Staying motivated can be a challenge. One day you are high off life: checking off all your boxes on your to do list, being accountable to others, and staying on top of your responsibilities. The next, you find that there are not enough hours in a day, you are only halfway through your list, and do not feel like doing much of anything. These types of swings in activity can be detrimental because an unmotivated person is an unproductive person – and that can be a slippery slope.
There are several reasons why your fire may dwindle and the first thing to note is, that is a human quality. Fatigue happens to everyone. Becoming unmotivated is not the issue, the problem is around how one re-motivates themselves.
This is a concern because as mentioned, becoming unmotivated can be a slippery slope. An hour can turn into a day can turn into a week of opportunities that we allow to pass us by, all because we were not energized to get after them. You can see how this can be a dilemma.
While staying motivated can be a difficulty for some, it is a worthy opponent worth facing head on. Once you learn how to stay motivated setbacks will become setups for major comebacks.
Here are some tips and tricks on how to stay motivated, keep engaged, and be a high performer:
Review your Goals
What is it that you set out to accomplish this week, this month, this year? It is imperative to not only set goals for yourself but to also review them constantly. I have goals for this year that I review daily, monthly goals that I review bi-weekly, and daily goals that I review on a moment to moment basis.
The number of goals and the amount of times that you review them is not important, but what is important is having that check and balance in place.
A goal gives you a direction, and reviewing it regularly helps you to stay on the right path. Every good motivator has a driving factor, something that makes a person want to push forward. A goal is great for this because a good goal has intrinsic value.
The better the goal the more important it is to a person, the more that person will strive for it.
If you are having troubles getting motivated by your goals it is likely because that goal is not big enough. The true value of a goal is in its ability to help you grow. If your goal is easily achievable try dreaming bigger.
Get around people with a vision big enough to include you. Allow yourself to consider your deepest desires, then ask yourself: why not me, why not now? Doing these things will help you make better goals for yourself, keeping you motivated.
Remember your Why
Why are you doing what you are doing in the first place? What is your calling/passion, and is your life in alignment with it?
One of the biggest demotivators is doing something purposelessly. Every one of us has a reason to be alive, and it is for that reason that we live. Sometimes the mundanity of life can strip us of our meaning causing us to fall into a motivation vacuum.
Consider a motivation vacuum as living aimlessly. A lifeless lifestyle that leads nowhere. This is how a lot of people live today: drained of their virility and creativity because of life circumstances.
When what you do is out of alignment with who you are, motivational destitution can ensue because you feel meaningless.
Knowing your why combats these negative emotions because it is a fail-safe. Your why is your center. As long as I know why I am doing something, the what of what I am doing is not as important. Your why should be a barometer to measure the trajectory of your life.
Have a Quality Support System
Your support system can make or break you. It is important to have discernment in whom you allow to tend to the garden of your life. Growing up I use to hear the phrase: show me who your friends are, and I will show you your future.
This concept is as true today as it has ever been. You must have an A1 support system. These are people or a person who encourages you, speaks life over you, and sees more in you than you may see in yourself. This person(s) is a visionary and can see life’s potential for you.
A good support system show’s their support through their actions. Do you have anyone who is willing to act on your behalf? Someone that can provide structural support but can also Identify potential problem areas.
This type of help is such a motivation booster because someone is willing to invest their time into your cause. These are people willing to do life with you whether it be for the duration of it, or for a season.
There is also the value that comes from having an accountability partner in these types of interactions. Do not underestimate the power of a check in. Having someone regularly check in on you can make a world of difference when it comes to staying motivated.
The last thing anyone ever wants is to feel as though they have let someone they care about down. Having a strong support system that is invested in your well-being will make you want to do and be better, if for no other reason for the purpose of not letting them down.
Look for Affirmations
The last tip I want to share on how to stay motivated, is to look for affirmations. Affirmations are fact-based encouragements. These are things that on the surface may not have any significant meaning, but they are significant to you. An example of this is if you have ever identified a car that you wanted/liked, then out of nowhere that car started popping up every time you left your house.
Does that mean, there was an influx of these cars in your neighborhood? Probably not. More likely what it actually means is you were looking for something to affirm what you believe. You had a shift in your focus.
Affirmations are so valuable because they are like breadcrumbs leading to a desired destination. It is a small yet poignant way to measure progress. Affirmations put you in alignment with what you want to enter your life.
We engage in this motivational skill by looking for things that resemble what we desire.
This tip is all about progress: Is it gauge-able and what does it mean?
One can also engage in verbal affirmations. This is when we speak what we believe about ourselves over ourselves. This has a similar affect in that by speaking affirmations over yourself you start influencing your subconscious.
You can essentially reprogram the way the world interacts with you by speaking and invoking what you want. No this is not magic, what you want is not just going to appear. However, by looking for and speaking affirmations in and over your life, you change your vibrational frequency to allow certain things to naturally come to you.
This is great for staying motivated because of what it does to your mind. Affirmations literally reprogram your mind to be able to perceive and receive the very things you want it to.
When My Black Perspective first started growing, I would constantly say ‘I am a 6-figure blogger’. It is an important goal of mine to have a successful blog, so I started affirming what a successful blog is to me. That affirmation encouraged me to be persistent about my blogging, which has brought this website leaps and bounds from where it was a year ago.
I could give other examples, but the point of this tip is to encourage yourself to take actionable steps.
Staying motivated can be difficult but it is not impossible. If you have a tenacious why, dynamic goals, an A1 support system, and can encourage yourself every now and again, keeping your fire lit will be a pleasure not a chore.
Originally Published July 27, 2020
Subscribe to our Substack to receive new articles directly in your inbox.
Leave a Comment