Motivation: Ways to Gain and Keep it(A Complete Guide)

Motivation can be an interesting subject to discuss. There are a variety of ways to become motivated to do something. Sometimes motivation is not enough, though. Here are ways to gain and keep motivation as a complete guide for you to start with:

Generate Motivation

Sometimes we must go deep inside ourselves to pull out our own motivation. In other words, besides external factors, we must develop our own motivation to keep going.

We cannot always rely on external things to find the motivation to do something.

Envision Your Outcome

A picture is worth a thousand words as they say. Well, envisioning your goals already achieved, the outcome you desire inside your own mind will help achieve those results.

Being able to close your eyes and picture everything that you want and see how you get there.

The steps, the failures, the successes, the process. It all can be thought up within your mind. When things are tough, think back to that picture in your mind. You’ll then be reminded of why you are struggling. The reasons why you continue to push forward. You can find ways to make your goals a reality.

Do Something Creative & New

Creativity can help people define what their true purpose is in life. What they genuinely want to happen a month, a year, a decade from now.

Being creative has always helped me focus on what it is that is stuck in my mind. Make sure you find ways to be creative and find new things to try.

For me personally, learning new things piques an interest in me that doing the same thing over and over does not do. I enjoy routine, but I also enjoy exploring and using my mind to understand new things I have not done before.

Set Goals

Setting goals is a huge topic and should be the focus of finding ways to stay motivated. You want goals that are sustainable, attainable, and challenging, but also easy enough to complete.

I did a more detailed article here about goal setting and the benefits of having a routine, HERE.

Reward Yourself

Along with goal setting, you should be rewarded for achieving those goals or milestones. Taking yourself out to eat after eating healthy all week is an example. Keeping yourself motivated by rewarding the small accomplishments will keep you moving forward.

It is important to keep motivated, even through the down times in life.

Rewards can give a boost to your confidence and ability to stay focused despite all the outside influences that can distract you or discourage you.

Remember The High Moments

It is important to remember those milestones, the good points about working on your specific goal. Focusing on only one or two things can be tough, especially with all the distractions of life.

You must remind yourself why you are achieving your goal, and the positive outcome that will result by accomplishing your goal.

Remember The Moment

It can be easy to look at what happened yesterday and live in regret about things that have happened in the past that you cannot change. You made a huge mistake; something worries you about the consequences of your action or inaction.

What about the future?

We cannot know what will happen tomorrow. We do not even know what will happen an hour from now, a week, a month, or a year.

Focus on the task at hand that you are currently working on and try to not put emphasis on what has happened in the past, or what the unknown future may bring you.

Plans change, and things never work out how we perceive them to go, it is best to focus on what you are doing currently and not what you could or should do.

Act Even When You Don’t Want to

Everyone has a difficult day at one point. It is inevitable that it will happen. Things do not go as planned, the weather causes major problems, or your boss at work is being a jerk and orders you to work extra on a day off.

We have all been there.

discouragement sets in when things do not go as planned, and it is easy to wallow in self-pity and sabotage any plans to achieve your goal. You might even just want to stay in bed all day and do nothing and sleep your worries away, or so you might think.

You must act.

Just do something that keeps your momentum going forward toward achieving your goal. Even if it is something small in insignificant it is still forward progress.

Make Small Wins

Achieving something small can keep your momentum up to the point where you achieve something even bigger. Eventually, you will have accomplished the goal you set weeks or months prior only to find a way to finally achieve that.

A common saying is true “The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step” It is something that I have taken to heart in my own life.

We all start somewhere.

What has or has not happened up to this point doesn’t matter. Just doing something, even if it is small, is something and it is better than staying the same or being stagnant in life.

Find Your Reason, Your “Why”

This is a big part of having things come to fruition. You must be able to find a compelling reason as to why you are going after a certain goal, whether it be a relationship, a career move, a new career, or a new idea for a business.

It must be in your very soul as if that is your purpose to do or become. It will help in times that are tough, to remind yourself of the reason for your struggles as you are going through the process of achieving your goals.

To struggle is to be alive. To keep the motivation to push ahead despite all the obstacles and distractions that life may throw at you.

Find Time to Decompress

Everyone needs a day off.

A day off from eating right, also known as a “cheat day,” a day off work, a day away from the family, etc. I can agree with that to a certain level.

If you are working towards something that you are enthusiastic about and have found your “why” taking a day off will not really matter to you that much. Yes, it is nice to get away from everyday life and do something different for a day, or a weekend.

The idea behind this is to refresh yourself as to why you are going after your goal. Why you are working so many hours each day without fail to get to the point of achieving your goals?

Taking time off can put that back into perspective for you, by having you step out of your routine that you have made for yourself and doing something completely different.

Or it could be as simple as writing your thoughts down each day, taking time to meditate or just relaxing out on the porch or at a park.

Become Physically Active

Unbelievably, physical activity can help clear your mind so that you can focus more on your goals and set yourself up for success. Besides the variety of benefits physical activity can have on your body, it can also boost your mood as well.

Being in the right mindset is important for achieving your goals, just as much as the motivation to do so as well. Plus, achieving milestones in the gym can help boost your confidence to achieve goals in other parts of your life.

Surround Yourself with Like-Minded People

Surrounding yourself with those you wish to become is a great way to stay motivated about your goals and plans. Seek out those who you wish to become like, successful people, those who help others, who serve their communities for example will inspire you to be like them.

Read biographies of people who you admire or wish to become like to help get into the right mindset. This will help you with finding the inspiration to gain and keep the motivation that you need to continue.

Think About Your Goals Constantly

Find ways to integrate your goals into your life in everything you do during the day. This will create the mindset that your focus is on nothing else but the goal at hand.

It is also beneficial to read about inspiring stories, find inspirational quotes, and read about your main goal daily, even writing the goals out and reading them aloud can help people also.

The point is, you must focus enough so that you eat, breathe, and dream your goals for them to truly become a reality.

Commit to Your Goals Publicly

Commit Publicly (Online or With Friends and Family)

Putting your goals out into the open can motivate and help you become accountable for your actions.

Telling friends, family and even posting to forums or boards like social media groups or forums related to your goal can help you stay motivated since the people in the groups and forums are there to find information and inspiration with their own goals, so having people in your corner can make it more possible to achieve the goals.

When you are not too motivated, having those same people can really give you a boost to continue with the grind and push through even on days you feel like quitting or taking a break.

Conclusion

The point of gaining and keeping motivation is to accomplish your goals. No matter what, the ability to continue forward during adversity and your world going in shambles shows determination regardless of who you were previously.

Motivation can be tough to have, especially when there are others out trying to sabotage your progress. Family and friends, despite their good intentions, can become jealous of you moving forward in life as they stay stagnant.

The best thing for that is to ask for them to come along with you on your journey and make it a group.

The ideas presented above are just a small example of what a person can do to gain and keep motivation. Diet, exercise, and sleep habits also play a key role in your ability to move forward in life.

That is why it is so important to fix the trivial things at the beginning. It is so the tougher decisions will be met with resilience and determination. Then you are not swayed by a difficult day.

If you want to work towards setting goals, look at this, HERE.