Staying Motivated

Whether you are a student, leader, entrepreneur, or just someone pursuing an ambitious goal, your success will depend a lot on how well you can motivate yourself. As John Whitmore in his book Coaching for Performance puts it, "if people are really going to perform, they must be self-motivated." Here are three things you can do when it comes to staying motivated.  

Keep your goal in mind

Having compelling goals is one of the most potent sources of motivation. Furthermore, goals can take you beyond your limits to a world of unlimited power and possibilities. As human beings, we are goal-oriented; it is in our DNA, and we feel tremendous pleasure from achieving our goals. Whenever we set and achieve big audacious goals, it gives us a sense of accomplishment and motivates us as we set new goals and pursue them. 

By setting goals, you are therefore attempting to test and go beyond your limit. If these goals are inspiring and meaningful, you will develop the self-motivation and inspiration to cut through obstacles, climb over barriers in pursuit of them. Consequently, your attitude will be one of "fight" instead of "flight" when the going gets tough.

Be optimistic     

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? It depends on who is answering! You may have come across this overused illustration about optimism before. Well! You guessed right! I am going to ask you again. What is your answer? If you answered half full, you might be a person with an optimistic view of life. By optimism, I mean having a positive outlook on life. That said, while a pessimist expects the worst thing to happen to them, an optimist is an individual who desires good things to happen to them.   

So how does one develop optimism? The best way is to choose to be optimistic and to practice thinking differently every day. In other words, whenever you feel frustrated, try to shift into a curious state and think in terms of possibilities instead of thinking negatively. Here's why - you create more of what the mind continues to think about each day. 

Remain hopeful

People who feel hopeful increase their chances of growing through the difficulties they encounter on the road to realizing their dream. While optimism believes that you will have good positive experiences in the future, hope is a positive motivational state that accepts reality with an attitude that refuses to quit.    

When we need a booster shot of motivation to get us to pass our hurdles so that we may reach our goals, hope never fails. Hope also has a way of giving us a reality check. It makes us rationally challenge our present reality. By so doing, you may realize that the things you worry about are not life-or-death issues as you previously thought. For example, what is the worst that can happen if you start your own business? You can meet with success, or you can fail and learn from your mistakes during the process. In other words, the world won't end if you bet on yourself. Therefore, to have hope signals the quest for new possibilities, especially when you have to deal with uncertainties.

The choice is, therefore, yours; be miserable or motivate yourself. If you only depend on external conditions to encourage you, it won't last. But, on the other hand, if you keep your goals in mind, be optimistic, and remain hopeful, success will be yours.