Tactics to Increase Your Motivation

So far, you have learned what motivation is and where it comes from, and

you have learned what sort of things can deplete motivation and where to

look for a never ending source of power to strengthen your motivation. But

what about actual tactics to combat laziness, forgetfulness or whatever the

problem is that is causing your lack of motivation.

It is likely that you will be familiar with some of these tactics already. Most

people that have made goals and failed at achieving them are familiar with

the theory behind increasing motivation, even if they haven’t actually tried

any of the exercises listed here.

Your first step is to write down what it is you want. If you don’t set an

achievable, measurable goal, then all of the motivation in the world isn’t

going to help you. Think of motivation like the gasoline you put in your car.

You can fill your car up with gas, you can even run the engine and idle in

your driveway, or make all your neighbors mad by revving the engine. But

without a destination, you’re not going anywhere. It is only when your car is

full of gas, you have a destination in mind and you have a roadmap to get

there that exciting things begin to happen.

So, let’s go over some exercises to help you remind yourself of why you

are putting in all of this hard work.

Exercise #1: The Photo

Suppose that you want to lose weight. You see yourself in the mirror every

day, you get on the scale once a week and you go grocery shopping a few

times a month. Obviously, you know that a problem exists, but knowing

about the problem doesn’t give you any excitement about doing what it

takes to change it. Being able to look at the solution does.

Post a picture of yourself, or a picture of someone you want to look like if

necessary, on you wall, refrigerator or door. Make it as big of a photograph

as you possibly can and when you look at the photo every day, you will be

motivated to make the changes. Even when you are feeling down, walking

past this photo might be enough to get you excited again.

This doesn’t just work for weight loss either. If you want to be rich, post

pictures of yacht, airplane, sports car or whatever else you want. If you

want to be famous, Photoshop a picture of yourself on a movie poster and

hang it up.

Exercise #2: The Vlog

Starting a vlog can be a great way to stay motivated. You can either keep a

vlog for yourself, or you can post it online. This method has three

advantages over some of the other methods here, particularly if you post

online, but it also has a downside.

Advantages of Vlogging

There are some serious advantages to going the vlog route. First, you’ll

have a record of all of your past accomplishments on video and you can go

back and look at them anytime. Again, with the weight loss example,

suppose that you have lost 50 pounds and you suddenly find yourself

unmotivated to do any more. You could go back and look at all of the

progress that you have made so far and you might just get that motivation

going again.

Another advantage to vlogging is that you are accountable to someone. In

fact, if you publish on YouTube and you get a following, you will be

accountable to a whole bunch of people. You can create vlogs detailing

your progress and you will have more motivation to keep going because

you know that you will be letting down your viewers if you mess up.

This is a great way to keep your motivation strong, but as mentioned, it

does have a downside. If you do mess up, you are going to be

embarrassed about it and you are going to have to face all of those people.

If it is a small error, this might not be such a big deal, but if it is a major

screw-up, you are going to have to explain yourself to your viewers.

There is one more thing to consider when deciding whether or not to use

this method. You will have a support network already in place and your

viewer comments and video responses may help keep you motivated when

you need it the most.

Exercise #3: The Reminder Method

You could also do the reminder method, which is simply a way of keeping

motivated about a project or goal by writing about it whenever you feel

discouraged, or writing about it when you first make the goal so that you

can read back and see what it is you wanted and why you are trying so

hard to achieve it.

There are two methods to doing this, and either one is pretty effective. The

first method is to keep a journal. Many people are already used to keeping

a journal, so this method might work for them better because they will

remember to read and update their journal. Keeping a journal is a good

idea anyway, because you can write down your thoughts, impressions and

feelings and when you make it through a particularly hard obstacle on your

way to achieving your goal you can read the journal to get some motivation.

The other method is to start an online blog. This one also has an

advantage – the same advantage that video blogging has – that you’ll be

accountable to people if you use a blog to journal and you get some

followers. If this sounds appealing to you, all you need to do is sign up with

one of the free blogging services or start your own website and install

Word press or some other content management system.

Exercise #4: Posting Results

There is nothing like a list of your past achievements so far to keep you

motivated and this particular method is effective because you are going to

post your results somewhere visible. A whiteboard in your bedroom or

study is perfect, but you can also print out your results on paper and post

them somewhere you’ll see them.

You can use your refrigerator, the wall above your toilet, or even the ceiling

if you can see them when you look up. No matter what your goal is you will

be reaching little milestones on the way to it, and every time you reach one

of those milestones you have created a track record that will keep you

motivated from now on.

How you decide to post your results is up to you. If you are doing weight

loss as a goal, you can create a chart where you write down your weight

every week. If you are trying to become independently wealthy, you can

write down milestones on the method that you are using to achieve that

independence. No matter what your goal is, there is a way to post and track

it somewhere on a wall where you are going to see it every day.

Exercise #5: Create a Routine

Creating a routine is also one of the best ways that can keep you motivated

on your journey, because the habits that you build will keep you going even

when you don’t feel like it. Habits are hard to break as we found earlier in

the example of the man who didn’t learn to brush his teeth. But the hard

part is when you first begin, because it does take some discipline to build a

routine in the first place.

If you want to build a routine, it starts with setting daily goals. Figure out

what you are going to do daily (in general, not specifically) and then make a

time for you to do it. If you need to, make a schedule so that you’ll know

where it fits in, or simply add it to your todo list. It takes approximately four

weeks to develop a habit, so you’ll need to be strong during those four

weeks. After that, you will have a much easier time staying motivated

because you’ll be in the habit of working towards your goal.