24 Jun 4 Ways to Keep Motivated

Staying motivated is vital, whether you are trying to change a belief system, starting a new business or exercising to lose weight.

Losing motivation can prevent you from achieving your tasks and hurt your confidence, which is why it’s important to keep motivated once you start working towards your goal.

Follow these tips below to keep motivated throughout your journey towards achieving your set goals:

1. Think about your self-talk

Self-talk is our inner voice that is usually tied to our sense of self, daily experience and actions. There are multitudes of ways this internal monologue can influence our behaviour.  Understanding this can help us frame tasks better. 

People who ask themselves if they will perform a task generally perform better than those who tell themselves they will complete the same task.  ‘Will I’ opposed to stating ‘I Will’ performed better on tasks and also showed high signs of lasting motivation.

This suggests that by asking yourself a question and opening up the task, you are more likely to build your own motivation. 

2. Understand that your motivation changes 

Motivation isn’t a straight line. In fact, the way we motivate ourselves changes as we make progress towards a goal; there are two mindsets:

i. Promotion Motivation: This motivation is rooted in the positive things they can do to make progress. However, when achieving this goal comes closer, research has found that people would switch to a ‘prevention motivation’ mindset.

ii. Prevention Motivation: In this mindset, people start to focus on things to avoid and become motivated by their responsibilities and will to stop something negative.

In the case of a weight loss goal, a prevention mindset would mean instead of focusing on your target weight, you would start to be motivated by smaller lifestyle changes, such as continuing to avoid sugary drinks. 

People may have better luck sustaining their motivation in the late stages of a goal if they focus on shifting their motivation. 

3. Aim for consistency

Motivation is a daily practice and in order to stay motivated towards a goal, you have to be consistent. People who take action every day are more likely to achieve their overall goal and develop an attitude to push forward despite peaks and troughs.

This is because people who commit to daily action make a habit of moving forward even when motivation is low.

Furthermore, consistency and action will help you break your ultimate goal down into smaller, more manageable steps, which will prevent feelings of overwhelm from zapping all the inspiration you had when you were setting your initial goals.  

4. Know why

It’s difficult to continue moving towards a goal if you haven’t tapped into why you want to achieve it. The long-lasting fuel is having a solid reason and purpose when pursuing a goal. When you are setting your goals, start with why you want to achieve it.

It’s important to be clear about this sense of purpose, so avoid vague and lacklustre sentiments such as ‘I want to exercise to feel better’ and tie them to something deeper. For example: ‘I want to exercise daily so I am able to have higher energy and finally run a half-marathon.’

Understanding why helps keep your motivation, as it is your overall belief in the goal that will continue to inspire you.

Spend some time exploring the above ways to keep motivated whenever it feels like you are slowly losing your motivation.