9 Self Motivation Techniques to Get on Track and Stay There

Saying motivated is necessary for you to complete goals, move forward, and better yourself. Unfortunately, 70% of Americans feel disengaged from their work. This lack of motivation extends from work life to home life, which can lead to complacency, unhappiness, and lack of personal growth.

Have you been feeling unmotivated? Have you been wondering how you can get back on track and improve motivation in your life?

We’ve compiled a list of 9 self motivation techniques that can help you. Following these 10 tips can and will help you feel more motivated and feel inspired to get back to achieving your goals.

1. Set Goals

Speaking of achieving your goals, a great way to motivate yourself is to actually set goals. Setting specific goals gives you something to work towards.

Working on something, whether that’s a work project, self-improvement, or a personal hobby, without a goal will make the task seem overwhelming and without payoff.

Writing down or at least acknowledging particular goals will give the task structure and definition, both of which are key components for discovering self motivation.

2. Take That First (Small) Step

Sometimes the biggest hurdle is starting something. A task or project in its entirety will be overwhelming for anyone, especially someone who lacks motivation.

Taking that first step, however small, will get you back in the flow. Let’s say you want to run a marathon, but you’re feeling unmotivated to start running. Begin by putting on your running shoes.

It’s that simple. Taking that first step will show you that you can do it; it will give you a boost of motivation since you’ll know that the task or goal is achievable, even if you only take many small steps to get there.

3. Remind Yourself Why

People are best motivated when they have a specific, and personal, reason to be doing something. This is called “intrinsic motivation“: when you want to achieve a goal or complete a task because you want to improve your life, learn something, gain a personal reward, feel successful, etc.

Take the time to understand why you want to accomplish or do something. Understanding what lies behind this desire will help motivate you to accomplish the task.

And if you can’t find a reason why you are attempting to do something, this also tells you something. Perhaps, if there’s no good reason to do something, you can focus your attention and motivation elsewhere.

4. Understand Why You’re Feeling Unmotivated

On the flip side of thinking why you would want to do something, you should also think about why you’re feeling unmotivated.

Are you bored with the task? Are you feeling anxious about completing it? Do you feel depressed? Are you annoyed? Is there something else you want to focus your attention on?

Understanding your feelings and potential reasons why you’re not motivated is a key part of overcoming a lack of motivation. Once you understand these feelings, you can start making moves to feel better or to alleviate some of these reasons.

5. Make a Schedule

Once you have goals and an understanding of your motivations, it’s time to make a schedule. Plan out exactly what you need to get done and when it needs to be done by.

Set deadlines for yourself so you have a particular goal to complete. Having plans and a timeline will motivate you to follow that schedule.

6. Cut Down On Time Wasters

When we are feeling unmotivated, we tend to procrastinate even more.

Cut the biggest time wasters and procrastination methods out of your life. This could include social media, television, texting, excessive sleeping, or anything else that you use to procrastinate doing real work.

Try to limit your use of your phone and social media to specific amounts of time during the day to keep yourself from using them as a way to procrastinate. When you’re completely focused on the task at hand, you’re more likely to be motivated to complete it.

7. Celebrate Success

Constant work with no pause to celebrate a success is bound to lead you straight to a motivation burn out.

When you are successful or accomplish something, celebrate that. Accomplishing a goal is a big deal. Allow yourself to be happy about that.

Success and acknowledging success will make you feel like you can do anything. Getting something done and doing something well proves to yourself that you can do it. This will motivate you to continue on the success train.

8. Accept Failure

Failure is a part of life. Being afraid of failure can suck the motivation right out of you.

Too often people allow the fear of failure to keep them from trying. Either that, or a setback will cause someone to give up completely.

Accepting and acknowledging the possibility, and the actuality, of failure is key to getting and maintaining motivation. Don’t let failure, or the possibility of it, shake your motivation to get the task done.

9. Allow Yourself to Take Breaks

You might think that you have to be working every second to be as productive as possible. But this is actually false: taking breaks helps people work more efficiently and productively, which helps maintain motivation during long and hard tasks.

You can even schedule breaks into your day so you’re sure to take them. Use this time to practice mindfulness techniques or to meditate if you really want to ground your mind and get ready to focus on the rest of what you have to do during the day.

Self Motivation Techniques That Can Help You: Wrapping Up

Understanding what motivates you and harnessing that to complete goals is a key part of self-growth and improvement. Following these self motivation techniques can help you understand yourself, what you want to get done, and how exactly to do it.

Even just taking that first small step in the right direction will get you closer to your goals. Reading this post and following the tips we’ve outlined is your first step to staying motivated.