Practical Motivation Techniques That Work
There are times when you need to dig into your own personal motivation techniques to keep you focused and passionate about your goals. You know those when those occasions happen. You have big dreams. You want to accomplish great things. You’ve set ambitious goals for yourself that will bring you the happiness, success and wealth you long for. You sit down to get to work on making these dreams a reality and… nothing happens. How frustrating is that? We’ve all been there. You’re lacking one key ingredient that can be hard to come by: MOTIVATION.
How can you get excited about doing the real work it will take to make your dreams come true? How can you ignite your enthusiasm and find the energy you need just to get started, let alone maintain it for the long haul? The word motivation itself comes from the Latin verb movere, and that verb means “to move.” Here are 6 tried and true motivation techniques that will give you the spark you need to get moving and stay moving in the right direction!
Motivation Techniques for Starting Out
Motivation Quotes. Whatever goal or challenge you’re facing, someone else has faced it as well. In fact, someone relatively famous or successful has probably faced it and has also said something noteworthy about it that can inspire you as well. There is comfort in knowing that. Searching for related motivation quotes online is one of the easiest and quickest ways to get you excited about what you’re doing. Just go online and type in “Quotes on…” and fill in your topic. You’ll get an impressive array of sites with quotes that can relate to and that will inspire you. You can even print them out and put them up in places where you’ll see them frequently. Motivating quotes can be real motivators just when you need them most!
Here are a few motivating quotes that are amazing and will give you the power of inspiration.
“You can make a wish..or you can make it happen.”
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden
“We are always getting ready to live, but never living” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Visualize the Prize. Sometimes you can lose sight of why you’re doing something, which can really kill your motivation. At times like this, you need to be able to remind yourself of why you’re doing something. For this to be effective you have to do a two-step process: 1) Visualize what things will be like when you’ve reached your goal, then write it down and make sure you have handy access to it when you need it. For example, let’s say you want to improve your health and physique by working out more often. Take some time to write a vivid description of how you will look and feel when you’ve obtained your goal, including things other people might say when they meet the new you. Feel that amazing feeling of winning and before you know it, you have a wonderful smile on your face. Visualizing a winning outcome of your goal is a sure-fire motivation technique to lift your spirits and drive to succeed.
Break It Down Into Quick Wins. If your goals are somewhat ambitious or lofty, you know you need to break them down into smaller, manageable action steps that will lead to goal fulfillment over time. When you do this, make sure that the list of action steps is front-loaded with items that you know you can easily accomplish in a relatively short amount of time. Just crossing off something you have accomplished is a motivation technique that will boost your energy. You’ll be surprised at how good you feel when you have nailed a number of these quick-win items and it will give you extra energy and inspiration to move on to the harder items on the list.
Here is a great motivation video to get you inspired.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzBCI13rJmA&feature=related[/youtube].
Dynamite Motivation Techniques for Staying the Course
Use the Buddy System. Think back to your summer camp days or elementary school days and you might remember the buddy system – being paired up with a “buddy” so that you each look out for each other. It’s a great idea that we should use as adults as well! In this case, however, we’re using buddies to hold us accountable to our goals and action steps. This will work best if the partner you choose also has a set of goals that they’re trying to accomplish. You can lean on each other for support, encouragement and a shoulder to cry on when the going gets tough. This is one of those motivation techniques that has a huge win rate, because you always have good support.
Positive Feelings Journal. This method of staying motivated is designed for things that you know you need to keep doing, on an ongoing basis. These are the items that often get sidetracked or cancelled because of life’s many distractions. When you do a specific item in question, make detailed notes of the different positive feelings you experienced afterwards. For example, when you do your exercise session, list out how you felt afterwards – energized, healthier, more focused, able to do more work and so on. Staying positive is a powerful motivation technique that you simply can’t be without, if you want to achieve your goals. So keep that list handy and when you’re feeling like you want to skip doing it, whip out the list and remind yourself in detail of how great you know you’ll feel if you just go ahead and do it!
Forward-Momentum Questions. This motivation technique is designed to make sure you’re being as creative as possible as you work towards your goals. Questions are great for checking your assumptions and sparking new thinking. Try questions like, is there a better way of doing this? How can I get around that obstacle? How can I make doing this more fun? How would _______ (insert a variety of famous or accomplished people) tackle this? As long as you’re asking questions like these, you know you’ll be coming up with as many options as possible to keep things moving.
Yes, you have big dreams and big goals, but having them isn’t enough. Now you also have six practical motivation techniques that will give you the jump-start you need to get moving and keep moving in the right direction!
© 2012, Linda. All rights reserved.
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Going to try the journal, I really have a tough time staying upbeat and become unmotivated or depressed easily. Hoping this will help me stay positive and avoid depression sometime.