Motivation Is the Key to Achieving Your Goals

What’s your secret weapon?

Motivation. It’s not easy. Sometimes it feels downright impossible, but it’s what you need. It’s a small step that can seem mountainous, but it’s one that you need to take if you want to change your life and reach your goals. What makes this process harder is how hard we are on ourselves. Nothing kills motivation like self-doubt and talking down to ourselves. Rarely do we take stock of all that we do right, all the little things we’re doing that adds up to big forward momentum.

Changing this habit of self-doubt and negative self-talk is a great way to see our worth and build our motivation. This works both ways. If you notice yourself doing something that goes against your goals, against your motivation, acknowledge this set-back, and then change gears and act to correct it at that moment.

How do you increase your motivation?

Motivation is an ongoing practice. It’s not as easy as saying “I will be more motivated” and having it happen like magic. It’s like working any kind of muscle. It takes practice, and it takes patience. It also means going slow and celebrating those moments when you do what you’ve sat out to do, in this case, to be more motivated.

• Create detailed goals. Creating a detailed goal, knowing what actions to take through the entire process, makes motivating yourself easier. You’ve done the hard part already, you’ve determined every step you need to take to complete a task. At this point, it’s just a matter of doing it. If you need a little extra motivation, take note of the reasons you want to complete the task. These little reminders will keep you moving forward and working toward the finish line.

Creating a detailed goal should also include noting any upsets that could happen along the way. When you brainstorm hurdles in your path, you can determine the best ways to work around them. Granted, those hurdles may never happen, but knowing what could stand in your way helps you plan to get around it.

• Know when to put the work aside. Set a bedtime, one you know will provide you enough sleep each night to attack the following day. It’s easy to fall into the trap where you think it’s noble to work endless hours, eat terrible food, and not get enough rest. The sacrifice makes you feel successful, but it’s killing your motivation. Put the work aside and get to bed!

• Make your mornings a routine. Do something different. Get up out of bed when the alarm rings and get started on your day. This doesn’t mean immediately starting work. It means taking time for yourself in the morning for self-care. That self-care could be exercising to get your body working, or it could mean sitting at the table for a few minutes with your coffee and the morning paper. Have a routine you follow every morning and stick to it.

• Allow others to lift you up. When we surround ourselves with like-minded people, the energy is contagious. We don’t even have to talk to them, just seeing them go through their routines, smashing their goals, and getting it done will help us do the same. In a way we idolize them, and for a short moment, we will emulate them. Keep doing this, every day, until it’s a habit for you. A co-working space is a great place to find these people if you don’t have a physical office of your own.

• Keep at it. One of the main reasons we can’t tap into that motivation and keep it going is because we don’t keep going. We let ourselves down. We falter in what we’re doing, and we decide we deserve a day off. When we take a day off too early in our habit-forming routine, then we’re letting ourselves slip back into the old patterns that no longer suit us. Instead of rewarding ourselves with a day off, we should reward ourselves some other way.

• Reward yourself. This could be something simple as a new pair of shoes or a new shirt that we really like but reserve it for when we reach a goal. If that goal is one day where you complete five items on your to-do list, that’s okay! The point is only to reward yourself when you’ve reached that goal. Make small rewards for small goals and big rewards for big goals.

You can find ways to motivate yourself all around. It doesn’t have to be included on this list. Make your own list if you want to. Think of the things that have motivated you in the past and give them a try again. It doesn’t matter how you find the motivation. What matters is that you find it.

Motivation and inspiration go hand in hand. They’re both charged with a lot of energy and excitement. If inspiration is what you seek to accomplish your goals, then check out our book. Get excited. Get motivated. Achieve your goals.