Self-Motivation Is A Muscle. Here Are Steps To Strengthen That Muscle
When it comes to self-motivation
each one of us would like a little more each day. Self-motivation is like a muscle in our bodies. The more we use this muscle the strong it becomes. If we stop using motivation it becomes weak. This is why we must exercise this muscle in order to keep it strong and firm. If our motivation
becomes weak how can we recharge and strengthen this muscle?
Let’s examine some ways we can start right now to get this motivation muscle off the couch and get it strong again. Without motivation is our driving force than what are we doing each day but surviving. I know, just surviving is not what I want to do each day, my desires, dream, and passions are what keeps me pushing ahead. Without this driving force to keep me motivated and strong I will otherwise feel defeated.
Start by setting goals.
Setting goals is easy, anyone can set a goal, but working towards that goal is difficult. Humans are wired to do things that are easy, it is human nature to avoid doing things that are hard. Take for example, in order to build our muscles in our bodies we need to lift weights and exercise, but the majority of the population avoids doing these two things because it is difficult. Just like working our motivation muscle, we deliberately avoid doing things that we are not comfortable with or we are afraid of so our motivation muscle stays weak.
What can we do to increase our motivation and keep it going?
There are several steps that can be done to give you the boost you need to increase your motivation. These steps are simple, they are designed to get you on the path of increasing your motivation muscle
and to help you become more committed to meeting your goals.
Start off small
Make small goals at first. By working towards and meeting small goals you will start gaining confidence in order to accomplish larger goals. By having small wins this will give you the motivation to continue on towards the bigger goals and passions.
A good example is a weight lifter. A weight lifter wants to lift all the weights in the gym, but he knows he can’t and if he tries he knows he will injure himself. So the weight
lifter starts off with small weights
and builds himself up to what he wants to accomplish.
By lifting less weight in the beginning and accomplishing smaller weight lifting goals this will keep him motivated to keep striving for lifting more weight.
Personal Mantra.
Developing a personal mantra
is an authentic individualized expression of how you feel. Take time in the morning when your mind is still at rest and journal what are your biggest desires and goals. Now journal how you see yourself accomplishing this journey from beginning to end. Meditate on your deep desires and focus on how you see your journey to get to the place that you desire.
Commit to your closest friends.
Each one of us has committed to resolutions and dreams in our heads. But since we are humans and it is easier to walk away from something than try to work towards it, usually we will lose our motivation fast. Procrastination is an arch-enemy of motivation and we all love to procrastinate.
If we commit to our closest friends and families are goals this will give us the motivation we need to keep pushing forward with everything we have until we reach our final destination. We don’t want to disappoint our friends and family by not reaching our goal, plus we don’t want to look like failures or quitters either. Our friends and family are there to be our support group to keep us motivated and accountable to reach our goals.
Routines and Rituals
Routines and rituals are highly personal, so it’s important you invest a lot of your own preferences and personality into these two categories. By creating your own personal routine and ritual just make sure that it promotes happiness and peace in your life. When you bring peace and happiness into your routines and rituals it will make it easier to get gain motivation and to keep it strong and active in your life.
Challenge the small voice in your head.
When you set out on your journey to reach your goals you will be attacked by small voices in your head that will make you feel inadequate. Doubts and negatives thoughts are pure pessimism. Motivation will be attacked by pessimism. Learn how to fight being pessimistic by being optimistic
. Optimism is the opposite of pessimism. Each one of us has the ability to defeat pessimism by having positive mental thoughts. These positive thoughts will chase away the negative thoughts that try to rob us of our motivation. Studies have shown that pessimism
will shrink our life span while optimism will help us be healthier and possibly live a longer happier life.
Visualize your passions.
I remember back to the early days of sales basics where the instructor would have us paste our goals all over our homes in order so we could always be reminded why we were working so hard. If we could not constantly keep the goal within our crosshairs then we would lose our perspective and get sidetracked from accomplishing our goals.
I remember having fancy cars, big homes, vacation spots plastered all over the walls of my home so my mind I would not lose focus. A lot has changed over the years, but this simple little exercise of keeping our goals in site is still being taught today in sales training 101.
Related Article: Overcome Negative Thoughts In Order To Be A Successful Leader
Fear holds us back.
Everyone has fears! I am an INFJ
personality type and I have many fears. But how we handle these fears is what sets us apart from everyone else. Many people get traumatized by their fears where others use their fear as motivation.
Fear is the largest obstacle that holds people back from living their dreams.
I love this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’” — Eleanor Roosevelt
What is the antonym of fear it is “confidence”. Fear is something that we all need to face head-on. I remember my huge fear was public speaking, I faced this obstacle by becoming an elected public official. Today, I do have some apprehension about speaking in public but since I faced my fear and won I am able to go out on stage and speak without feeling paralyzed by fear.
Conclusion
Remember, motivation is a muscle just like the muscles in our bodies. If we don’t exercise this muscle it will become weak and turn to mush. In order to pursue our dreams and passions, we need to stay motivated and focused in order to accomplish our journey.
