This article was last updated on March 18, 2014
Finding motivation is often a difficult task. Sometimes just getting out of bed for a morning gym session can seem like one of the most paralyzing thoughts ever.
No matter how severe this may feel, it still doesn’t match up to the difficulty of keeping motivated over a long period of time. Many goals are months, maybe years, in the making. And while you may start with a fire in your belly, it can quickly extinguish after a few months of not seeing dramatic results.
So whether you’re on a journey to lose 300 pounds, just kicking off a new blog or are training for a full marathon, here are 10 easy tricks you can use to keep your motivation and make sure your goals become a reality.
Keys to Everlasting Motivation
1) Know where you’re going
This one may seem obvious, but it’s surprisingly not. The main reason so many people never truly accomplish their goals is that they never fully defined them in the first place.
You need to sit down and really think about what it is that you want to accomplish and why you want to accomplish it.
You need an end address to put in your mental GPS or else you are just going to get lost along the way.
2) Write your goals down
When you figure out exactly what you want to accomplish, write it down. Congratulations, you have a goal in writing and it is real now. But you’re not done yet.
Look at your goal every day when you wake up. Write it on your mirror so when you are getting ready in the morning it is engrained into your mind. You need to be constantly reminded of it. After all, what you think about is what you manifest into your life.
3) Look at others
When you are starting lose your motivation, take a look at someone in your field or who is where you want to be. This will remind you of why you wanted to do this in the first place and should give you enough of a boost to get back on track.
4) Track your progress
Nothing is better than tracking your progress when it comes to long term goals. The problem with long term goals is that progress is generally so slow that it is hard to notice how far you have come. It’s only when you compare yourself to where you were 3 months ago that you will really realize, “wow, I have really come a long way.”
This is the fastest way to keep yourself motivated because you know that if you keep going, in another 3 months you will be even better.
This is especially true for people going through some kind of trauma or suffering. You may still feel horrible after 3 months of hard work and want to give up. But if you look back to how much more terrible everything was 3 months ago, it’s going to keep you on track. I speak from experience.
5) Hit the web
The internet is full of motivational resources, after all you are on a great one right now.
Just reading through motivational quotes, looking at inspirational pictures or watching a YouTube video can be enough reignite the flame in your belly.
We’re at a time where technology offers us the power of a motivational speech at the click of a button. Take advantage of it.
6) Remember why you are doing this
There’s going to be times where you question yourself and think, “why am I even doing this, it would be so easy to just not care. So easy to just quit.”
At times like this you need to go back and read what you wrote. You need to remember why you are doing this. This is why you wrote down your goals and why you wanted them when you started, that’s the key to long term motivation!
You’re going to be a changed person from who you were 6 months ago, probably for the better. But when you find yourself questioning, go back and remember why the 6 months ago you started this journey. Remember how shitty you felt, or how bad you wanted to succeed and get that desire back.
In conclusion
There are going to be times where you are tested, where you lose faith and want to just pack it in. You are human, and it happens to the very best.
But what matters is how you respond, how you bounce back from these moments. Using these tricks will allow you to keep going, sometimes even picking up the pace.
There’s no doubt that you have the potential to reach your goals, you’ve just got to go out there and make it happen.
