Was there a time where you wondered if you were someone who couldn’t follow through? You’d start an idea, program, workout regime or healthy eating plan FULL of motivation and then a few weeks in you were like “who was that person and where can I find them again?”. I get you. I really do. But you are not that person! These are strategies on how to stay motivated in life and they have completely changed how I think and set goals. I hope they can do the same for you because it’s not who you are. It’s just how our minds have been working and the way we are wired to motivate ourselves that doesn’t always work for us. But these tips can help change that.
Always remember to look back
Sometimes we spend SO much time looking forward to where we want to go and who we want to be we fall into the comparison gap. We compare ourselves to our ideal selves and others. And while that might motivate some people, eventually it gets hard when we feel like we’re always one step behind who we want to be.
This was an amazing piece of advice I got when I was struggling to stay motivated in life. I spent so much time looking at people on Instagram & online that I felt were so many steps ahead of me. I ended up losing focus and trying to do too many things at once to ‘speed’ up my success.
This is why looking BACK instead of forward is a great help. When I started looking at how far I’d come, instead of how far I felt I had to go, it motivated me so much. I was proud of how much I’d achieved and changed, even if I wasn’t where I wanted to be yet. I felt like I was on my way there and that was enough.
So a great mind tool is to review yourself every month, 3 months or every year and really see how far you’ve come. This is something I do weekly. And it really motivates me when I see how much I’ve managed to do over time.
So be proud of how much you’ve done!! And remember to look back too, not just forward. Because you’ve come a long way.
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Ask yourself questions
Self reflection is a key habit in changing motivation. I find if I don’t have the right beliefs behind what I’m trying to do then I really don’t have the motivation to even try and get there. Do you feel worthy of what you’re trying to do? Do you feel good enough? These are big questions that require a gigantic cup of tea (or coffee if that’s your jazz) & some quiet time.
A lot of us don’t feel motivated because we just don’t feel like we’re enough. We let our doubts get the better of us. So when I find myself being swallowed up in doubt I ask myself a few things like
“Why am I really procrastinating?”
“Why do feel like I can’t do this?”
“What part of it is scaring me”
“How can I break it down”
“What tools can I find to help me work through it (i.e. books, courses etc)
“Am I acting out of fear or love?”
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
I question my way out of doubt and inaction.
So try finding a list of questions to ask yourself every time you don’t feel motivated to do something. And see how you can go about changing how you speak to yourself and the answers you give yourself. Soon your brain will be firing with amazing answers to questions and you’ll start to feel a lot more motivated!
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Break up your goals
When we set big goals they can be intimidating. And almost unmotivating! So one thing that can really help you to feel less scared and more motivated is to break up your goals.
There’s two ways to break them up:
- Break your BIG goals into smaller 90 day goals
- Break your goals down to 3-5 main focuses
Breaking your goals down to 90 day goals
90 day goals are the best thing I have ever done! Basically instead of setting a yearly goal that seems really far away, you set goals every 90 days. It gives you a three month window to set what you want to achieve. It feels a lot closer. And gives us less time to fluff around! Which can easily happen with a yearly goal. It also helps us to stay more accountable and gives us less time to come up with the “we’ve got time” excuse that we usually have.
If you want to read more about the benefits of setting 90 day goals you can read my post on it here.
Breaking your goals into 3-5 main focuses
Setting the goal is easy but deciding where to start can stop us in our motivating tracks. The next best strategy after a 90 day year is to set the 3-5 main focuses/mini goals or things you need to do to get there. For example, if you’re goal is to start a blog, then the main things to focus on when you’re starting is to 1) choose a theme 2) choose a website provider/host and 3) start writing some content to launch!
And that’s s all you focus on. Don’t worry about Pinterest or other social media. Don’t worry about finding affiliate programs. Just start on those 3 simple steps and work from there. This could be what you do for the next 90 days. And when that’s done you can self reflect and see what the next 90 day goals are and what focus that requires.
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So, when you’re setting goals and trying to stay motivated remember to:
- Look back instead of forward (you’ve probably come a LONG way already)
- Take time out to self reflect and ask yourself questions
- Remember to break up your goals – try setting a goal for 90 days instead of a yearly one. Then choose 3-5 main focus areas for that goal.
So! What tip did you find the most useful? And what do you think you can do to help you stay motivated?
