Motivation is an influencing factor in every area of life. Little wonder people say the journey is not for the faint-hearted. Staying motivated is the surest way to get through tough and stressful times.
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Whatever the “journey”, there must be some sort of driving force behind reaching your destination; be it career-wise, personally, or even as basic as preparing the next meal. This drive is generally contained in the process of the journey and is typically fueled by motivation.
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Motivation is any act that increases or intensifies your desire, interest, and zeal to achieve something. Often, people lose interest in performance, become nonchalant to set goals, and in some extreme cases become depressed when they become demotivated. Thus, it is of the utmost value to always stay motivated.
Two psychologists in 1985, Deci and Ryan, argued that there are two primary kinds of motivation that make humans desire certain things:
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Extrinsic Motivation
Here, people aspire to get an outcome because it’s linked to external rewards, or because that result helps them avoid something negative.
They do not necessarily care about the objective, but its consequences. For example, meeting sales targets so you can get more commission or changing careers because you want a raise.
Intrinsic Motivation
This way, people do what they do because of the positive feelings and reactions they get from the activity, which is usually satisfying in itself. For instance, changing careers to do what you love or meeting sales targets to feel good about your skills.
By now, we can begin to see how both types of motivation are linked to human wellbeing and what we can at least do stay motivated.
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How To Stay Motivated
Be Focused And Determined
“Starve your distraction, feed your focus”; because it’s easier to visualize a goal when you keep focusing on it. Most times, people who stay focused on their goals find that it becomes their biggest source of motivation and, in tough times, can devise new methods of getting their results.
Remember, successful people are not those who do not fail, but those who keep trying until they win. In staying focused, you can also try new approaches and methods still directed at achieving your goal.
Practice Total Wellbeing
Our wellbeing, as humans, plays a major part in how motivated we can be in task completion. Once you lose hold of your sense of wellbeing, you become less willing to engage in tasks that might be beneficial to you. Because our minds and states of mental health put us in shape to have cognitive thoughts and make the best decisions.
Try to destress; read a good book. Reading helps us relax, calms our nerves, improves our imaginative skills. Also, it is important to exercise regularly to keep our bodies fit and senses alert. In addition, eat right, sleep well to relax and meditate to reach into and synchronize your being. Basically, be happy.
Take A Step Back, Try Again.
Maybe, you are using the wrong approach, maybe you don’t have the complete tools, maybe you’re pushing what needs a poke, or maybe you have surpassed your goals without even knowing (yes, it happens!).
Pause for a moment, retrace your steps and try to see where you got it wrong. Taking a step back does not mean conceding or retreat, rather, it helps you refocus on your goals. Moreso, taking a step back shows you what your errors are and provides a clearer vision on how to proceed.
Remember Your Victories
A grateful heart is a purposeful heart. Spending time to reflect on the wins you have had in the past and reminiscing on the positives in your life is an effective way of boosting your morale when things get tough and stressful.
Make a habit of writing down what you’re grateful for and spend time to appreciate it to help brighten up your mood and kickstart your motivation. Stay grateful, stay driven, stay motivated.
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Find The Best Purpose
Why do you need to stay motivated? It is necessary to always have this at the back of your mind, so you don’t lose track of why you need to do what you have to do.
When you find the best purpose of your task, it creates a zeal to want to achieve this task and spurs you on to success. Once you figure out the purpose, the most captivating one, hold on to it and use it to remain motivated.
Be Optimistic
Optimism improves resilience and makes you more inclined to positive thinking.
Constantly look at the glass as half full, rather than half empty. Filter your thoughts, have faith in your actions, believe in your goals and always see the good in the process.
When things get tough and stressful, optimism helps you cope with difficult times, conquers your fears and drives you to do more and better things.
Create Goals- Short And Long Term
Of course, you need to have a set goal in carrying out any task. However, don’t just think of the long-term goals; short term goals also give you a sense of victory and serves as a progress marker in achieving the main goal.
Create milestones and record your small wins. In tough situations, short term goals are important to help you stay motivate and fuels your drive to achieving the bigger goals.
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Adopt A Personal Incentive
Pat yourself on the back, go for that vacation when you earn extra commission from meeting a target, buy yourself something you want, sleep extra hours after meeting deadlines.
Personal rewards and incentives always give you something to look forward to, drives your zeal and keeps you motivated in trying to complete a task.
Hopefully, you would be able to guess what my incentive is after reading this…*wink.
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Interact With Like-minded People
You can find motivation in people who think as you do or who are on the same path as you.
Always reach out to your peers, discuss and assuage your fears and ask for help when needed. Listen to their stories, learn from them and devise new ways to improve your act.
Embrace Your Person And Self-regulate
This is, of course, easier said than done; however, it is important to understand who we are, embrace our methods and stick to what works for us.
Being self-aware helps us notice basic things about ourselves that help us relate effectively with the rest of the world. Regulate your actions, try as much as you can to be in control of situations. And if not, always prepare yourself on how best to be self-accountable and press-on in times of distress.
Now, take a moment to strategise and decide on the best way to remain motivated. With the raging COVID-19 pandemic in the world today, it is safe to say that these are stressfully tough times.
We are encouraged to be intentional about staying motivated to get through this crisis and achieve whatever goal we might have set, pandemic notwithstanding.
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