5 Things to Remember to Motivate Yourself Daily

Maintaining a steady amount of motivation can prove to be quite difficult at times especially when trying to juggle other items that may preoccupy your day. In the midst of all of the modern day festivities, schooling and work can take a toll on many peoples’ motivation and desire to improve.

However, there are countless ways to restore the energy and passion in whatever it is you would like to improve upon or even start. Some people aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to obtaining the motivation to do something. Fortunately, there are ways to reprogram the mind to approach certain objectives with positivity rather than feeling like you have to complete a task without any gratification or enjoyment. There are many things you can do or keep in mind to help reconfigure the way you perceive things you would like to accomplish. In fact, psychologist and behavioral economist, Dan Ariely believe that keeping a daily calendar makes people more aware of the tradeoffs they make every day. We’ll explore Ariely’s formula more.

1- Set Practical Goals

It is crucial to set practical goals that can be achieved. Many people tend to want things fast including the results they are working for. However, it’s important to approach goals realistically rather than idealistically. By doing so, the likelihood of successfully achieving your goals is higher and the likelihood of discouragement is lower. Having loss in motivation can be very detrimental to the overall process of the current task at hand. According to Ariely’s formula, you want to break your big goals into smaller goals that can be completed as daily tasks. Next, you will schedule some time to finish those daily tasks. Log your daily tasks into the calendar every day. According to Dr. Helen Macpherson of the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN) at Deakin University as well as many other experts, writing by hand improves your ability to remember things (Blatchford, 2016).

2- Temporary Inconvenience

Another way to recondition the mind is to start looking at nonfulfillment with a different lens. It is sometimes easier, if not tempting to be hard on yourself when things are not going as well as you’d hoped for. Either the process has had many bumps or the goal has been failed completely. Either way, it’s essential to know that your life isn’t over. You have the opportunity to try again and correct any mistakes that you noticed before. Instead of looking at minor difficulties as failures, I suggest you look at them as ‘temporary inconveniences’. Besides, the feeling of disappointment doesn’t last forever so don’t count it as a defeat. Having this optimistic outlook can help you stabilize your momentum and keep trucking even when things get difficult with achieving your goal. For example, if for some reason your physician advises you to rest from your intense workout regimen, look at it as temporary and continue exercising with a more moderate workout plan.

3- Positive Affirmations

Remind yourself of what you will do every day. An affirmation is a statement or declaration that you proclaim to yourself on a regular basis. For example, you can say things such as I deserve to get a raise or I will get a raise. The idea is to begin to undoubtedly believe these statements and you will gradually change the way you present yourself. These exercises help to build confidence which will have great results on your levels of motivation.

4- Recall Small Achievements

Just as it is important to set small goals, it is just as important to remember achieving them. For example, if you are writing a book and you aimed to write 2 pages a day for 12 months, you can remember the work you’ve done after a few days of completion. This helps you to look at what is completed opposed to analyzing what isn’t done. By putting your focus on the positive, you’ll be motivated to continue. Sometimes looking at the bigger picture is not enough incentive for some people to continue at the same pace which is where having tangible incentives can help with motivation.

5- Reward System

As previously stated, the end result might not be enough stimulus to encourage some to keep working on their goals. So, there’s no problem instituting a reward system by-weekly for successfully doing small tasks. This allows for something to look forward to and a short-term pay-off to work towards. For example, if you are eating healthy foods six days out of the week, you can allow yourself one day out of the week to have a cheat day. Doing this may improve your discipline which gives you more will-power, granting you the strength you need to stay motivated.

ReSourses:

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/22/motivational-psychologist-this-is-why-youre-not-achieving-your-goals.html 
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/04/21/writing-by-hand-benefits_n_9735384.html