The first step towards changing your life is to choose a goal, which might be anything from advancing your education or finding a new career to reaching a higher level of physical fitness. However, following through to complete what we have planned can be difficult, particularly when motivation is low. How do you keep your promises to others when you don’t feel like working hard? At that time, some ways to Encourage Yourself can be useful.
We all experience periods of motivational decline. To get yourself back on track toward your objective when you’re feeling unmotivated, consider one or more than one of these tactics supported by science.
Encourage Yourself in These Ways
1. Write Your Goal on The Calendar
Setting an external goal, such as a deadline, is one of the excellent Ways to Encourage Yourself. Put it on the calendar, whatever it is you want to achieve. You can be working towards a goal that has a predetermined end date. Getting ready for a test or enrolling in a course with a set finish date are two examples.
By choosing a deadline by which you may reasonably attain your goal, you can give your aim structure if it lacks it. Are you interested in participating in a marathon or 5k?
Enroll in a race on or around your goal date. A degree is something you might be thinking about. Make a note of the application deadline after doing some research. Want to acquire a new job skill? Enroll in a course & designate a completion date.
With a goal date, you can measure your progress & keep motivated since you always know how far you still have to go. Your performance may be greatly affected by this.
2. Break Down Goals in Smaller Steps
The best results may often be achieved by doing the simplest things effectively. Not everything can be done at once, so keep that in mind. The artist Vincent van Gogh once stated, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
Using the following technique, you can discover the drive to complete your tasks: Jot down what has to be done on a piece of paper. After that, list each & every action you must do to achieve your goal.
Last but not least, concentrate just on the step you are working on. You might find it simpler to go on to the next activity once you’re in the flow.
3. Do What You Love
Doing what you love is an answer to How to Encourage Yourself. If you find something you love doing & make it a profession, you will not find any shortage of motivation. Most of us hate our jobs as we can’t do what we love. Try to find out if you can make your passion a side hustle.
You might love writing but got a job as an accountant. Try blogging. You might love traveling but working as a programmer. Try to launch a YouTube channel about traveling & monetize it.
It is not being said you need to earn money from your passion or interest. But some extra bucks don’t hurt anyone.
4. Anticipate Difficulties
It’s wonderful to be enthusiastic & sure that you can accomplish your objective, but it’s also possible to be too optimistic. Every day won’t go exactly how you expect it to, and that’s alright. Life takes place. Simply making plans for bad days might help you stay motivated when they occur.
Make a note of the potential obstacles as you consider your objective. These could apply if you’re enrolled in an online course, such as:
- Losing the internet.
- During a study session, receiving a phone call.
- Your PC/ phone is getting hung up.
- Experiencing difficulty with a challenging idea or task.
The following are some potential barriers to jogging every day:
- It’s raining or snowing.
- Injury.
- Illness.
- Being requested to stay past your normal finish time at work.
We can’t foresee everything that can occur, but we can anticipate the challenges that are most likely to arise sometimes in light of our particular situation.
Create a strategy for overcoming the problem after you have your list. How can you prepare for the possibility of losing internet access? You may possibly save a few lecture videos downloaded to your computer or phone for offline use, or you might look at a local coffee shop with free internet.
Now that you have a strategy to maintain the momentum, you won’t become discouraged & lose drive when that roadblock arises.
5. Monitor Your Progress
Progress may be quite inspiring. You may track your objectives using a variety of technologies available today. This might be as basic as a calendar or to-do list that you can tick off as you finish days or tasks.
Alternatively, you can decide to use a free service like Trello, which enables you to design a unique digital task board to break down your main objective into smaller daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly goals.
A progress bar can also be drawn on a piece of paper or poster board. As you come closer to your goal, fill it in & hang it up somewhere you’ll see it frequently.
6. Ensure Your Goals Are Realistic
Having realistic goals is one of the Ways to Encourage Yourself. When people have trouble becoming motivated, they frequently make a mountain out of a molehill.
Although they have a reasonable list of tasks, they are reluctant to begin. Most of us are just as guilty of this as everyone else. However, some individuals genuinely have a mountain on their path.
If you’re one of them, you need to take a step back & reevaluate the tasks you’ve accepted. You shouldn’t be surprised if you lack motivation to work if you have too much to do.
Start by establishing some achievable, realistic goals. It is useless to attempt to reply to 700 emails in one day. The concept of what’s in front of you will leave you helpless.
Instead, work on a little bit each day for as long as it takes you to finish them. Similarly, only attempt to complete a conference speech in one day. Divide the speech into digestible sections, & then deal with each separately.
7. Reward Yourself for Small or Big Achievements
Receiving praise for our efforts is satisfying. Rewards, however, may also boost performance & motivation. Your interest & satisfaction in the task you’re doing may increase if you treat yourself to hitting tiny milestones & achieving huge goals.
Regardless of the size of victory, rewarding yourself is a great answer to How to Encourage Yourself.
These benefits don’t have to be significant or expensive. Here is a brief list of suggestions for rewarding yourself:
- Take a quick break.
- Outside, take a stroll.
- Enjoy a snack of your choosing.
- Go through a chapter of your preferred book.
- Meditate for a few minutes.
- Listen to a podcast episode of your choice.
- Set a date with your buddies.
- Play some games.
- Visit an attraction or museum.
- Shower or take a lengthy bath.
- Call a friend or relative.
Make your rewards list by taking a few minutes so that you may be prepared to celebrate both major and minor victories.
8. Make a Playlist of Your Own
Music is one of the great Ways to Encourage Yourself. Make a playlist of songs that inspire you the most. Be it for a workout or while working in the office, you will always find some music that will keep you up & running.
You may start listening to ‘Eye of the Tiger’ by Survivor when you feel like throwing your laptop out of the window or ‘ Pump Up the Jam’ by Technotronic while working out.
Alternatively, you can make a playlist of speeches by brilliant motivational speakers like Tony Robbins, Dave Ramsey, or Chris Gardner & listen to their words whenever you are feeling down.
Some Motivational Books
It is a well-established fact that reading books is one of the best Ways to Encourage Yourself. Here are some books to motivate yourself when you are struggling to find it:
- The Art of War, by Sun Tzu.
- How to Win Friends & Influence People, by Dale Carnegie.
- Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill.
- Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny, by Anthony Robbins.
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.
- The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J. Schwartz.
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.
- Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, by Tim S. Grover.
- How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, by John C. Maxwell.
- Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World, by William H. McRaven.
FAQs
Q: Encouraging others is easy. Why encouraging myself is difficult?
A: Encouraging takes convincing. You can easily convince others. But convincing yourself is a bit difficult.
Q: How does rewarding myself work to encourage me?
A: Everybody loves to be rewarded. If you promise some rewards to yourself, you will be encouraged to push yourself hard.
Q: Most motivational podcasts can be accessed only after paying for a subscription. Can I find them for free?
A: Many platforms like Spotify, Riverside.fm, Mashable & Audible offer free motivational podcasts.
