Motivation is the emotion that gives us the force to do something. Without motivation we would do nothing. We wouldn’t go to work without a strong motivation to pay rent and to live a comfortable life. We wouldn’t go out with friends without the motivation to have a crazy night.
It’s simple to be motivated to do those things, as they are necessities for most people. But what about things like working on your business or doing your workout that aren’t necessities? How can you be motivated to keep doing those things that you know you should do, but for one reason or another you keep postpone?
In this guide I’ll show you many ways to not only keep your motivation level always high, but also to constantly grow it.
Step 1: Know your enemy
Before trying to find a way to gain motivation, let’s first see why we lose motivation in the first place.
According to Wikipedia, The Hawthorne effect is a form of reactivity whereby subjects improve an aspect of their behavior being experimentally measured simply in response to the fact that they are being studied.
The Hawthorne effect can be directly linked to motivation. When you are just starting out with a new project, you are highly motivated and committed, but after some days or weeks your motivation level tends to lower.
The main reason is simple: when you started the project, you somehow received a stimulus from an external source that motivated you to start your project. For example you may have heard a success story and you decided to start your very own business to replicate that success. On the next days, you rely on your memory to recall the original stimulus, which might be the only thing that keeps you motivated.
After a few weeks however, your memory of that stimulus tends to lower, until you completely forget about it and you lose all your motivation. At that point you’ll find it hard to continue working on your project and you probably put it apart in favor of the next big thing.
Step 2: Fixing the problem
Now that you know what the problem is, is simple to find a solution. We just need to recreate the original stimulus over and over again. How you do that is not important, as long as you can reproduce the desired effect.
Let’s see some methods you can use to reinforce your motivation.
- Re-experience the original stimulus. If you have the opportunity, you can experience the same stimulus again. For example if you got motivated by reading an article, you can read that article again after a few days or week.
- Read motivational books. You can probably spend 15 minutes each morning to read some motivational books, or you can listen to audio tapes while commuting to work. There are thousands of motivational books/audio available for every situation, and they do a great job boosting your productivity. I personally like Brian Tracy’s stuff.
- Read success stories. Read about people who already did what you want to accomplish. If you can’t find people in your local area, do a quick search online and subscribe to forums where people like you are hanging out. More often than not, they’ll be more than happy to offer their advice and expertise.
- Share with your friends. Talk about your project with your friends, tell them what you are going to do and how much you are excited. Keep them updated with your results if they are interested.
- Challenge it. If you are trying to implement something that goes behind your comfort zone, consider starting a 30 days habit change, where you commit yourself to do a specific task everyday, no matter what. At the end of the 30 days you can roll back to the original lifestyle/situation if you want, so there’s no risk at this stage.
- Write about it. Writing helps to clarify your intentions, and it’s a tremendous way to keep you motivated. You can create a blog or a wiki where you share your results. It doesn’t need to be public, the only important thing is that you keep it up to date.
- Find a partner. If you can, find someone else who’s willing to help you. For example if you want to start running in the morning you can ask a friend who’s already a runner for some support. For example you could do some workouts together.
- Append a poster. It’s incredible what some people can do to your motivation. For example I’m a fan of Bruce Lee and when I see his image I became very motivated. This is because I know and respect his history.
These are just few of the things that you can do to keep your motivation always high, but they are those that works best for me. You don’t need to apply each of them, just find what works for you and then keep going.
Conclusion
Once you’ll find what keeps you motivated, there’ll be no more procrastination in your days.
If you already have figured it out, what are the things that keep you motivated?
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Posted on January 05 2010
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Oscar Del Ben, RTmate2. RTmate2 said: RT @oscardelben New post on FM: Motivation 101: How to Stay Motivated http://bit.ly/6063qP […]
Great tips Oscar. I might add this one thought:
Try to think about the end result. This works very well for those who are trying to lose fat or gain muscle, the results will not be immediate and so they are likely to give up but If they keep imagining how better they look, this will motivate them more.
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That’s really a nice tip indeed. Thanks for the contribution Adam!
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by oscardelben: New post on FM: Motivation 101: How to Stay Motivated http://bit.ly/6063qP…
Great post Oscar. I’ve found not having too many goals helpful so the things I do are things I really want to do, also baby steps. I can have a tendancy to get very excited and motivated at the beginning of a goal and that can die quickly. I’ve started finding balance and a step by step approach helps me maintain my momentum, e.g. I run every week..not miles and miles but about 2 or 3 at a time and find I enjoy it and want to keep it up.
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Hey Jen, you are definitely on the right track. You know I’m a fan of minimalism and doing a bit every day :D Thanks for your contribution :)
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Great tips Oscar, but I’d also add one thing, just so that people be careful.
If you lose motivation, start to question it. Why did you lose motivation? Is it really just the Hawhorne effect? Your first technique to go back to the original motivator is a good one, but again, question it. Why was I motivated about this? Is it the person’s success story? Is that what I want? Maybe it’s just the idea of success or something else (money, travel, etc) that got you excited, but question to your core being.
The reason being is that you want to be careful you’re not chasing someone else’s dream or definition of success. This happens to a lot of people trapped in the corporate world and want to get out…unfortunately the same patterns emerge when they try to find something else. Instead of looking within, they look to someone else for the answer to what will make them happy.
.-= Nate´s last blog ..Why Are We So Miserable With Our Jobs? =-.
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good points Nate, but at the same time we should not question to deeply and create false doubts in what we want. Some times we run out of motivation because the task is harder then we expected or takes longer.
.-= Quinn´s last blog ..Time to play =-.
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I just wanted to raise the point that not all motivation comes from outside. a lot of times we can reach inside our selves and rekindle the fires just by starting to do the work that needs to get done and overcoming the inertia that comes with the start of each new day.
.-= Quinn´s last blog ..Time to play =-.
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For me success is something that excites me. If what I’m thinking of doesn’t excites me, I’ll move on to something else.
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Hey Oscar:
Very technical article and I am not sure I agree with the approach. I believe that motivation is a natural outcome of a person working towards the goals that one wants to achieve.
I am sure it has a lot to do with stimulus and reactions and so on, but in reality it is just too complicated to put all of those things into action. I think there is a much more natural way of becoming motivated – it is by doing the things that you want and you enjoy; it is by following your purpose in life; it is by doing the things for the reasons that matter to you.
In short, motivation to me is just remember the reason why you are doing things and living your life congruently. Maybe it is just a different side of the same coin, but I just want to share my side of things :)
Best,
Tomas
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Hey Tomas, thanks for your contribution. What you say is true, but sometimes laziness wins over motivation, and for that cases, this is what I do to reinforce my motivation.
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Doing what we are passionate about is one thing. And it’s really good to be doing what you really love. But there are times that you just have to continue doing your resolve even with half or even just 1/4 of your original passion. This is where structure comes into play. I kinda imagine passion to be a wave with peaks and troughs. During the “trough” season, it’s structure and discipline that can keep you doing what you set out to do.
That’s why, it’s always important to rekindle old passions. :D
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Great advice Oscar and definitely something we all need. Loved it, thanks for sharing!
.-= Lana – DreamFollowers Blog´s last blog ..My 2010 Goals and Two Awesome Techniques I Used to Set Them =-.
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Glad you like it Lana :)
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[…] Once you’ll find what keeps you motivated, there’ll be no more procrastination in your days. via freestylemind.com […]
Surrounding yourself with the images of people you aspire to be like is a great idea. It makes you feel closer to them just by having their images on the wall near your desk. If I recall correctly, I think Napoleon Hill recommended this!
.-= Gordie – Lifestyle Design For You´s last blog ..How Self-confidence Can Strengthen Your Lifestyle Design And Personal Development. =-.
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I didn’t know he recommended this, but thanks for pointing it out!
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I’d like to add: google your project’s theme; what do you see? are you happy with the output of what Google delivers? Probably not: it re assures you there’s a real need for your project or issue you try to adress!
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Nice tip, thanks for sharing!
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As quinn pointed out motivation comes from the outside, inspiration comes from within. I’m not really a fan of motivation as word and it’s meaning. the real driving force comes from the reasons behind what we do, the ‘why’. when you have a fuller understanding of why then inspiration comes naturally from within.
I love the simple processes you create oscar, very helpful.
.-= Amit Sodha – The Power Of Choice´s last blog ..Why It’s Pointless Going To University To Get A Degree =-.
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Amit, I have the sensation that we may be using different words for saying the same thing :D
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Hi Oscar !
It is really a great article and I think your approach is the only one that is reasonable.
Keep on being aware of the things that stimulate you.
Sounds so easy .. doesn’t it? :-)
http://www.haukeborow.org
.-= Hauke Borow´s last blog ..Professional Working Methods =-.
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Hey Hauke, thanks for your feedback ;)
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This may seem a bit silly, but I have found it very useful in how motivated I will be during a given day. SLEEP, get enough of it. Early to bed and early to rise. I know guys like Tim Ferris sleep in till 10am and stay up till 2am or later at night, but I find myself being way more productive when I get lots of sleep and start the days off early. I find myself getting tasks done earlier in the day and feeling accomplished. When I sleep in during the week more than once, I start getting unmotivated and becoming lazy.
This might not apply to everyone, but surely Ben Franklin was on to something when he made the famous quote about early risers.
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I’s not silly Mike! I usually get at least 8 hour of sleep, but the more I got, the better I feel. Thanks for your contribution.
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Oscar, I found your site through Alltop. Here are two things are key to keeping me motivated:
1. Daily visualize my success
2. Schedule a regular time (weekly) to review and track my progress
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Hey, welcome to FM and thanks for your contribution.
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Hey Oscar.
I like that section called “Know your enemy”. Whenever I find something that routinely takes away from my energy, I start to cut it away from my routine. We start the day with an abundance of energy, so if it goes down low too quickly, there is always a cause. It doesn’t just disappear. I do also use step 2 about fixing the problem often, but I like to focus on step 1 when I have a strong attitude.
I like motivational music a lot.
.-= Armen Shirvanian´s last blog ..Crazy Today Is Slightly Above Average In A Week =-.
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Hey Armen, yes energy is spent during the day!
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Hi Oscar,
Reading success stories usually can inspire me back into action. A lack of motivation is commonly due to inner problems such as our mindset. So reading personal development books and working on our mindset is a great way to get ourselves to be motivated again.
Cheers,
Vincent
.-= Vincent´s last blog ..33 Striking Differences Between Winners And Losers – So Which Side Are You On? =-.
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Hey VIncent! Yes and I often do that in the morning so I’m highly motivated during the day.
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I think writing about it is very important. I have a stack of journals from the past 6 years of my experiences and personal growth. It really helps to see how you are advancing and it can motivate you to think about where you will be. Great job Oscar!
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Hey Ralph, congrats of keeping track of all your experiences, I personally don’t keep a personal journal once I’ve achieved my goal but I can see the advantages of it, like seeing how you were doing a few years ago.
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Nice article Oscar and great discussion and additions from everyone. I especially agree with there being motivation factors from the outside environment and similarly, factors that can come from within. Great to find your blog Oscar and to see so many familiar faces in your comments!
.-= Mike King´s last blog ..Action Creates Change =-.
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It is a great Blog…I am new here…hehe
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