Are you lacking motivation in your life? Is lack of motivation keeping you from reaching your goals? Whether it’s keeping your counters decluttered or keeping all the toys organized, being motivated can make all the difference between success and defeat. Motivation is something we all desire, though few of us can get motivated, and most importantly–stay motivated, especially when life throws us some setbacks. In this post, I’ll share six simple strategies to influence and increase your motivation.
If you feel like you have less of these traits than you’d like, the good news is there are ways to influence and increase your motivation and happily start trekking down the path of achievement.
How to Influence Motivation
Motivation and drive propel us forward, toward the realization of our goals, but some of us seem to have more of this driving force than others. How do you get motivated, especially after encountering a snag in your plan? It’s easier to attain than you may think. There are many things around us that can motivate us to reach our goals.
Doing more of what you enjoy, learning more about your passion, and growing closer to your purpose can all help you to get motivated.
There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is motivation that develops from a desire from within. Extrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from external rewards.When you are motivated intrinsically, you actually boost your confidence and self-esteem.
So, how do you influence intrinsic motivation?
Here are a few ideas:
1. Learn a new skill that gets you excited
2. Listen to a podcast that inspires you to take action
3. Create something that makes you happy
4. Complete a challenge that energizes you
5. Help someone in need, in a meaningful way
Other things that we can do on a regular basis to influence motivation is to write in a journal, listen to uplifting songs, join a support group related to our goals, spend a few minutes in quiet meditation on our life’s purpose, or even posting daily reminders.
Experiencing more motivation at home may be as simple as following one of the ideas listed above.
How to Increase Motivation
Getting the motivation to do something seems easy enough, but few can sustain the motivation to follow through consistently.
Try these strategies to maintain your momentum and increase your motivation:
Strategy #1: Take action daily & plan your week
This is the single best step you can take in order to further your momentum. Taking action daily ensures that you’re making progress, no matter how small. Even if you don’t know exactly what action you’ll be taking, just do something, anything, to further yourself.
For example, if you have too many things and want to declutter your home, it’s important to declutter surfaces that you use each day. If you want to organize your home, group like items together.
Tip: Use a declutter checklist for motivation
Write down all your daily declutter tasks. Begin with the spaces you come into contact with on a regular basis.
Put your your declutter checklist on the refrigerator, or keep it somewhere where you will actually see it (and not forget about it).
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Using a daily planner to schedule time to work on things related to your goals is critical. We use schedules for everything else in our lives, so there’s no reason that time devoted to working on personal goals cannot be included as well.
Strategy #2: Find motivational nuggets
Take a few minutes each day to read something inspiring, whether it’s motivational quotes or affirmations to keep your confidence going.
Motivational quotes
Motivational quotes that inspire you can help transcend your mindset away from the daily grind and onto things that are bigger than yourself!
Affirmations
A collection of affirmations can act as your inspirational guide. Affirmations are not just generic sayings or flowery statements like you would read in a greeting card. Instead, they are concise, positive statements to help you instantly feel better about your life.
Affirmations work because they can be personalized to speak to your heart, mind, and soul. They will give you the inspiration you need to be the best person you can possibly be.
Strategy #3: Stay focused on the purpose
If you’re feeling stuck or like you’re not moving forward, review your goal that you’re trying to accomplish. Write down your goals and check in on your progress each day.
Think positively about how close you are to the goalpost rather than how far you are from it.
If you’re training to run a marathon, you’ll probably wind up spending significant amounts of time running every day. If you’re waking up every morning and subjecting your body to intense levels of physical exertion with no meaning behind it, you’ll be more likely to lose interest.
A major part of being successful is reminding yourself why you’re doing all these preparations. When you remember your “why,” you’ll devote more focused energy into your preparation to achieve outstanding results. It’s important to stay centered on the reason you’re doing something, and if you’re unable to come up with a reason, perhaps you should be doing something else.
Strategy #4: Have an Accountability Partner
Whether it’s a coach, mentor, friend or spouse, having an accountability partner makes a huge impact.
An accountability partner can be someone who has already achieved goals similar to the ones you’re working on. People who are enjoying great amounts of success can give you a concrete vision of where you can one day be. In addition, seeing others like you becoming successful reinforces the idea that it is indeed possible to turn your own dream into a reality.
If you’re goal is to become a minimalist, for example, find a home organization coach or other like-minded individual who’s been in your shoes.
Extract all the wisdom, advice and helpful tidbits that you can from their story. If others can be successful, then why can’t you? Rather than coming up with reasons why you can’t reach success, focus on discovering all the reasons why you can!
Strategy #5: Believe in yourself
When you’re in the trenches, working hard each day to grind your way to victory, it can be easy to question yourself and your abilities.
Stay positive and have faith in your skills and hard work. Otherwise you’ll be planting a seed of doubt in everything that you do.
Remaining positive can be a challenge, yet part of the entire idea of having faith in yourself has much to do with continuing to move forward even when you’re not clear where your steps will take you.
This means that, even if you’re not sure exactly how you’re going to achieve your goal, you can still take steps towards that goal, knowing in your heart that you’ll successfully cross any bridges once they present themselves.
Strategy #6: Reward yourself
Small rewards have been shown to motivate everyone from kids to older adults. Rewards act as a positive reinforcement, and even affirmation of a job well done.
When we’re being rewarded, we tend to continue pressing on towards our goals.
These are just a few of the things that we can do on a regular basis to keep motivation and ensure that we’re continually making progress.
The key word is “progress.” If we’re taking some action or doing even just one thing on a daily basis that furthers us along in our goals, we’ll feel better about ourselves and be able to keep that momentum.
The more alive that we can make our goals, the more inspired and motivated we’ll be to take action and achieve them.
Practice using these techniques each day and soon you’ll find that motivation seems to come naturally to you. Your lackluster efforts will be a thing of the past as you boldly go forward into your shining future of success!
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Crystal Tharp
Crystal is the owner of The Organized Home, LLC and producer of The Home Approach® program; empowering moms to create an organized home that they love, so they can thrive at home. With over ten years of combined experience working in the Professional Organizing industry and coaching industry, she combines her expertise in decluttering, organizing, and home management with her passion for helping moms to bring out the best in themselves.
While coaching moms is her God-given calling, she also loves being a mom to her young children (ages 4, 6 and 8), date nights with her husband, and family outings on the weekends. Above all, she is most passionate about following Jesus and inspiring others to do the same.
