Staying motivated is a struggle — our drive is constantly assaulted
by negative thoughts and anxiety about the future. Everyone faces doubt
and depression. What separates the highly successful is the ability to
keep moving forward.
There is no simple solution for a lack of motivation. Even after
beating it, the problem reappears at the first sign of failure. The key
is understanding your thoughts and how they drive your emotions. By
learning how to nurture motivating thoughts, neutralize negative ones,
and focus on the task at hand, you can pull yourself out of a slump
before it gains momentum.
Reasons We Lose Motivation
There are 3 primary reasons we lose motivation.
- Lack of confidence – If you don’t believe you can succeed, what’s the point in trying?
- Lack of focus – If you don’t know what you want, do you really want anything?
- Lack of direction – If you don’t know what to do, how can you be motivated to do it?
How to Boost Confidence
The first motivation killer is a lack of confidence. When this
happens to me, it’s usually because I’m focusing entirely on what I want
and neglecting what I already have. When you only think about what you
want, your mind creates explanations for why you aren’t getting it. This
creates negative thoughts. Past failures, bad breaks, and personal
weaknesses dominate your mind. You become jealous of your competitors
and start making excuses for why you can’t succeed. In this state, you
tend to make a bad impression, assume the worst about others, and lose
self confidence.
The way to get out of this thought pattern is to focus on gratitude.
Set aside time to focus on everything positive in your life. Make a
mental list of your strengths, past successes, and current advantages.
We tend to take our strengths for granted and dwell on our failures. By
making an effort to feel grateful, you’ll realize how competent and
successful you already are. This will rejuvenate your confidence and get
you motivated to build on your current success.
It might sound strange that repeating things you already know can
improve your mindset, but it’s amazingly effective. The mind distorts
reality to confirm what it wants to believe. The more negatively you
think, the more examples your mind will discover to confirm that belief.
When you truly believe that you deserve success, your mind will
generate ways to achieve it. The best way to bring success to yourself
is to genuinely desire to create value for the rest of the world.
Developing Tangible Focus
The second motivation killer is a lack of focus. How often do you
focus on what you don’t want, rather than on a concrete goal? We
normally think in terms of fear. I’m afraid of being poor. I’m afraid no
one will respect me. I’m afraid of being alone. The problem with this
type of thinking is that fear alone isn’t actionable. Instead of doing
something about our fear, it feeds on itself and drains our motivation.
If you’re caught up in fear based thinking, the first step is
focusing that energy on a well defined goal. By defining a goal, you
automatically define a set of actions. If you have a fear of poverty,
create a plan to increase your income. It could be going back to school,
obtaining a higher paying job, or developing a profitable website. The
key is moving from an intangible desire to concrete, measurable steps.
By focusing your mind on a positive goal instead of an ambiguous
fear, you put your brain to work. It instantly begins devising a plan
for success. Instead of worrying about the future you start to do
something about it. This is the first step in motivating yourself to
take action. When know what you want, you become motivated to take
action.
Developing Direction
The final piece in the motivational puzzle is direction. If focus
means having an ultimate goal, direction is having a day-to-day strategy
to achieve it. A lack of direction kills motivation because without an
obvious next action we succumb to procrastination. An example of this is
a person who wants to have a popular blog, but who spends more time
reading posts about blogging than actually writing articles.
The key to finding direction is identifying the activities that lead
to success. For every goal, there are activities that pay off and those
that don’t. Make a list of all your activities and arrange them based on
results. Then make a make an action plan that focuses on the activities
that lead to big returns. To continue the example from above, a
blogger’s list would look something like this:
- Write content
- Research relevant topics
- Network with other bloggers
- Optimize design and ad placements
- Answer comments and email
- Read other blogs
Keeping track of your most important tasks will direct your energy
towards success. Without a constant reminder, it’s easy to waste entire
days on filler activities like reading RSS feeds, email, and random web
surfing.
When my motivation starts to wane, I regain direction by creating a
plan that contains two positive actions. The first one should be a small
task you’ve been meaning to do, while the second should be a long-term
goal. I immediately do the smaller task. This creates positive momentum.
After that I take the first step towards achieving the long-term goal.
Doing this periodically is great for getting out of a slump, creating
positive reinforcement, and getting long-term plans moving.
It’s inevitable that you’ll encounter periods of low energy, bad
luck, and even the occasional failure. If you don’t discipline your
mind, these minor speed bumps can turn into mental monsters. By being on
guard against the top 3 motivation killers you can preserve your
motivation and propel yourself to success.
