Motivation: how to get it, how to keep it and how to increase it. That’s the theme of this page, which pulls together my posts on motivation and points you to some further resources I’ve collected.
How to Get Motivated
Getting motivated is mainly a matter of inner physics – building up a strong enough force to overcome your inertia, your tendency to remain at rest. You can do that in two ways: by the attractiveness of what you want to move towards, or the repulsiveness of what you want to move away from.
photo credit: the mad LOLscientist
I favour the positive approach. For example, I found 7 benefits of exercise I can believe in to motivate me to move. When I work with weight-loss clients, I find that emphasising the deliciousness of nutrient-rich food helps them more than anything.
If you want to be powerfully motivated, focus on the prize you’re pursuing. Some people (especially younger people) are motivated more easily by short-term rewards than long-term rewards, so when you’re figuring out your strategy, include short-term rewards in the mix. It can be as simple as the Jerry Seinfeld technique of marking a calendar so you don’t want to “break the chain”.
(External rewards can actually reduce internal motivation, though, if they’re not inherently related to the task you’re motivating yourself to perform.)
photo credit: Looking Glass
It’s important, as well, to deal with your existing, unhelpful patterns of motivation so that you can replace them with more adaptive strategies.
There are at least 10 good ways to cultivate a positive habit and replace those negative ones. And ambivalence is a good place to start to become ready, willing and able to change.
How to Stay Motivated
Staying motivated on the inside requires help from the outside. This can be simple memory-joggers you surround yourself with (yes, motivational posters do have a use beyond ironic amusement), or other people who help and encourage you.
Perseverance is a skill, which you can learn, build and develop. This is how you become happier, for example.
Personal contact with a trainer or coach helps keep you on track, though it’s important that they are helping you to strengthen your own internal motivation rather than imposing motivation on you from the outside.
photo credit: Mllerustad
A device like the Motivaider – or, these days, an iPhone app like Keep In Mind – can remind you at set or random times about your goal and restore your focus.
Because focus – paying attention – is essential to motivation and success, and the more you practice, the better you’ll do.
photo credit: Tomas Sobek
How to Increase Your Motivation
Success is one of the great motivators, so to build your motivation, you’ll want to build your self-efficacy – your (justified) belief that you can succeed. Self-efficacy is much more effective than external pressure for changing behaviour.
Pick a reasonable goal, but one that will challenge you, and use that as a stepping-stone to greater things. And celebrate your successes.
Oh, and don’t overdo it. Remember to take time to rest, relax and restore.
To be sure to catch more content like this in the future, and to receive free downloads, special discounts and a bonus for signing up, join my mailing list:
Pingback: How to Choose the Right Challenge for 2011 | Living Skillfully: Change Your Life
Pingback: 5 Motivational Mistakes That Sound Like Good Ideas