10 Ways to Increase Your Motivation
Maintaining motivation can be difficult, especially coming out of a long winter. If your motivation is waning, try this handy list of 10 ways to increase your motivation from our Health Coach, Marsha Wykes, PT!
- Make a deal with yourself. This is a great way to overcome procrastination and get things done. Make the deal with yourself, small or large. You simply tell yourself something like, “When I’m done with these 3 little household tasks, I can take a hike or enjoy a bath.”
- Act like it. If you don’t feel motivated or enthusiastic then act like it anyway, even if it just means going through the motions. Put a smile on our face and some happy music in your ears. The strange thing is that within a few minutes you will actually start to feel motivated and your mood will be elevated.
- Ask yourself a few uplifting questions each morning. Here’s what you do; every morning ask yourself empowering and positivity seeking questions such as “What am I excited about right now?” or “What am I happy about now?” These reflection questions are great because they help you to recognize things you take for granted and then they really get you to feel those positive feelings.
- Move the goalposts. Set a large and very specific goal for the month. A big, lofty goal will motivate you much more than small goals. A big goal has a big impact and can create a lot of motivation. After you set the big goal, then break it down into it’s smaller accomplishable steps so you can see yourself checking things off the list.
- Do something small to create flow. Clean your desk or pay your bills. Just get started. When you have finished that small task you’ll feel more alert and ready to go do the next thing. So if you really don’t feel like doing anything, start with something small and work your way up.
- Do the toughest task first. This will ease a lot of your day-to-day worries and boost your self-confidence for the rest of the day. If you have a hard phone call to make or some time-consuming paperwork, try to accomplish that right off the bat. The pressure will be off after that, and you will feel a great sense of accomplishment.
- Another suggestion is to exercise in the morning. Then, by 9:00, you’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment since you’ve already completed your workout!
- Compare you with you not with others. With social media often showing lots of people in only their most positive light, it’s easy to start to feel bad if you are not having the success it appears that they are. Only compare YOU with YOU.
- Find a buddy. Find a friend that you communicate well with, and use each other for motivation. Set goals for the day that you share with your buddy and let them help you with accountability while you do the same for them.
- Reward yourself. Set up a reward system for accomplishing things. The rewards don’t need to be big or extravagant, just motivational. Maybe every time you accomplish five items from your to do list for the week you reward yourself with time reading a new book or exploring a new trail. Or how about this? For each day you drink your planned number of ounces of water for the day you add $1.00 to an envelope that you’ll used to treat yourself to a fun new water bottle once you’ve saved enough to buy it.
Find ways to carve your way and find a doable new normal. Best wishes to you ahead!
