How to Get Motivated (And Stay There)

Some days getting motivated is hard. And staying encouraged and galvanized can be even harder.

I should know. I’ve been there. More than once sad to say!

I would find myself waking up and impelled to do…absolutely nothing. Not even a little!

Never mind that I had things I truly thought I wanted to accomplish, it was just too hard to get going. And the truth of the matter is, all I really felt was the pushback of laziness.

What had happened to my inner drive?  Disappeared down the rabbit hole with Alice I suspected.  But maybe it wasn’t Alice I should have gone with.  Maybe I should be running with Goldilocks instead.

If this topic hits close to home to you, let’s head straight over to Goldilocks for the simplest way to get your motivation mojo back up and running. 

And once we’ve got that down we can move on to how you can make incredible progress with some simple tips on getting motivated because, after all, most progress tends to be made by us lazy ones trying to find easier ways to do something! Right?

The Goldilocks principle

You’ll remember Goldilocks would only eat the porridge that was “just right” but did you know it works the same way for your brain? Your best motivator for getting things done is having tasks that are “just right” so your brain doesn’t get overwhelmed or bored.

Take for instance a game of tennis, if you were playing against someone much younger than you, a six year old for instance, you’d be bored and demotivated pretty quickly. 

On the other hand if you were playing Roger Federer you’d totally be out of your ability zone and likely totally demoralized to boot.   

You’d need the Goldilocks principle to come to your aid, you’d need to play with someone who was at a similar or a little bit better level than you. 

You’d have a chance at winning the match, but you could also be outplayed so you’d be more likely to focus on the challenge in front of you.

In his book – The Surprising Truth About Motivation – Daniel H. Pink says:

“One source of frustration in the workplace is the frequent mismatch between what people must do and what people can do. When what they must do exceeds their capabilities, the result is anxiety. When what they must do falls short of their capabilities, the result is boredom. But when the match is just right, the results can be glorious. This is the essence of flow.”

Tasks that allow us to master a skill a little beyond our current ability are incredibly motivating.

And when I would find myself totally unmotivated I would ask myself, “am unable to motivate myself because my project has drifted into the way too easy area, or into an area of greater difficulty that’s too hard for me to handle?”  

If you feel a bit dispirited and lacking in drive try the following:

Asking the right question

Sometimes a shift in mindset is required to discover why getting motivated is so darned hard. Like the question I’d asked myself about the Goldilocks principle.

If you keep asking yourself questions like, what’s wrong with me, you’ll naturally begin to set off that inner critic which doesn’t think much of you in the first place.  

A better question and simple way to get  around “the what’s wrong with me” syndrome is simply to ask, “what else could this mean?”  

You’ll find this is a much easier way to get your groove on. 

It’s been said if you ask you’ll receive, and since our questions determine our thoughts, asking a question that leads to better thoughts tends to make everything in life that much easier. Possibly finding new ways to motivate yourself.

Find or even change your reasons ‘why’

Why are you doing what you’re doing? To feel and continue to feel some passion for what we do we need to know our why. Why are you doing what you’re doing?

Is it to contribute to something bigger than yourself? Is it for your happiness and fulfillment? Is it to support others or grow yourself?  There is no wrong answer here.  The only right answer is YOUR “why.” 

This way you will be going through life with intention, knowing your why and getting easily to the places where you fit.

Sometimes lack of enthusiasm is just another way of telling us we’re doing the right things for the wrong reason.

Changing your “why” might be exactly what you need to light your fire!

Use the right words to get yourself moving

Here’s a secret I’ve learned over the years when there’s no catalyst to incite me into action, I take a deep breath and just get going. 

Sometimes we have to rise up, remembering we’re in 100% control of us and the choices we make. Don’t tell yourself you must do it, words make a difference.  Tell yourself you choose to do it.

Words can be incredibly empowering or disempowering and feeling blah, with no urge to do anything is when motivating language matters a lot. 

Make the power of words work for you, especially when they’re words you whisper to yourself within.

The way we talk to ourself reflects our inner most feelings and leads to our actions and our results. Changing your inner conversation equals a change of reality.

Just get going

Spur yourself into action without waiting for motivation to take hold.  I know this sounds counter-intuitive.  But there are times when not being able to get motivated is a signal to do whatever it takes to change the state we occupy at that moment.

I have a tee shirt I wear some days when I walk, it has a slogan we all know well, “Just do it.”  Nike was right.

The amazing thing is when I tell myself, I’ll just do it for half an hour I discover motivation joins me and flow kicks in as an added bonus.  Hand on heart it works for me every time. 

The emotional state of mind that follows the thought “I’ll just give it half an hour” removes all feelings of pressure.

Imagine how incredible your progress could be by simply getting going and doing what you’ve been telling yourself you should do.

If the task is a big one, break it down into smaller goals and try doing just a bit each day. A little done each day is an unbelievably simple formula for success.

Tap into the feeling

Feeling is the secret to creation. Be our creation good, bad or indifferent. 

From whatever source, feelings can be the spark that rekindles hope, or ambition, or motivation.

Those little whispers of encouraging feelings can cause you to become more aware of your true potential.  And the cause of flashes of inspiration or fleeting thoughts that you haven’t had before of your future promise.

I appeal to you when you’re feeling hopeless or stuck or overwhelmed or plain old lazy to find a way to simulate warm, soul stirring feelings.

Flipping through memories in your head for something feels really good is a quick and easy way to change how you feel in this moment.

And when you feel good, motivation finds you faster.

Final Thoughts

Your best stories often come from overcoming your biggest struggles. 

It’s up to you to decide if you want to be the person who takes on the challenges of life and overcomes, or the one who’d prefer to dodge them.

I say this to remind you that your struggles won’t break you, they will make you.

If you can learn to push your buttons from the inside you can be sure you will keep learning and living and growing, and discover as I have that the difficult soon loses its edge.

Over to you

What tips do you have on how to get motivated?

If you have any techniques that can get and keep your motivational spark alive, leave us the goods in the comments below. 

We can all do with a bit of encouragement and your ideas and tips might just be what someone really needed to hear today.

I appreciate you for being here, reading, and sharing your words of wisdom.

Encourage one another

Love Elle

And here’s a video that has motivated many…and may be the very thing that helps you get motivated today. Though be warned it does contain some strong language!