How to Stay Motivated

Remind yourself of the goals you’ve set. Before taking the time to conquer something, we often set short-term and long-term goals. However, you need to set realistic goals so that you don’t get discouraged when you haven’t achieved what you want. That doesn’t mean you can’t push and challenge yourself because without challenging yourself that’s not the goal. If you feel vague about your goals, it’s easier to lose motivation than to constantly check to see where you’re at. Tracking your goals and checking your progress can help you stay motivated every day.

Check weekly work to track progress. To stay motivated, people need to see their progress toward achieving their goals. If you find yourself on the right track or making great strides every time you check your progress, you’ll be more motivated and happy about your progress. If you find yourself still far from the goal, this may be a push for you to be more aggressive with the goal you have set.

Don’t forget to reward yourself every time you complete your weekly goal. The reward is as simple as a bowl of ice cream after a week of hard work or a pampering session at the spa after all the hard work. Any reward that makes you more motivated is something you need to save for yourself.

Give yourself a break. Sometimes people with strong will feel overwhelmed. You will probably end up exhausted and rest is all you need. If you’ve set a fitness goal, you’ll need three or four days off instead of the usual one or two. For learning goals, don’t try to do everything in one sitting, you should divide everything into a day or a week if possible.

Don’t be too hard on yourself. Everyone encounters small obstacles from time to time. If you can’t reach your goal in a week, take it as a lesson. Try to complete the next goal before the deadline so that you have more time to complete the outstanding work from the previous time. That way, you’ll stay on track even with minor bumps. The problem here is not how you failed, but how you handle those failures and are determined not to give up. Don’t keep blaming yourself for some mistake; you should take it for granted and keep trying to accomplish your goals.

Watch and read inspirational stories or speeches. Every now and then we should hear great speeches that keep our spirits up. Get yourself excited by watching inspirational videos on YouTube that will quickly give you new motivation to keep trying. Here are a few examples to make it easy to find inspiration:

• Mary Schmich’s famous speech: “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”, roughly translated as “Everybody is free (wear sunscreen)”.
• Pretty much any Hplywood sports movie.
• Theater music – with lyrics written on the popular theme of “rising from difficulties”.
• Historical stories of courage or valor (see: Jack Churchill, Audie Murphy, etc.)