5 Tips for Maintaining Personal Motivation

Do you ever feel like your personal motivation to succeed at your goals is slipping away?

If so, check out today’s blog post where we provide 5 actionable tips for maintaining motivation.

Before we get into the actual tips, let’s talk a little bit about what motivates us as humans.

– Motivation can be defined as “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a certain way.”

– I believe that people are motivated by different things depending on their personality traits and values.

For example: people with an extroverted personality tend to be more motivated by social situations while introverts may have other sources of self-motivation that work better for them such as the work itself.

Ultimately, what motivates you may not be the same thing that motivates someone else and each person has to find their own personal motivation in order to succeed at anything they set out to do.

Self motivation 101: Stop comparing yourself to others

It’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others because we’re constantly scrolling through social media and seeing a highlight reel of their lives.

The truth is, people only share what they want you to see, so there will always be two sides of the story.

This is a common mistake that many people do. I’m not saying we should never compare ourselves to others, but it’s important for us to have realistic expectations and goals for oneself because comparing yourself too much can cause self-doubt which may lead you to feeling unmotivated.

So if you find yourself always feeling like your friends are doing better than you, instead of beating yourself up over it, just take the time to figure out what really matters most in life and focus on that.

You will feel much better about yourself and your life as you see improvements in your personal goal-setting for the future.

Have a plan for your day 

If you’ve been going through a dry spell of self motivation, you might need to have a plan for your day.

A lot of people don’t like when their days are structured or planned because they feel confined and restricted in what they want to do with their time.

However, if we think about it on a deeper level, having structure actually helps us stay on track and focused so the end result is better.

I know that may seem counterproductive at first glance but bear with me here; let’s say you’re trying to work out each morning and only doing one workout a week currently right?

If you had no specific strategy in place aside from “do something every day” then chances are, this habit won’t last very long before falling off again.

But if you make a plan for yourself, say “I’m going to work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning”, then you’re much more likely to stick with the habit.

Make sure you are getting enough sleep 

Make a nighttime routine and stick to it. Include things like getting ready for bed, reading for 15 minutes or so as well as brushing your teeth and washing your face. This will help you wind down in preparation for sleep.

Avoid screens before going to bed (TV, computer etc.) A study by the National Sleep Foundation found that those who had their TV on for two hours before they went to sleep were 27% less likely to get enough restful sleep than when their televisions weren’t turned on at all during this time period.

Use calming techniques such as breathing exercises, deep relaxation or meditation if needed in order to fall asleep easily without worrying about deadlines coming up soon or anything else keeping you awake.

Use the Pomodoro technique to work in blocks of time

Have you ever heard of this technique? It’s a productivity method that involves working in block of time.

For example, you might work for 25 minutes then take a short break and repeat this process four times before taking an hour long break to refuel your body.

This way, it feels more manageable because things are broken down into shorter chunks rather than long periods of continuous focus on a thing.

It also ensures that you are actively engaged in the task for a certain amount of time, which means it’s more likely to get done.

Create an environment that is motivating and inspires you

Our environment  can often dictate how we feel.

Try to create a space that is inspiring and the type of environment you want to be in when working on personal projects or your business goals.

This could mean making sure there are no distractions, such as TV or laptop plugged into power outlets near where you work, having positive affirmations around for motivation and inspiration, or surrounding yourself with things that remind you of why it’s important to focus on this project right now.

You may also want to make sure your desk is clean so thoughts aren’t interrupted by clutter.

The key to success is taking small steps and remembering that you are uniquely qualified for this challenge. It’s easy to get discouraged, but it doesn’t have to be hard if we can tap into our personal motivation.

Which of these tips did you find helpful? What other challenges do you want us to tackle next week? Let us know in the comments!