5 Ways to Increase Your Motivation
Motivation comes in all shapes and sizes.
Paycheck, attention, passion, curiosity, to be better, competition.
I have been pondering motivation for the past month or so because this blog has given me a TON of motivation!
To see new things,
To experience life,
To take pictures,
To better my writing,
To travel,
To be creative,
The list goes on…
So I’ve been wondering, what causes motivation, or what helps us achieve it? Motivation is such an inspiring thing, so why don’t we all have it? And how can we get it?
And my answer I’ve come up with is not one that I particularly love.
It is wavering.
It comes and goes.
It comes when you find passion, have interests, curiosity.
It goes when you get bored, life becomes mundane, you’re lonely.
And this is totally normal!
The caveat to all of this, is that I think you have more control over motivation than you think you do.
It’s all a mind game.
I have come up with 5 ways to increase motivation that you can do for yourself. These can help increase productivity, drive passion, and help you be more invested in your amazing life.
#1 DO ONE THING
Come on, you knew that one was coming!
Facing your fears and doing one thing every day that scares you will MOTIVATE you.
Dopamine is an amazing thing (neurotransmitter that makes you happy) and is a large factor in motivation. Getting dopamine pumping, like when doing something that scares you, will get you excited to do more things, hence: increasing motivation.
#2 SET GOALS
Setting goals (especially small, specific ones) can help you see results quickly, which will motivate you to keep setting them and achieving them… lending you to be more motivated.
An example of this was a few weeks ago with this blog. I had six nights of work, and I made it my goal to write a post every day of those six days. It motivated me to write, and it was small enough that it didn’t seem unattainable.
#3 GO PUBLIC
Tell the world about your goals!
Utilize social media, a blog, a poster, chalk, whatever you need, to tell your friends and family about your goals.
This will make you commit to your goals, and people will be expecting the results once you finish.
Decrease justifications/excuses for why you aren’t motivated by being public about it.
If you are worried about what other people will think of your little goals, DON’T BE. Don’t worry about what other people think! Use this for yourself. You’ll find that the publicity will bring you more support than you expect.
#4 USE YOUR BRAIN
““Rule your mind, or it will rule you” ~Buddha”
You have such a powerful brain, use it to debate yourself and trick yourself into feeling motivated.
This sounds silly, I know. BUT IT WORKS!
Utilize optimism, which is just a mindset, a perspective, to inspire you to get going on your goals or projects.
Talk yourself through negative thoughts/feelings and change them into positive ones. Sometimes I do this in the form of gratitude (grateful to have a job that pays the bills and keeps me challenged, instead of too tired to go to work).
Be persistent. This can take time to get used to, but it has been shown to be effective in increasing motivation and health
#5 SELF CARE
I have learned about this exponentially since becoming a nurse and living on my own.
If all you do is give to others, your glass runs empty, and you can’t pour from an empty glass. Motivation also decreases with that empty glass.
I found that when I take care of myself (go to yoga, hike, get my hair done, get a massage, give myself a spa day, be with friends), I feel uplifted and more motivated to attain other goals that I have set for myself.
Give yourself time during the day to feel pampered.
Give yourself attention.
We all crave it.
You’ll be surprised at how motivated you are when you feel more put together!
These 5 steps will help you feel more motivated to complete your tasks and goals.
You will be more excited to get things done!
You will see results!
Remember, it’s ok if motivation waxes and wanes. That is normal!
Acknowledge that this happened, then practice these 5 tips to jump start it again.
Best of luck, and let me know if you have any other tips to add!
Rach
