How to Motivate Yourself in 4 Simple Steps
You make plans, you forget. You are in the middle of an important meeting, your mind is drifting off. You write down a list of goals, but you never look at it. Why are we so terrible at following through on things? The reason is because you are missing a key step to motivation. There are 4 tips in order to stop procrastinating and finally lose that extra weight or finish your thesis on time.
How to Motivate Yourself
1. Setting Goals
Both short-term and long-term goals set the direction for the path you want to take in life. Without proper goal setting, we are just lost sheep.
2. Being Positive
Positivity is a powerful motivator, while negativity has a tendency to weigh us down. Those with optimism are able to achieve more just by their mindset and attitude.
3. Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is the motivation you create for yourself without any outside rewards. It doesn’t come from money, fame, or power. It’s a much more powerful form of motivation.
4. Hatred
Hate is an effective motivator when used sparingly. Just don’t let bad emotions take your mind over. You first must learn to control your hatred and use it to your advantage.
Motivation is simple as having routines and sticking with it. For example, I don’t wake up without looking at motivational messages on my wall for daily inspiration. With these 4 self motivation tips you are essentially tricking your brain into doing things that it doesn’t want to do. There are many things in life that we don’t want to do, yet we have to. If we only did the things that we wanted to do, we would get as far in life as a child. A child often has no responsibilities and little desire to be successful. You are an adult, so you need to learn how to motivate yourself.
Take a Lesson in How to Motivate Yourself by Taking Notes from Very Motivated Individuals. Their Initiative Will Rub off Onto You
Inspirational speakers with motivational messages can motivate us temporarily, but long-term it’s not realistic to expect any miracles. You must learn these 4 techniques for self-motivation, first.
1. How to Motivate Yourself: Goal Setting
Our motivations can become weaker over time if we lose track of our goal. There needs to be a goal in mind in order to endure hardship. Without goals clearly set in place, you will become lost somewhere along the way. One of the most important self motivation skills that exists today is goal-setting. Short-term goals and long-term goals are the key to success. With the right amount of planning, you can truly accomplish anything in this crazy life. The only tools you need to get there are your mind and enthusiasm.
Short Term Goals
Self motivation tips 101: short-term goals are necessary in any busy person’s schedule. Without a good organization system in place, you will forget things. You will not be as efficient as you could be without proper planning. Short-term goals are what build into long-term goals. In my opinion, short-term goals are the most important personal motivation skill that you could possibly incorporate into your daily life. It’s as important as drinking water, and breathing air. Absolutely a must for us semi-Alzheimer’s sufferers who can’t remember a dang thing.
Long Term Goals
Long-term goals are designed to keep you on the path you set out on. Without long-term goals we lose sight of the bigger picture. They give us much-needed perspective in our everyday motivational thoughts. Some of us tend to lose sight of our long-term goals pretty easily; this is where having short-term goals come in. If you have a proper planning system in place, your short-term goals are temporary and your long-term goals are permanent until you reach your destination. You should have a mind-map of what you want and how to get there. And if you can’t memorize your mind-map, you need to write it down.
2. How to Motivate Yourself: The Power of Positivity
We tend to procrastinate when we aren’t in the best mood. This is why positivity is a powerful self-motivator. Make yourself happy by any means possible. For every positive step you take along the way, reward yourself so that you create a habit for positively. If you have trouble being optimistic, then just start by suppressing your negative thoughts. Thoughts that don’t move things forward are just holding you back. Motivation is about always moving yourself forward despite the circumstances. So remember that celebration is constructive when things are going well. Beating yourself up when things aren’t going well is not.
3. How to Motivate Yourself: Intrinsic Motivation vs Extrinsic Motivation
You control the way you feel, nobody else. This is why intrinsic motivation is leaps and bounds better than extrinsic motivation in getting the things you want in life. Intrinsic motivation comes from the inside, as opposed to extrinsic motivation which comes from the outside. An example of intrinsic motivation is reading self motivation books because you want to improve yourself. An example of extrinsic motivation is reading a textbook because it will improve your grades in class.
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is a powerful self motivation techniques aimed at accomplishing the more meaningful things in life. You don’t need money, you don’t need fame. You need nothing but the desire to become better. You are driven towards accomplishing something because it is intrinsically rewarding. When was the last time you did something for your own enjoyment? Too often we do things for outside rewards and not ourselves. Life is a journey of constant improvement and self-growth.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation also has a function of driving us to do certain behaviors. It is a necessary part of life to have rewards on the outside as well as the inside. Validation, money, and information are always being exchanged and are a big motivator for people. Motivational theories state that in order to motivate yourself, you often need more than just extrinsic motivation to really give 100%.
4. How to Motivate Yourself: Through Hate
You’d be surprised the things you could accomplish through hatred. It’s a strong emotion, and one that’s looked down upon by civilized society. But you may be surprised to find out that hatred is a normal emotion that’s capable of driving humans to do incredible feats. Does that mean you should hate everything? No, that’s not what I’m saying. You don’t need to use revenge as your motivation. You just need to harness your anger, because it is a powerful emotion that can motivate yourself to endure the hardest of conditions just to prove yourself. You are proving yourself worthy as self-satisfaction, not proving yourself to others. All that matters is how you feel about yourself. If hatred is what you need in order to become more successful with men, ace the final coming up, or securing that well-paying job, then by all means. Don’t let anyone stop you from doing what you want.
