6 Tips for Improved Self-Motivation

6 Tips for Improved Self-Motivation

 We all have days where we are stuck for inspiration. We get to our desks with nothing but good intentions, but somehow things don’t just flow the way we want them to.

It isn’t that we aren’t enthusiastic about what we do, or that we just can’t be bothered. We just need that little kick of motivation to get going.

Finding motivation

If you want to get things done, then the ability to motivate yourself (and, for that matter, others) is essential.

Recently I spent the day at Brands Hatch watching the British Super Bike meet. What fantastic racing¹ (and a great spectators circuit if you haven’t been), and it really got me thinking about drive and motivation. These guys — some of them as young as 14 years old — push themselves and their bikes to the edge of their potential, race after race. And even after a nasty crash, the grid² reforms…and off they go again. Surely, there are lessons here for us all.

I am always inspired by the guts³, drive, and determination that these riders show. A desire to finish at the top of the podium.

But it’s how they get there that I am most interested in.

In our businesses, we all want to be at the top. We want to be successful, and we want to realise our potential. So, when that familiar feeling of “what shall I do now” hits you, take a minute out to think things through.

Tips for improved self-motivation

Here are some of my thoughts and tips for improving your motivation, to take you from an “also ran” to the top of the podium.

1. Clarify your goals

This is one of the most important of all techniques to apply if you want to succeed. Clarify what it is that you want, and why you want it. (Unashamedly stolen from Steven Covey’s 7 Habits – Habit 2 – Begin with the end in mind).

If you don’t know what you want, then how are you going to achieve it?

Sometimes we are stuck for motivation simply because we don’t a clear picture of the end result and, thus, the steps on the way there.

Once you have the successful outcome in your mind, you are well on your way to building the motivation to get there.

2. Think Long-Term

Thinking of the long-term is a great way to overcome the small obstacles on the way there. Often in executing a long-term strategy there are hardships on the way. By looking past these and at the long-term picture, they can often be overcome quickly and easily.

If you wait and procrastinate⁴ further, these will become harder and more difficult to get past. Think of how great it will feel to have gone past the hard stuff.  Get them done and out the way. Or, as Brian Tracy would say “Eat that Frog”.

3. Celebrate the small wins

Take time to enjoy the good stuff, the small victories you experience on the way. Set some milestones⁵ for you to celebrate when you get there.

These milestones are a great motivator in themselves, very real evidence that the long-term goal is being achieved and moved towards. Celebrating your small wins is also a  great way to renew motivation providing you with positive feedback and reinforcing your good behaviours so far.

4. Reassess and readjust on the way

If you keep hitting walls, maybe it’s  time to reassess the situation…and perhaps plan an alternative course. Continually coming  up against the same obstacle can be very “de-motivating”. Readjusting your strategy may well be all you need to get past and get on. After all, there’s “more than one way to skin a cat”.

The end result is the key here. How you get there could come from a number of directions. Just because you planned one way, doesn’t mean that is the only way.

5. Evaluate (and re-evaluate) your goals

As you start to get closer to your end goal, take time to evaluate the outcome you are trying to achieve. It could be that once you are able to see the finishing line, it’s not actually the result you want. It may be that now that particular outcome is not as important to you as it initially⁶ was.

Evaluating your goals ensures that you are heading toward something that you really want. If you are lacking motivation to achieve your goal, it may well be that it just isn’t as important to you as it once was. It isn’t possible to give your best to a result you are not interested in achieving.

6. Don’t be afraid to change direction

If more businesses were better at this, they would be much better set to overcome the obstacles we all experience in our business lives – e.g. working through downturns and tough markets, changes in fortune and the inevitable⁷ changes in customer needs.

1 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

2 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

3 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 procrastinate   

v.耽搁，拖延

参考例句：

• Most often we procrastinate when faced with something we do not want to do.面对不想做的事情，我们经常拖延。
• It's easy to procrastinate when the deadline seems infinitely far away.当最终期限总是遥遥无期时是很容易延期的。

5 milestones   

n.重要事件( milestone的名词复数 )；重要阶段；转折点；里程碑

参考例句：

• Several important milestones in foreign policy have been passed by this Congress and they can be chalked up as major accomplishments. 这次代表大会通过了对外政策中几起划时代的事件，并且它们可作为主要成就记录下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dale: I really envy your milestones over the last few years, Don. 我真的很羡慕你在过去几年中所建立的丰功伟绩。 来自互联网

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

7 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。