How To-122: "How to Motivate Yourself"

How to Motivate Yourself

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A simple guide to getting back up after a tough figurative fall.

Steps

1. Think through a set of goals that sound as though they are what you want, and try to be specific. The key to most motivation remains setting goals, but you can't just pick any goals.
   
2. Make it general. Let's say you want a Corvette specifically, are you really saying you want a new car, or maybe just a car you can stop worrying about? Getting yourself to a reliable car is a goal that is easier to achieve and accomplishes the need you had from the get go. This is not copping out--no one needs a Corvette.
   
3. Do this with all of the goals you have, do not simply pick ones that sound good like most people pick New Year's resolutions. If the goals you set for yourself make your life easier or more rewarding, they are probably the type you need to focus on.
   
4. Cut pictures out of the car that you want, or the TV, stereo, golf clubs, whatever you are aiming for, and put them up somewhere you can see them every day. On the fridge door, or on the wall next to the computer. When you look say "That's my car" or "That's my TV". Visualizing these items as yours will help keep you motivated.
   
5. Anyone who has had serious issues with motivation knows that someone telling you to "stay motivated" is a bit daft, since you weren't in a motivated state to begin with, and as such, is hard to /stay/ in. However anyone can get themselves motivated.
   
6. Make your goals in the very beginning small. If you write out a long list of things that are really valuable for you to do, and then you mess one up, you're going back to starting at zero and you will likely feel pretty badly. Instead make a list for each day, and at first, only put down maybe 3 or 4 things, a set of activities that might take you 2 or 3 hours.
   
7. If you can do that, then a week later start adding things in about an hour at a time and build up. It's like doing pushups in the Army, the first day you get there and feel terrible because you can't keep up with the physical training, but you build up to it. Goals and mental attitudes are the same way. You have to make it a series of small steps. Don't set yourself up for failure by reaching too high at first. You can always reach higher the next week. There's no limit here, so pace yourself.
   
8. Rely upon yourself for the motivation and the drive. Other people do not have and will never have the same vested interest in your success. Motivation and success is a function of habit. You must break your bad habit of procrastination, and replace it with one of good planning. The most successful people in the world aren't always the brightest, or the best looking, but no matter what other talents or gifts they have been blessed with, they have underpinning their self esteem a series of victories over tasks both large and small. This is how you learn anything in school, gain confidence dating, and everything else in life.
   
9. Don't just think that you're the best, prove it to yourself. Your opinion matters the most in your own motivation, but you know when you're pulling your own leg as to your accomplishments. It's far easier to just start dealing with your responsibilities and knowing, with an incredibly strong epistemic justification (by which I mean, you KNOW this) that you can handle what comes up because you have before, than trying to know you can tackle it because you're all warm and fuzzy inside. Warm and fuzzy accomplishes very little, but neither does beating yourself up.
   
10. Reward yourself when you complete a part of your task, your mind will recognise this and you will want to do whatever you did to give yourself a treat more.
    
11. Get back up if you fall. Start again. Start where you are comfortable. Getting back up to try again, no matter how small that task, goal, activity, errand, or whim; If you can complete it, you are already back on your way. Get up, don't look back. Cheers!

Tips

• Focus yourself and your availability: your time and space management. If you can organize your time and work out something that will allow you to build on your motivation and do something to allow you to achieve your goals, you will actually get somewhere.
  
• That's about it. You are the one doing this. Whatever you accomplish, was your doing. Not this article or your mates who encouraged you, but yours. Don't brag, it makes you seem daft. Just keep going. You'll be amazed what you'll end up taking on and completing in short time
  
• Think about a time that you motivated yourself and saw the benefits.
  
• If you can imagine the end goal, in it's entirety and then focus on that image subconsciously your mind will figure out how to do it. So the more you believe it the easier it will be to motivate your self.

Warnings

• There are things that will occur that you must do, studying for exams for instance. With any luck you will be reading this well before your exams, because you should be studying for your exams all semester... now shouldn't you? Procrastination is the opposite of motivation in our day to day lives. Remember, do a bit a day. When your exams come around you won't be sweating like everyone else. Now /that/ is positive reinforcement.
  
• Do not rely on thinking happy thoughts. Know that you can do it from experience.
  
• CONSULT YOUR MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL if this lack of motivation has been paired with feelings of depression, loneliness, bouts of crying, thoughts of hurting yourself or others, etcetera. Clinical Depression is a serious illness that results from chemicals in the brain being quite literally out of balance. Clinical Depression is treatable, many times it is not something which will follow you your whole life, and anyone who thinks it is can bugger off. It's your life, be careful with it, and seeing a doctor if you're the least bit concerned might cost a bit of coin, but could be priceless to have a professional talk to you, and see how he or she can help.

Things You'll Need

• Pen
  
• Paper
  
• Confidence In Yourself
  
• Motivation From Others (optional, but more encouraging)

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