One person studies and works all day long with pleasure, while another does it through force. And the point is not that the first, unlike the second, does what he likes. Much more often the reason is due motivation. It generates the desire and opportunity to achieve goals by overcoming oneself. To enjoy waking up early in the morning or doing monotonous work, you need to properly motivate yourself. There are many effective ways that, once mastered, you can achieve success in any business.
How motivation works in practice
In order for motivation to work in real conditions, it must be managed. That is, first you need to create it, and then support it in every possible way and try to ensure that it does not fall below the required level.
You can create motivation in the following way:
- encouraging;
- forcing;
- creating a situation.
In addition to all this, when managing motivation, it is necessary to take into account the distinctive features of a person and his qualities. Thus, for a person who is unable to enjoy the process of work, the result will be a much more motivating factor.
When managing motivation, it is also important to consider whether a person is prone to frequent emotional reactions or whether he is mainly accustomed to being guided by his mind.
Examples of positive and negative motivation
Positive motivation is built on similarly positive, correct incentives, and negative motivation, accordingly, on negative ones. A simple example can be given. When a child is told: “if he studies well, they will buy him a new computer,” his thinking is set in a positive way and he is encouraged to try harder in his studies. When the condition sounds like this: “if you complete your homework, you will not be punished,” the stimulus is the fear of experiencing pain. The attitude is fundamentally negative, although often effective.
Other engines
Many people tend to complain about the lack of this very motivation, energy, and will to live. Some people sometimes find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning. Sometimes in such situations, the effective solution may not be motivation at all.
Although it is certainly one of the most important behavioral drivers, it is far from the only one. Sometimes the solution to the question: “Where do I get energy?” - is not a search for 100 ways to self-motivate, but setting a mission or developing habits that a person did not have before.
Sometimes, instead of looking for the cherished motivation, you need to remove certain internal barriers that do not allow you to move on, to eradicate self-pity. And sometimes simple rest is the most effective solution.
Fifth method: use motivating materials
This method is one of the most motivating. It lies in the fact that you systematically (for example, half an hour or an hour a day) get acquainted with the success stories of different people. And you can find a great many such stories. Watch feature films and documentaries that talk about how someone achieved success. Read books and articles, listen to motivating audio recordings. Thanks to the Internet, today you can find an incredible amount of a wide variety of motivating materials on almost any topic. By practicing this method regularly, you will be able to provide yourself with a constant flow of only the information you need, which will charge you with creative energy, change the direction of your thinking towards achieving success and motivate you. In addition, success stories of different people are clear examples of the fact that any person can achieve the most amazing results.
The Importance of Skill Development
Self-motivation as the art of motivating oneself has an inextricable connection with beliefs, life aspirations, desires and almost everything that is important to an individual. All this can just push you to take certain actions.
Self-motivation is what sometimes allows you to achieve results that a person could previously only dream of. Having the ability to motivate yourself is one of the many factors that separates those who achieve success from those who simply go with the flow.
Developing self-motivation is necessary because no one is born motivated. A motivated person is able to rise above circumstances, because he shows less self-pity and, accordingly, is able to get up early in the morning and do more things in the most effective way.
The first method: leave aside everything unnecessary
You must learn to ignore everything that distracts you from achieving your goals and pushes you off your intended path. Developing this skill is not that difficult, but the results you get from using it can be amazing. Take some free time to think about what your plans for life are. Think about what tasks you have set at the moment and realize whether you need absolutely all of them. Surely, you can find something that does not require your effort and that you can simply throw aside. It happens that some aspirations are imposed on us by society, advertising, even parents. If you really want something, keep only this for yourself and forget about the rest. Anything unnecessary is a psychological burden that prevents you from using your full potential to achieve what you really need. The energy released as a result of ignoring everything unnecessary will constantly fuel you and increase your personal productivity.
Time factor
Gary Vaynerchuk, a Belarusian immigrant, now a businessman who has achieved incredible success in America, once uttered the most motivating words of his life:
One day I will die.
These seemingly depressing thoughts pushed him to live every day as if it were his last.
The time factor creates three forms of self-motivation, these are:
- Low. When a person simply prefers an activity. Emotions in this form are not enough for an individual to mobilize himself “right here and now.”
- Average. This form appears when an important but not urgent task comes up.
- High. Here the stimulus of emotions is at such a level when the individual has practically no choice but to do it right now.
We can conclude that the time factor has a significant impact on what priority is given to certain tasks.
Method two: Keep a “Success Journal”
A success journal is a very effective tool for motivating yourself. It is a kind of diary in which you must record all your achievements. Even the smallest ones. This could be a successful acquaintance that occurred on your initiative, praise from your boss for a well-prepared report, an increase in income, getting rid of a bad habit, etc. It is advisable to keep this diary every day, because every day is filled with many events, among which there will certainly be good ones. The more you write down, the more success you will have in your journal. Scroll through and read it in the morning and evening, and whenever you are in a bad mood and feel low energy, loss of motivation, or feel like you are standing still and not making progress. Visually displaying all your successes and achievements will give you a new positive charge and strength to continue to act.
Non-stop forward movement
Methods of self-motivation mainly consist of correctly managing the forms of “preferred”, “important” and “needed right now”. Self-mobilization reaches an optimal level when at least two forms change into “I can.”
A person is able to show the best of all possible results when all three forms change. This happens, as a rule, when a person’s occupation is the work of his whole life.
In such a situation, a person maintains his level of motivation even at the end of his strength and when significant obstacles arise.
Sixth method: perform different tasks
Thanks to various psychological studies, it is already known for certain that constant work on one project tends to tire and become boring. If you do only one thing for a long time, then the state of fatigue sets in much faster than in situations where you do different things. If you feel that you are starting to get tired of what you are doing, stop, switch your attention to something else, do some small but unrelated task, or just rest. Take a break and take a break. After some time, your strength will be restored, and you will be able to do what you were doing with new strength and renewed motivation.
Other factors
In addition to the time factor, which gives self-activation various forms, its formation is significantly influenced by:
- Internal barriers. In most cases they arise due to low self-esteem.
- Individual characteristics. For example, there are people who naturally have increased energy reserves, but their organization may suffer.
- General development. Those individuals whose ambitions are able not to come into conflict with laziness often easily find a variety of excuses for their failures.
- Age. Children and the elderly usually have much more difficulty with self-activation and using self-motivation methods.
In the process of working on assigned tasks, this skill plays a key role. In order to develop it, self-motivation exercises were developed.
Practical psychology in this case does not involve the use of any complex techniques. Exercises that will allow you to feel a surge of energy are quite simple.
How is motivation different from self-motivation?
Motivation in most cases involves external influence. This could be an illustrative example of other people, instructions from management, or any other factors that require a person to match the circumstances. It is optimal when it is not too intrusive and involves receiving a reward. So, if the bosses demand to do more work in less time, and without additional payment, this situation will be unprofitable for the employee. At first, it may continue to work by inertia, but this is not a fact. Therefore, such an unfair strategy is doomed to failure. However, even here there are exceptions. When a person truly loves his job, he is interested in further development and professional achievements are not on the same level as financial gain, we talk about self-motivation. It differs from the motivation described above in that a person independently strives for perfection, despite the accompanying external factors. Personal growth is important to him, not benefit or praise from superiors. There is no need for additional incentives and control, even in difficult situations.
Goal setting and visualization
In order not to waste your precious energy on everything, it is very important to note your life goals. Thus, all sorts of little things that don’t matter will stop bothering you, more energy will remain and you will spend it on what really matters to you.
And for greater effect, it will be useful to tell about your plans for life to those who can understand you. This will allow you to visualize your most important goals, which will have a positive impact on your sense of purpose and bring some satisfaction.
An indispensable tool for personal growth is a journal in which you will record every personal victory. In such a journal, in addition to notes of success, it is useful to add clever sayings from a variety of sources, which will provide additional motivation.
Inspirational quotes can be gleaned from the biographies of people who have already achieved the success they desire. In difficult times, such a diary will be able to remind you of what you are capable of and what you have already achieved, thereby inspiring you to further achievements.
Ways and methods of self-motivation
The following ways will help you move forward confidently, develop and get what you want:
- Burn bridges. If you get rid of any possibility of retreat, you can significantly increase your own chances of success. Anyone who has decided to open a business (and has every opportunity to do so) should quit their main job. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to bring the idea to life: stability will always outweigh the risky endeavor.
- Surround yourself with motivating objects. A person who dreams of losing weight can hang posters with the images he strives for. And anyone who wants to get rich can change the screensaver on their phone or computer to a picture with the treasured amount of money.
- Create a positive environment. Maximum communication with those who motivate and support will bring invaluable benefits. The same cannot be said about those who spew negativity and dissuade us from achieving our goals in every possible way.
- Be inspired by other people's examples. Stories from people who have already done what a person strives for will charge you with energy and motivate you to succeed. After all, if someone has already done it, then everything is possible.
- Get rid of sources of negativity. It is advisable to remove from life everything that causes negative emotions, including news on TV. Positive thinking 100% per day provides significant support in increasing motivation.
- Act immediately. You can't put off your plans for later. After making a decision to change your life, you need to start doing it immediately. Do you have a goal to invest money in a profitable business? So, it's time to read thematic literature. Do you want to get rid of 15 kg? The first thing to start with is to remove harmful foods from the refrigerator.
The listed methods of motivation are effective in almost every case. Sometimes you just need to believe in yourself and everything starts to work out.
Give up your routine
Take a thorough look at what activities you perform on a daily basis. There is a high probability that a significant part of them does not bring the result that you planned to get, but instead only takes away precious energy.
You can completely calmly let go of things that are already boring and not needed at all. Reserve your energy for accomplishments that will have a real impact on your life.
It will be useful to create a small environment for yourself with accessories that create an atmosphere of coziness and comfort. They will help in adapting to changes.
Method four: set clear goals
Setting goals has an extremely motivating effect on a person. First, when you practice goal setting, you automatically start thinking about exactly the things that motivate you. Secondly, when setting goals, you think about the time frame for achieving each of them, which already brings their achievement closer and serves as an additional motivator. Thirdly, when you think about your goals and their achievement, you unconsciously think through various options for their implementation. It’s not for nothing that they say that thoughts are material. The energy impulses of your thoughts will attract more and more new events into your life, which, quite likely, will open for you, figuratively speaking, those doors that were previously closed. For effective goal setting today, there are a considerable number of effective methods. You can familiarize yourself with some of them here and here.
Build up endorphins
A hormone called “endorphin” is considered by many to be a kind of drug, since with the release of this hormone in the body comes bliss. Physical activity can lead to such a release. A light walk, a short jog or even the most ordinary exercise will do.
At the same time, at times it is simply necessary to relax to replenish your strength. Comedies, funny stories, jokes and anecdotes will relieve tension and allow you to discard unnecessary seriousness. Humor is one of the best cures for stress.
You don't want to take on an unbearable burden by trying to complete a bunch of different tasks without stopping. Overworking can destroy your self-motivation and lead to severe exhaustion.
Instead of trying to do everything at once, it is wise to take some time between tasks to recuperate. Attempting to accomplish something huge at once threatens with a decrease in quality and unnecessary nerves.
The seventh method: rejoice in defeat
It sounds a little strange, but this is how you need to act. Defeats and failures should be rejoiced, not grieved over them. The fact is that absolutely all successes, achievements, failures and defeats are the result of our actions. As they say, you need to learn from mistakes. Therefore, treat defeats as teachers. This is precisely the litmus test that will show how competently and effectively we act. If something is wrong, we need to reconsider our plan of action and think over a new strategy. Thomas Edison, inventing the light bulb, constantly failed. When they asked him why he didn’t stop after he failed a thousand times, he answered that, having suffered a thousand defeats, he learned a thousand ways to make a light bulb. Adhere to this position in your activities.
Defeats and personal circle
One of the most powerful tools for self-motivation is failure. If you don’t get hung up on them and boldly step over them, they will save you from complexes and fears.
Every defeat that doesn’t break you will definitely make you stronger, it’s just important not to stop.
You should also not take on the burden of other people's problems, since you already have your own. For those who want to delegate the execution of their tasks to you, do not be afraid to refuse, because you risk taking on an unbearable burden.
Be extremely careful with those whom you allow into your life, into your personal circle. There are people who are commonly called energy vampires because of their ability to suck energy out of you with their attitude to life. Such people should be avoided.
Optimistic people who are just as motivated as you are will be more suitable for you. These are the people who can really help you in difficult times.
The third way: work in a suitable environment
At first glance, this may seem naive, but in fact, the environment around us has a very strong influence on our mood and our motivation. Where you work doesn't matter. But if your workplace is in disarray, dusty, everything is not the way you like it, or the environment generally irritates you, be sure to correct this state of affairs. You should work in an atmosphere that suits you, gives you positive emotions, where you feel comfortable and comfortable. Clean up, arrange everything the way you like, use your creativity: hang a couple of pictures that inspire you, stick on stickers with motivational messages, put a book next to you that you like to read, turn on your favorite music. “Your” environment will have a beneficial effect on you and contribute to productive work, because you will enjoy being in it.
Self-motivation in management
One of the most noticeable indicators of how successful management is in an organization is the ability of employees to do without a “kick” from their superiors in difficult conditions, that is, their self-motivation.
Often, the main driving force for the most effective employees is to realize themselves within the company, taking into account their own priorities in life. For a manager, managing such an employee has two sides to the coin. On the one hand, this is quite convenient for him, since it does not require significant effort to motivate an employee.
On the other hand, such employees become difficult to manage when they lose interest in the processes they deal with. And when the opportunity to realize themselves within the company disappears, such employees quit without hesitation.
There are certain techniques that can help develop self-motivation among employees. One of them is reframing.
Eighth way: communicate with the best
Believe me, this method can dramatically change your whole life for the better. In order to become better, you need to communicate with people who are better than you in some ways. In order to achieve high results, you need to communicate with people whose results are better than yours. This will inevitably lead you to personal growth and conquering new heights. But, besides this, you need to strive to communicate not only with the best, but also with positively minded people. The fact is that there is such a category of people as negative people. They are always complaining about something, constantly whining about problems, judging other people and being skeptical about any success. Communication with them is an anchor that pulls you to the bottom. It sounds tough, but it’s worth “filtering” your social circle and trying to interact with negative people to a minimum. Meet those who are positive, who are motivated, enjoy life, smile and joke, no matter what. After some time, you will be very surprised that the quality of your life has improved, and you yourself have become a more cheerful and happy person.
Using Reframing
A special exercise that allows you to see something from a different angle that was previously inaccessible to perception is called reframing. An example is the situation with a glass of water, which for a person with a pessimistic attitude seems half empty, and for an optimist - half full.
Having an idea of a person’s attitude (optimistic or pessimistic), it is more than likely to predict his actions in a given situation. While an optimist strives for something, a pessimist's habitual action is avoidance.
Managers are able to influence their employee to develop a more positive perception of the surrounding reality, as well as contribute to the development of the skill of understanding the other side of what is happening. And all this is achieved with the help of reframing, the construction of which is carried out according to the following principles:
- Constructing more optimistic interpretations of what is happening while only the negative side is visible to the naked eye.
- Finding personal advantages for an individual in a given situation.
- Making favorable comparisons.
- A game of contrasts.
With all these principles, the use of reframing does not allow lying or substitution of facts. All characteristics of the other side of what is happening must actually take place in reality.
Although some managers prefer to conduct training sessions for their employees along the lines of “33 Ways to Self-Motivate,” sometimes it makes sense to simply demonstrate reframing to your subordinates and show how useful it is in relation to self-motivation, because this technique has repeatedly proven its effectiveness.
Great encyclopedia of motivation
Basics of Self-Motivation
Self-motivation is an internal motivation that encourages a person to take action and get good results.
If you cannot force yourself to do the work you need, then first of all look within yourself for true motivators who will light a fire inside you and direct all your energy to results.
Most people don't take action to achieve their goals because they are afraid of facing failure. The thoughts constantly swirling in their heads: “what if I can’t”, “what if I don’t succeed”, “what if I lose here and gain nothing there.”
However, those people whom certain actions have repeatedly led to success are not afraid of upcoming failures and direct all their energy to once again plunge into a state of victory. Such people are driven by the desire to repeat success again.
Every person feels happy only if he is financially independent, healthy, has freedom of action, has time and has the right environment. In order to overcome self-sabotage, you must understand that none of these five areas of life should be suppressed.
Let me give you an example.
The owner of one large company offered his employee a highly paid job in another city. Despite the fact that there was nothing keeping her at home (she divorced her husband, and her child had long grown up and lived independently), she could not decide to move. It seemed that things had been collected, and urgent work was urgent, but the fear of the unknown did not go away.
When they began to look for the underlying reason for not leaving, it turned out that for many years this employee had only left her hometown to rest. Thus, she prepared herself in advance for the fact that all trips out of the city are connected only with rest, and in a new place she will have to decide everything herself and will constantly have to be on her toes. This is an initially incorrect structure of life.
If for several years, or even throughout your life, you do not leave home on business or work, then if a profitable trip arises, your need to move will move into the area of internal conflicts and fears.
Human life is a certain set of actions, some of which lead to success and others to failure. If you are in doubt about taking any specific actions, then rely on the opinion and experience of those people who have already taken them. This way, you can evaluate whether such actions can be performed or not.
The easiest way to force yourself to take an action is to find like-minded people who have already done it and at the same time have already managed to achieve success and get results. Such people will mentally pull you towards them and remove your fears.
By communicating with like-minded people who have achieved success, you will be eager to act together with them. Relying on their help and support, you will want to achieve your own success and new victories.
If the people around you don’t light you up, then don’t fool yourself. Just wait with the decision for a while, think about whether you really need it.
If you struggle with your problem on your own, then this struggle will take you a lot of time. If you turn to your inner circle, then some will support you, and some will not, and your result will be like the average temperature in the hospital “36.6”.
Don't be afraid to regularly travel outside your hometown. Be sure to get results there so that in the future you will not only want to do something, but also do it.
If you know that some action will bring you a lot of money, that someone has already achieved success with this action, if you understand that staying where you are now is pointless, but at the same time you do not start performing the desired action , then delve into yourself, try to understand your thoughts.
If you know everything, but don’t do it, it means your time hasn’t come yet. Wait six months and then come back to this issue again.
If you have been banging on the same door for a long time and cannot enter it, then, as a rule, you direct all your strength and energy to make this door open. But in fact, you need to let go of this situation and do something else.
Stop thinking about it for a while. Keep yourself busy with something else. And then your brain will compare what you need most. And then he will be able to make an objective decision. And if the closed door is very important and necessary for you, then the time will come when you will return to it and open it. But if this door was forced on you by someone, then you will never go there again.
However, it is not only the fear of the unknown that hinders us from moving forward and doing the necessary work, but also the lack of income. Determine what you can earn from your actions. Earnings include not only money, but also fame, honor, respect, experience, fame, etc.
If within six months you have not received any results and have not earned anything, then most likely you are not going your own way, and your brain will begin to categorically refuse these actions.
When setting any goal for yourself, be sure to ask yourself why you need it.
If you cannot answer this question and cannot clearly and specifically identify the reason why you should do a particular thing, then all your attempts to reach the goal will be completely susceptible to failure.
Your task is to find the true motives that motivate you to do certain actions.
If you want to do something just for the sake of money, then ask yourself: “Why do you need this money?” Having answered this question, ask yourself again: “Why do you need this?” Ask yourself the question “why” or “why” several times.
For example, you need money to build a house.
- Why do you need this house?
- To live in nature.
- Why do you need to live in nature? What will this give you? What benefit will you get from this?
Often people cannot give themselves an answer to questions 3-5. They don't know why they are doing something. That is why they do not understand why they cannot force themselves to write books, travel to other cities, quit their previous job, find a new job, get results in training, etc.
In fact, there are not many answers to this question. 99% of the population live without thinking about why they are doing something.
But there are very few true motives in life. They are buried so deep inside every person that they cannot be seen today.
One of the main motivators is vanity, that is, fame, popularity, glory, admiration, applause, gratitude. Many people do things for the sake of vanity, but almost none of them want to admit it.
If you are susceptible to this motivator, and you like it when you are praised, applauded, and you win, then everything will immediately fall into place for you as soon as you admit it to yourself. It will immediately become clear to you that in order to achieve this or that goal, you must receive praise from those around you and become a winner.
By identifying your true motivators, you will begin to understand why you need to do this or that action. Without understanding your true motivator, without understanding why you are doing this or that action, you deprive yourself of energy.
If you know where you are going and what you want, but don’t know what motivates you, then this figuratively means that you turned on the navigator, got into the car, but did not fill it with gas. And in the future, no matter what you do, your goal will not be achieved.
Often people cannot take the first step towards a goal for objective reasons.
The objective reason may be:
• lack of resources (car, apartment, finances, computer, telephone, etc.),
• family (sick or elderly parents, small children),
• pets,
• health,
• lack of time,
• any situation that cannot be overcome on your own.
If you know your goal, understand your true motivator, but some objective reasons prevent you from taking certain actions, then the solution would be to ask someone for help. However, few people use this solution. Why? Because people are either shy, or feel awkward and uncomfortable, or are simply afraid to ask.
But it’s so easy to just ask someone to babysit your child, walk your dog, take care of your parents during your absence, make an exception especially for you and teach you remotely, etc. But do you ask for help from other people? to achieve your goal?
The most difficult thing in getting rid of self-sabotage is putting yourself in conditions of impossibility not to do it, that is, burning bridges behind you. But most people don't do this because they are afraid of facing failure, and as a result they choose absolute inaction.
If you want to achieve your goal, but you lack self-motivation, then do the following:
• surround yourself with like-minded people,
• do not perform actions that do not bring you income,
• ask yourself several times why you are doing this or that action,
• look for true motivators within yourself who direct your energy to results,
• ask other people for help.
And then the whole world will turn to face you.
Tenth way: develop your inner world
The desire to develop their inner world is common to most successful people. Try to keep your inner world clean and protect it from the invasion of any negative factors that destroy it and have a destructive effect. The consequence of such “hygiene” will be a free flow of thoughts, a sense of harmony, the development of intuition, inner lightness and even better physical condition and well-being. And as the most effective methods for protecting your inner world from destruction and developing it, we can recommend practices such as meditation, reading mantras, mindfulness practice, etc.
And finally, one more effective recommendation : always remember that time tends to pass and life passes. And it’s up to you how you live it: will you remain among those who failed to grow themselves, letting your whole life take its course, forgetting about your goals and betraying your dreams, or will you pull yourself together and make yourself the way you want and will be able to achieve what you want more than anything in the world! Think about the fact that you will always have the opportunity to throw up your hands and head, cry and become a slave to circumstances. But only today and only now can you decide to become a winner - a winner over your fears, your insecurities, your bad habits and, ultimately, over yourself!
Dear readers, leave your comments and share your opinions. Which of the above methods did you find most effective? What else can you recommend to people who want to increase their motivation and learn to be in a state of psychological readiness to take action more often?
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Key words:1Self-knowledge
