Ten Effective Ways to Motivate Yourself

There will be days where you don't want to do anything involving that dreaded four letter word - work. Whatever type of work you do in order to get to a specific goal you have in mind, sometimes we need that burst of energy to combat that "lazy," "procrastinating," "I-don't-want-to-do-it" voice in our heads.

Everybody goes through this; it's common, but it's important to understand how to quickly get yourself into gear so you are taking action. One of the best ways is to motivate yourself. Here are ten effective methods you use whenever you feel like you need motivation.

Looking to the Future

Knowing what it is that you want in life gives you motivation. You should have a vision of your ideal life. Where you want to travel? Where do you want to live? You could be cruising on Yacht in one of the beautiful beaches of the world. You could be living in a mansion with a beautiful, loving spouse and kids playing around you. You could buy that dream car you've always wanted ever since a teenager. Make a collage and post it on the wall. Don't be afraid to let other people see it if it's something that motivates you to do your work. It's for you, not for anybody else.

Going Outside and Run

Yes, run. It's very healthy for you in fact. By running you'll be stimulating blood to your brain and allowing more oxygen in your body, letting you think better. But the point is to get you away from all this swirling chatter going inside your mind at the moment and just enjoy whatever is going on outside. Maybe you can just jog around the neighborhood and see people watering the grass, kids playing outside, people talking and help each other, etc. There's more to life than being stuck at work and sometimes getting your adrenaline running while seeing something else besides your work is a simple yet powerful source of motivation.

Getting Inspiration from Gurus

Everybody has role models. There are many inspiration people out there that have overcome feats in way worst situations than you. I mean Donald Trump is a good example. He was over 900 million dollar in debt at one point, but after ten years from that experience, somehow managed to pull himself out to become one of the wealthiest people on earth today. It may take some work to looking into their biography, but it's worth it. Find out who inspires you that works in the same field you are in and read up on them. Post a picture of them on your wall and use their pathway to success to help you give you motivation whenever you are feeling down.

Just Taking Action

Believe it or not, some people think it's ridiculous that one needs motivation to get to work. If you just take action, you might find that motivation will come to you when you are deeply in tuned with what you are doing. You will feel the momentum! An example might be turning something you hate doing and then diving straight into it and turning it into an obsession. And as you are taking action and "in the moment", you may gradually be more aware of all the little things that you never noticed before, which might interest you, give you more motivation to dive deeper into your work, and perfect it.

Stimulating Pain

Some people can't feel motivated if they don't feel pain or a sense of desperation to do something. These would be times of need, when there is no other option but to work. This type of "urgency" gives a person a burst of energy to get things done. You can create pain by going back and remembering the painful consequences you had to deal with when you needed to get something done or if you don't get something done such as getting yelled at by someone you're afraid of or the feeling of living out in the streets and having no home.

I remember my freshman high school basketball coach was one of the scariest people on earth; every time he barked, we would listen. He turned what I thought was going to be a fun basketball experience into a physical living nightmare, but it motivated each of us to struggle, work, and fight for our lives, or we would be punished at even more and eventually be cut from the team. Sometimes discomfort may be the best motivators of all, since if we feel to comfortable with ourselves we lack discipline and don't want to talk action at all.

Competition

Are you blood thirsty to be the best? Do you have that killer instinct to out compete your opponents? In every field of work, when more than one person is trying to achieve the same thing, there is always going to be competition no matter what. Some people are afraid of it, others use it to motivate them to become better and work harder. Maybe it's time for you to be aware of who is your competition right now, the ones that you see and don't see, and put it on your wall, so you know you're objective is beat them, to get ahead, to win. Go into the "survival-of-the-fittest" mode and use that drive to make you take action whenever you think about competition.

Music

It's a no brainer that music affects our mood. If you put on a blues song, you'll feel sad. If you put on a jazz song, you will feel relaxed. If you put on pop song, you will feel happy. If you put on a motivational song, you will feel motivated. And how many songs are there like this that you can find? Millions. People have different preferences of songs that affect them; you just have to find a song that motivates you. Songs that have made me motivated usually have a fast beat. If you enjoy hip-hop, try listening to "Changes" by Tupac or "Opportunity" by Eminem.

Creating Laughter

Laugh your way to motivation. Life doesn't always have to be serious, nor it does it always require a an awe-inspiring, perfectly crafted way to get motivation. Sometimes all you need is just a good laugh, shrug off your worries, and you're good to go. Imagine something funny in the past that was so stupid that it made you laugh, or if your good at improv, take any current situation and turn it into something so ridiculously pointless that it makes you laugh as well. Use self-deprecation, act stupid, be an idiot for once, pretend your work is funny and just wants your attention, then make fun of both of you guys. Use humor; it's a wonderful feeling.

Small Bits

One little, small, single, tiny... step goes a long way. When you feel you like you can't even get yourself to get to work, just do one thing that can, even if it's the littlest thing possible. Then, reward yourself every time you take small step. Give yourself a pat on the back. It's supposed to be a psychological effect to trick you mind into thinking you're doing more work than you actually are, but then end results are that you are already doing work so why not just go forth with it.

For example, I used to hate doing math homework in high school. Many times I'd procrastinate and put it off to the side. I found that if I just took the energy to just open my backpack and flip it to the page of my homework and just look at it for a few seconds; I knew I could at least do the first three problems. From there, I could do the next one, then the next one, and before I knew it, I would subconscious be in the process of doing my homework.

Knowing Why

Finally, do you know why you are working? Or are you just blindly working for no reason? We all do things for a reason and sometimes if you know exactly why you are doing what you do, it will be enough to motivate you. Maybe this beyond materialism, maybe it has to do with helping a love one, or getting yourself out of an ugly situation, or maybe it just has to do with personal growth. What is your purpose? Whatever it is, make sure your why is something that makes you desire it and motivates you whenever you think of it. This will help you take action.

What Motivates Me?

There isn't one thing that specifically motivates me. I usually get motivated by random things that happen to be around me during that specific time. But the one thing that usually always help motivate me is knowing what is going to happen if I do something. What is going the outcome or the result of something. What is going to be inevitable.

For example, I know if I take the time to read a book I will educate myself and learn something new. Sometimes reading isn't always fun, but I know it's inevitable that I'll at least get something out of it and that is enough to motivate me to take action. And if you keep doing something enough times, you know, what will be the result of not only for the short term but in the long term? Look ahead. I mean, sometimes motivation is necessary to give you that quick burst of energy but, ultimately you want to use it produce an inevitable outcome that you know will happen ahead of you. Don't rely on needing motivation every single time just to get something done.

Find a way to make your work into a consistent habit and you'll soon realize that you won't need that much motivation to do something; you'll motivation will die down but you'll be able to do what you need to get done. That, in my opinion, should be the reason for motivation - not just having a "high" and forgetting about the next day, but using it a crutch to make your actions a consistent habit so you can always take action without always thinking, "I need motivation today in order to get to work."