Motivation is the sense of determination and drive that keeps us focused on what we want in life. Our goals will fall flat without motivation. Even people with clear goals and passions will experience periods of time when motivation evades them. Being in a rut, or a period of listlessness – or even depression – can, and does, happen to everyone. When we lose motivation, we can take steps to get our vision back, and there are also actions we can take to maintain motivation so that we never lose our momentum. Read more to learn why we lose motivation, and how to maintain motivation.
Reasons Why We Lose Momentum
Motivation drops when we do less. When we feel in control of our lives and the outcome of our choices, we will have better motivation than when we don’t feel in control. Even if we are in a position, a job, or a life situation that causes us to feel a loss of control of our lives, we need to determine what we do have control of (our attitude and response, more than likely), and focus on that. This will help us gather more positive feelings of motivation to catalyze our shift out of this uncontrollable position or period of our lives.
Motivation comes after action, so once we start doing something to better our situation, we will feel our drive coming back to meet us in our action. When small habits are rewarded, little by little we will feel more energized, which leads us to feel motivated. Create cycles of work and rest, work and intensity; just like when working out, a muscle in the body needs intensity and rest to develop, so does our mind in order to build interest level or passion.
Create Structure
Create a structured daily or weekly schedule that doesn’t take any of your time to think through. This way, you have fewer decisions to make on an ongoing basis, which reduces low-grade stress throughout the day and assists in keeping your mind clear.
Block out time in your day for each area of focus. For instance, exercise two hours between 9 am and 11 am, perhaps take a walk and do twenty minutes of strength training, then from 11-2 focus on highest impact work tasks that need to be done, from 2-3 eat lunch and rest your mind, then spend from 3-4 on emails or clean-up work, 4-6 on calls, or whatever works best with your schedule and type of work.
It’s just important that you allocate what you want to accomplish during certain periods of time. It’s taken me years to sort this out properly. I can’t control when people are available for calls and meetings, and calls are a consistent part of my work. I find that organizing my schedule weeks in advance keeps me focused during time blocks when calls and meetings can be scheduled. I also make these calls and meetings fall on Tuesdays and Thursdays to maintain consistency with my schedule.
Know Your Why
Know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Knowing your “why” is more important for some people than others. Some of us need our “why”, which gives us a sense of purpose, in order to get anything done. If you find yourself less self motivated and better suited for working under management, then you may need more “why” in your life. Every time you feel unmotivated, ask yourself why you do what you do. Make sure to have a mantra or mission statement ready. Don’t make it only about making money or saving for retirement. Have something real and measurable. For example, your “why” or misson statement might say:
“I maintain my motivation so that I can have a business that works for me, that brings me 70 new sales a month so that my children can go to a good school, graduate with honors, and then have the most options available for employment. I do what I do so that my husband and I can travel to the places we want to go starting with [DREAM VACATION DESTINATION] in 2023. In 2024 we will buy the house in [DREAM LOCATION] while continuing to provide our customers the valuable service they need which will continue to bring them back to doing business with me for the next thirty years. I do all this because helping people have what they need to be the most productive and successful at their companies brings me joy, and my time off I get to choose to have wonderful experiences with friends and family that I cherish.”
Then go back to your work. It doesn’t matter how your “why” sounds, just write out a paragraph that you can use to remind yourself why you do what you do.
“Create a vision and know where you’re going. When pursuing your interests, it falls into place. You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something…”
– Steve Jobs
Push Your Limits
In order to up your motivation, sometimes you’ll need to create interactions that are outside your comfort zone. Seek out activities or events where you will meet new people. Read Networking Online for some ideas. Determine what sort of people you want to meet and what activities you want to be involved in. Reach out to someone you haven’t talked to in a while and catch up for an hour or two. You can also set up a group of people who are also trying to “glow up”; these are also called “mastermind groups”. Do some thinking and exploring to determine what you want to learn about or do, and then set the intention to meet the people who can help you get there.
Learn something new by exploring new interests, or cycle existing interests. Get excited about something. I like to make a list of things I want to learn and whenever I want to be reinvigorated I go back to it. Artificial intelligence, philosophy, economics, politics and conspiracies are some of the interests I go back and forth on. I’ll read books on whichever interests me at that moment and then alternate when I get uninterested. I’ll typically read, or listen to four books at once and alternate when I feel interested in them. Thomas Frank has a great video on YouTube which will help with 3 Ways to Get out of an Unmotivated Rut. Pushing your limits will give you new inspiration, which raises your overall energy and motivation factor.
Recharge With Self-Care
Next, after all that up-leveling, socializing, and learning new things, it’s equally important to take a break. Organizing your calendar or creating organized time blocks can keep us feeling focused on the task at hand, so breaks are imperative to keep you at optimum performance. Scheduling breaks while also leaving time for spontaneity will refresh your mind and keep you focused. Read Reduce Anxiety by Scheduling Breaks for tips.
If you have been working a lot and need a real break, then take a long weekend or vacation during which you can turn everything off and rest. Be careful with social media and entertainment while on breaks, since entertainment is stimulating as well and it doesn’t allow us to fully rest and recharge. Instead, spend some time in a forest or seaside exploring, or whatever makes you feel most alive and in the moment.
Hopefully these ideas will help you feel reinspired and connected to your motivation! There are many ways to stay on the course, and these are just a few of my favorites. Subscribe for more business, sales, and investing posts. Have a lovely day!
