Let’s face it. You will not always be motivated to get work done.
You will not always have motivational speakers raining words down your ears.
You will not always have videos, podcasts, or blog posts with motivational talks on how you should achieve your goals.
You might not be able to afford a great productivity coach to hold you accountable and help you get things done.
This is why you must learn to motivate yourself.
If you’re the type that give up easily on your goals when things don’t work out well or you’re the type that procrastinates just because “you’re not feeling like it?”
Then you need to learn how to motivate yourself to achieve those goals and get to work.
10 Ways You Can Motivate Yourself to Get Things Done
Use Affirmative Words
Affirmative words go a long way in helping us achieve our goals.
Think about it, why do people pay such huge amounts to listen to motivational speakers?
Because these people use the right words to motivate you to get things done.
If you want to motivate yourself, then you must also use the right words on yourself.
Tell yourself how much you want to get things done. Tell yourself to keep working. Tell yourself not to give up.
Tell yourself how great you’ve done so far or tell yourself how little you’ve done and how you need to do better.
Whatever will get you to work, say it to yourself.
You can also imitate the words of your favorite motivational speakers and say them to yourself.
You can succeed at almost anything for which you have unbridled enthusiasm.
Zig Ziglar
Also read: 20 Powerful Daily Faith Confessions
Remember Your Goals
One of the ways to motivate yourself is by reminding yourself of your goals.
This is easier if you have them written down.
Write down your goals and paste where you can see them.
I have heard of people who use their goals as their screensaver or wallpaper.
Personally, I use quotes that resonate with me as my phone wallpaper. This keeps me focused on my goal.
Everytime I look at my phone screen or turn on my phone and see it, I am reminded of the reason I’m on this journey to goal fulfillment.
Always create ways to keep your goals in your sight.
Know Your Whys
Why are you doing this? Or why should you do this?
If you don’t have a reason for doing what you’re doing, then you better find the reason or find something else to do.
Reasons are our best motivators on days we’re least motivated.
Why are you showing up to work everyday?
Why do you wake up at 5am everyday to go to the gym?
Why did you start a social media page?
Find your reason for doing it and that will be your greatest motivator.
When you ask these questions, you will know if your reason is strong enough to keep you going.
Someone who started gyming because they have health issues will stay committed to going to the gym everyday (with little to no motivation).
But, someone who started gyming because they want to impress a girl who’s paying no attention to them will probably stop going when its gets harder than they thought.
The health issues are enough motivation to visit the gym everyday.
What about you?
What is your reason for doing what you do?
Start Anyway
There are times when no amount of motivation can get you to work and you don’t even know why.
This is your cue to start anyway!
Start where you are, with what you have, however you can.
If you start, you’d eventually figure out the rest.
And you might find out it’s not as hard and impossible as it seemed.
The interesting part is that when you’re done, you’d be glad you got started.
The secret to getting ahead is getting started.
Mark Twain
Find Your Hidden Fears
A lot of people find it hard to get things done because they have unknown fears they are not aware of.
Find these hidden fears and defeat them.
The fear might be not knowing how to start, feeling like you don’t know what you’re doing, not knowing if you can do it, etc.
Recently, I wanted to work on a project I had never done before.
I had enough time and resources to get the project done and I didn’t want to procrastinate.
But I realized something was holding me back.
What could it be?
I searched my mind and I figured it out.
Because I had never done a project like that before, I felt I didn’t know what to do, how to start, or where to begin.
So, this was holding me back.
Then I told myself, “I will do it anyway. I will figure it out along the way. I will allow myself to make mistakes, correct them, and start again.”
I did start and interestingly, I didn’t make as many mistakes as I thought I would.
I just kept working and the more I worked, the more I got better ideas to continue the work till I finished.
Well, this project I’m talking about is the design and structure of my productivity coaching landing page.
It’s the first time I’m building a business landing page, and I must confess, I love the finished work.
I also got some well meaning friends to help me with feedback about the page and they’ve been positive so far.
When I finished this project, I was happy and fulfilled.
I was amazed I could do such great work.
If I had not figured out my fears, I would have procrastinated on the project and wouldn’t have gotten it done.
Get Planning Tools
A great motivator is planning your day ahead of time.
A lot of people feel unfulfilled when they plan their day ahead and end up not doing any of their plans.
Planning ahead makes you want to get your work done.
And the best way to plan is to plan with helpful tools.
I’ll recommend the weekly goal-getter bundle.
It will help you plan your day, prioritize your plans, and ensure you get work done for the day.
If you like digital planning tools, then you should consider using Todoist, a great planning app that gets all your plans and goals at your fingertips
Go Find Motivation
When you’re feeling unmotivated, go find motivation.
There are many places where you can get motivation, both online and offline.
Like in books, YouTube videos, podcasts, listening to talk shows and many more.
Sometimes, taking a walk can do it for you. Take a walk and feel nature.
Take a walk and look around you, watch how other people are loving their lives, observe them quietly and let that inspire you.
Whenever you feel unmotivated, be intentional about getting your motivation back by finding a motivator.
Review How Far You Have Come
A lot of times we’re hard on ourselves because we feel we haven’t achieved anything.
Alas! When you do a review of how much you’ve done and achieved in the past months, you will realize you’ve done more than you thought.
Every step you take (no matter how small) to get something done in a day, counts.
Those little steps you’re taking contribute greatly to who you are today and how far you’ve gone in achieving your goals today.
You might never know this until you do a review.
Reviewing your past achievements or work motivates you to get more work done.
You’re amazed at how much you’ve achieved in the last months and you’re excited to get more done.
Be grateful
It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.
Germany Kent
The art of being grateful is the art of noticing the things that are going well in your life (no matter how little) and being thankful for them.
When you are stuck in your predicament and choose to wallow in self-pity and how nothing is going your way, you’d never see the great things happening in your life.
One way to be intentional about gratitude is by taking out time to write down the things you’re grateful for.
What are you grateful for today?
What are those things or that one thing that seems to be working out in your life lately?
You’ll be amazed by how much you’ve got working for you.
This is a great motivator to getting things done.
Gratitude frees up our mind and gives us a clear thinking capability.
Related post: Gratitude: Being Grateful; the Key to a Happier Life
Take Breaks
I always preach about this and it’s because of how necessary it is.
A lot of us think taking breaks is for the weak or it’s something we must not be found doing.
But not taking breaks does more harm than good to our (mental, physical) health that we think.
When you take breaks, you get more insights about the work you were previously doing.
Taking breaks rejuvenates your body system and your brain.
You will also get a better sense of your work and life, if you take a pause every now and then.
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Yes! You want to get things done. It can be quite hard to do sometimes but it’s possible to wake up and show up everyday.
Be your own motivator, that way you don’t have to wait on anyone to get you to achieve your goals.
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