HOW TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF

HOW TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF

Your Complicated brain

Because you do have a much more complicated brain than a simple reward and punishment system, there is no simple answer to what will actually motivate you.

Everyone is different, and will be motivated by different things.

However, there are some general, scientifically proven guidelines that you can follow to find motivation when you really need it.

1. AN INSPIRING PURPOSE

This should come as no surprise to you, but the best and most motivating thing you will ever have is an inspiring purpose to work toward your goals.

If you do not genuinely care about getting into good shape, then you might be able to force yourself to go to the gym for the first 2 weeks of January, but eventually you will be hit that day  when your alarm goes off and the last thing you want to do is exercise. 

So you will skip it once….then twice…then by February you will join the 92% of others who fail their New Year’s Resolutions in 2016.

Instead of doing things that you feel like you “should” in 2016, work towards the resolutions that you genuinely care about. When you do this, you tap into a different part of the brain that uses less willpower to take action and make progress.

Now, an inspiring purpose does not need to be an over-the-top goal of curing cancer, solving world hunger, or becoming the CEO of your company. In fact, it can be as simple as changing your perspective.

Going back to the gym example, you may not care about going to the gym to get fit, but you may care about setting a good example for your kids.

There is a lot more purpose and meaning behind working to be a healthy, proactive, and disciplined person for your family. Rather than just getting into shape because you “feel like you should”, or because you want to look good in a swimsuit.

That simple change in perspective may make all the difference!

2. SMALL WINS

Let’s assume that your goals for 2016 will require an entire year’s worth of work to complete (they are New Year resolutions after all). If that’s the case, then you will probably follow the typical script.

1. On January 1st, you come up with your goal and get a spark of energy and excitement as you begin to think about the positive changes that are coming!
2. So you get up early, eat healthy, resist temptations, and are a productive machine for the first week.
3. Then you burn yourself out, feel exhausted, and get depressed by just how far you are from completing your goal.
4. Then each trip to the gym, healthy meal , and hour of productivity seem insignificant compared to the huge goal you have for the year, so you take a break for a day.
5. Finally, one break leads to another break….then you’re right back to your old habits.

The human brain gets overwhelmed easily. When it doesn’t see an easy path from point A to point B, it will motivate  you to procrastinate.

You can overcome this by forgetting about a huge goal for 2016, and instead focusing on achieving small wins. By focusing on small wins, your brain can see a much clearer path to achieving your goal.

So don’t focus on learning a new language, just study for 1 hour. 

Don’t focus on going on a 90-day diet, focus on eating healthy today.

Don’t focus on getting a promotion, just show up early to the office this week.

With each hour, day, or week that you achieve your small wins, your confidence will continue to grow. Then you will be even more motivated to achieve the next small win, and the next one after that.

Eventually, you will be 3, 6, 9 months in and more confident than ever that you can do this. 

3. FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

You cannot control the questions that will be on an exam.

You cannot control how your body will respond to diet and exercise.

And you cannot control whether the boss will give you a promotion.

Yet, every year people measure the success of their goals based on these types of metrics. They resolve to get great grades, lose 20lbs, and get a promotion – despite the fact that they cannot control the ultimate outcome of any of these!

We spend so much time trying to figure out ways to motivate ourselves, that sometimes we forget how important it is to find ways to not demotivate ourselves.

And nothing demotivates quite like putting in a lot of effort toward something and not getting the results you hoped for. The fact is that the end result is usually out of your control. So it is really just a guess of what you hope will happen.

So instead of focusing on achieving results, focus on the things you can control.

You can control what you eat, how much you exercise, how long you study, and how much focus you put into your daily work.

And the effort you put into working towards eating a little better, exercising a little longer, and studying a little more often is what should truly mark your success in 2016.

CONCLUSION

Motivating a horse is simple. You reward good behavior with a carrot, and punish bad behavior with a stick. Unfortunately, the human brain is much more complicated than this. We are motivated by purpose, meaning, and small wins that show that our daily efforts are working.

So don’t motivate yourself with carrots and sticks to reach your goals in 2016. Find the goals that are the most important to you, achieve small wins that prove you can reach them, and focus on your effort, not the ultimate result!