Note: This is a guest post by Marcus Clarke
Many people find they lack the motivation to accomplish various important tasks in their day-to-day lives.
Motivation is necessary if your want to maintain high productivity and achieve your life and career goals. Keeping high levels of self-motivation is not an easy task and will take effort.
Here are some tips on the routines and practices you can adopt to ensure you are at the top of your game.
1. Set small, measurable goals
Having dreams and goals is ok, but be realistic. Having smaller goals that can be achieved quickly is a wonderful way to stay motivated.
The goal is always in sight and the reward comes quickly. When this happens, pursue the next goal with the same zeal.
On the other hand, trying for unachievable goals may be very demoralising if you don’t succeed.
2. Create a routine and stick to it
It is helpful to develop daily routines that keep you moving forward and focused on your goals. Everyone has their rituals, and it is important to establish what works for you.
For example, some people like jogging while others prefer to read before they sleep. You should pick a daily ritual that makes you feel relaxed, happy, or rejuvenated. This will ensure you remain motivated to pursue your goals.
3. Face your fears and work on overcoming them
Fear is a major contributor to people giving up their goals. Many people would rather avoid trying something if they think they are going to fail.
Fear contributes to negative thoughts and decreases your motivation. Identify your fears and work on overcoming them. If you do not succeed the first time you try something, you should persevere. Overcoming something you once feared will give you a big boost.
4. Talk to others about your goals
When you keep your goals to yourself, it is easy to lose motivation and find justifications for giving up on them.
However, telling people close to you about your goals will help you feel more able to achieve them. It also creates a support system for you to keep you going when you are losing motivation.
5. Create an action plan
This represents what you have to do to accomplish the goals you have set. It is a step-by-step path towards achieving your goals and will act as guidance for you.
An action plan will help you to stay on course even when you lack motivation. Planning is also a great way to avoid problems.
6. Celebrate success and reward yourself
When you accomplish milestones or goals, it is good to take time to celebrate and even reward yourself for the achievement.
You need to feel good about the good work you put in as this will motivate you to aim for more.
7. Keep a positive attitude despite failure
It is important to keep a positive attitude even in the face of failure.
Reframe failure as a learning experience. Identify the mistakes you made and ensure you do not repeat them next time. According to a study by Gist and Mitchell (1992), people who think positively about a task actually do better than those who think negatively.
Keeping yourself motivated all the time may not be an easy task, but it is possible if you work on it.
It involves doing the right things that keep you firmly focused on achieving your goals despite the inevitable setbacks that will occur along the way.
Marcus has a degree in psychology, a masters degree in health psychology and has worked within the NHS as well as private organisations. Marcus started psysci a psychology and science blog in order to disseminate research into bitesize, meaningful and helpful resources.