Motivation can be extremely difficult to find sometimes, and incredibly easy to find other times. It all comes down to what task you are trying to accomplish and how that accomplishment can affect you. If you are struggling with motivation, continue reading! This post will discuss how to stay motivated even when you do not want to.
Motivation is the engine that will drive you as you try to complete tasks that are important to you. Motivation is the number one thing that will keep you going as you progress through your daily, monthly, or lifelong goals!
When you feel motivated, you will find that whatever you try to do feels incredibly easy! You will be gliding through your day and getting stuff done easily. When you aren’t motivated, you will find that every single thing you do feels like an anchor dragging you down. You constantly feel like you are being dragged along, and you are frustrated by it. That is why it’s important to learn how to stay motivated!
This post is all about how to stay motivated even when you don’t want to!
How to Stay Motivated Even When You Don’t Want To
What is motivation?
What does motivation actually mean? Motivation is the reason why people or animals choose to start or stop certain activities and behaviors. These can be things like choosing to study a little extra, starting your meal prepping for the week early, or going out versus staying in for the night. Any decision that you make has a motivation behind it, but some have a little extra or a little less motivation. For instance, maybe you feel extra motivated to go on vacation with your significant other. Or maybe you feel less motivated to clean your apartment on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. No matter what, motivation, or lack thereof, is behind your decisions.
Why do I need motivation?
Every person needs an amount of motivation to make any decisions. If you want to really be successful at getting things done, you need motivation. Without feeling the drive motivation gives you, you will not have a reason to do what you want or need to get done. If you never have the motivation to get stuff done, you will end up as a procrastinator finishing things right at the deadline every time.
Benefits of motivation
You will find that there are many benefits of having more motivation to get things done. Some of them are as follows:
1. Increased productivity: You will find that anything you try to do will be much easier to accomplish if you are motivated. Getting stuff done more easily directly leads to increased productivity. To learn more about productivity and its importance, check out the linked article below!
{ Related post: Quick Guide: What is Productivity? }
2. Better time management: Similarly to the previous point, having better motivation will lead to you having better time management as well. Your time management improves because you will get more done since you are motivated to do so. There will be less putting stuff odd and procrastinating, and more getting stuff done.
3. Get more done in a short amount of time: Accomplishing what you set out to do is much easier if you are motivated to do those things! You will be able to get a lot done faster than ever when you have good motivation!
Suggestions for how to stay motivated
Now that we are on the same page about what motivation is, why you need it, and a few benefits, let’s discuss how to stay motivated. Starting anything is easy, but sticking with it and finding that motivation is hard, especially when you are really against it! Check out these 5 suggestions for how to stay motivated.
1. Understand why you wanted to get motivated
The first step to staying motivated is understanding why you wanted to get motivated in the first place. What is it about this task or activity that gets you going? Why do you care so much that you want to become better at getting that thing done?
Figuring out the reasons your want to be motivated is important because that is what you need to constantly circle back to. When you find yourself struggling to stay motivated, you can think back to that initial reasoning to refocus yourself. That initial inspiration is your guiding light, and it will provide you with the spark you need to keep going, even when it gets tough.
Find your purpose and come back to it when you are questioning what you are doing!
{ Related post: Self Discipline vs Motivation: Answers to the 5 Most Common Questions }
2. Positive self-talk
Keeping yourself in a positive mindset is one of the top ways to stay motivated. With a positive mindset, you will find that you are much more willing and able to get stuff done. Why is that? Well, if you associate positivity with getting tough stuff done, you will find that it becomes easier to get those tough tasks done. If accomplishing difficult things goes hand-in-hand with a positive mindset, those things suddenly become less difficult.
Positive self-talk will keep you feeling good about your goals and achieving them. It also will help you stay motivated when times get tough. Even though you might feel negative about some things that you have to do, your positive self-talk will ultimately help you find the motivation to get stuff done!
3. Reward yourself
When you are struggling to find your motivation to get something done, it can often be helpful to think about the goal. Oftentimes, the thought of what you are striving towards is enough to help you get your motivation, but sometimes it is not. Sometimes you need a little extra! This is where an extra reward comes in. Here are a couple of examples:
- If I finish studying tonight, I can sleep an extra 45 minutes tomorrow morning.
- If I work on this project for 1 hour with no distractions, I can reward myself with a 10-minute break.
These simple examples help to set up extra reasoning for why you should stay motivated and focused to get something done. Sometimes a little push like this is all you need to go the extra mile and get the tough stuff done even when you don’t want to.
Of course, all of this is up to your own self-discipline. You can promise a reward, as in example #2 above, but you can give yourself that break whether or not you actually achieve your goal. This part is up to you. I promise that being honest will be worth it.
4. Surround yourself with positive people
This one can be tough because it is very dependent on who you know, but it is very effective! Basically, it comes down to creating a support network. If you have people on your side, rooting for you, you will find that finding motivation becomes much simpler. It will not be only you working towards getting stuff done. Instead, you will have a group of people behind you, pushing you forward!
The power of great friends should not be taken lightly. With great people supporting you, you will feel an obligation to be motivated no matter what, since you will not want to let them down! Float some of your goals past some friends and try to keep them updated! They will likely become more invested and will want to keep in the loop about what is going on!
{ Related post: 5 Simple Productivity Tips You NEED to Know! }
5. Manifest your success
This tip for how to stay motivated refers to visualizing yourself accomplishing your goals. If you can imagine yourself succeeding, you will often find that you will succeed! It sounds strange, but just the thought that you could accomplish something often is the reason why you accomplish that thing.
Once you do accomplish all that you have set out to do, you will be proud of your past self for making the first step to get motivated even though it may have been challenging. You should keep that prideful thought in mind as you continue to make your future self proud as you go through your days!
Hopefully, you understand a little bit more about how to stay motivated! Motivation is a tough thing to tackle, so if you have any questions or ideas, feel free to send them to us at ourteam@wellroundedyou.com. Thanks for reading!
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