradually start to convince yourself that there is a better alternative than to completely avoid doing something because the idea of failing terrifies you.
What’s that alternative? Doing it wrong. Making mistakes. No one likes to be wrong or to learn they have made a mistake. That is part of how we learn, though. If you can teach yourself to do something wrong, and learn to be okay with that, you will also be able to motivate yourself to do it the right way next time, so you can avoid making the same mistake twice.
3. Use positive affirmations
When you are in need of a pep talk, but there isn’t really anyone around to pump you up with confidence and adrenaline, you can use positive affirmations to turn doubt into self-motivation.
Self motivation is all about talking ourselves into doing things we don’t want to do, or don’t think we are capable of doing. That’s all positive affirmations are: positive messages to ourselves to motivate us to do our best, no matter what.
Think you can’t do something? Tell yourself you can. Don’t want to? Start listing off reasons why you or someone important to you is going to benefit from you doing this undesirable thing in front of you.
4. If that doesn’t work, start journaling
Positive affirmations don’t work for everyone. Sometimes even those who do find it helpful need to switch it up every now and again when all those positive thoughts start to lose their sparkle.
A journal can be a great way to motivate yourself to reach farther toward a goal. Try writing a letter to yourself as if you are someone else, and spend some time addressing your fears and concerns while talking yourself up in a positive way.
5. Learn to finish what you start
Finishing what you start is difficult. Especially when you start to lose motivation halfway through, which has happened to all of us at least once or twice. The most reasonable option appears to be to simply give up.
Learning to finish what you start will become more important down the road than it might be for you right now, but it’s never too early to start forming a new habit. The more you train yourself not to give up, the easier it will be for you to motivate yourself to keep going when your job status depends on it.
Set milestones to break your big project into smaller projects so it doesn’t seem like quite as much of an impossible task. Come up with a reward system for finishing that will actually work for you.
6. When you think you can’t take one more step, take two
Perseverance is how we motivate ourselves to keep moving forward even when we don’t think we can take one more step. It is great practice for when we don’t have any other choice but to keep moving forward.
It’s when we have reached our breaking point, when we have convinced ourselves we simply cannot go any further, that we need to push ourselves harder than we ever have before. This is when those positive affirmations might work wonders for you.
Come up with a reasonable explanation for why quitting is absolutely not an option, even if it seems like a ridiculous one. You will feel more satisfied when you realize you went farther than you thought you could than you ever would have if you would have stopped.
7. Aim high
Don’t make your work or personal goals so easy that they don’t pose any challenge to you. That is a major red flag for triggering low self-motivation. You don’t have to try, so why bother putting any effort into it?
There is no such thing as a goal that is ‘too ambitious.’ No matter the size of the end goal, you can break it down into smaller, more achievable goals that serve as milestones to keep you motivated to continuously work toward that huge goal off in the distance.
Keeping this in mind, you will quickly learn that there is a healthy balance in creating ambitions, that setting reasonable goals does not mean making them too simple or quick to achieve. It’s all about the careful breakdown of those larger goals into smaller, much more realistic and attainable ones.
Never let fear or negative thinking stand in your way of achieving your ambitions. You can, and should, be your own personal cheerleader. Go you!
