Without self-motivation, there will be no consistency. To be frank, many of us find it quite challenging to be consistent with the activities we desire.
Activities such as exercising every morning, showing at a meeting on time, waking up early, staying away from junk food, spending less than we earn, saving, or maintaining a work-life balance.
We often know what’s good for our finances, spirituality, health, family, work, and other aspects of our lives. However, we find it difficult to put our bad habits behind us.
We get spurned into taking positive actions only when someone or an event challenges us. But after some time the motivation dissipates – the bad habits come back stronger than before reeling us deeper into its abyss. It feels like our motivation never lasts.
Motivation isn’t a talent or something we learn. True motivation comes when you learn enough about yourself at the deepest level to shift your thinking and act in a consistent way to yield desired results. It is like a catalyst for achievements.
So how do we begin this process? The first step is shifting the way we think.
Here are 5 self motivation tips to shift your perspective
1. Our thoughts create our reality
Regardless of whatever, stay positive!
Everything we perceive in the physical world goes through our senses and gets processed by our thoughts and beliefs. This is the filter with which we experience life. Everything that we have ever experienced and will ever experience will pass through this filter.
In our daily lives, our external reality and internal reality become intertwined, inseparable from one another. By controlling our internal thoughts, we begin to shape our external reality.
It seems funny to think that we have control over our realities by controlling our thoughts. Imagine all of those events out of our control – our birthplace, our hereditary traits, our childhood experiences, our mistakes, coronavirus pandemic. So many things we cannot control.
But we do have a considerable amount of control over our thoughts, emotions, and especially how we react to events that seem out of our control. It’s no surprise that so many people blame their circumstances rather try to change them.
I remember two colleagues who lost their jobs working for some automotive repair center. One planned to sign up for employment benefits while the other planned to get some SBA loan to start his own business. Though they had the same job, the covid-19 pandemic created different realities for them in regards to their career.
Another common example is a cup half-filled. An optimist sees the cup as half-full while a pessimist sees the cup as half-empty.
We are the masters of our own lives. A good way to stay motivated in any event is to always remain positive – no matter what.
2. Success is created by our daily habits
What we do regularly shapes who we are.
Imagine James and Matt are new roommates starting out in school for the next two years.
- If James gyms every day but Matt never gyms.
- James is social and loves to meet new people but Matt is a homebody and loves to code.
- James is conscious about what he eats but Matt isn’t.
We can mentally visualize how James and Matt will likely turn out after graduation.
Good habits are difficult to master and bad habits are difficult to kill. Good habits are a critical key to success.
Our favorite entrepreneurs are life-long learners who have mastered good habits. They have unwavering motivation and work ethic, resolute, result-oriented, and highly persistent. Successful entrepreneurs put in the work until they strike gold. They are products of good habits.
Stay motivated by monitoring your habits. Do more habits that uplift your spirit and less of the joy-killing bad habits.
To learn more about how to master good habits and unlearn bad habits, I recommend you read “Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg“.
3. Motivation requires persistence
Easy come, easy go!
Nowadays, most of the ads we see on TV or online target consumer’s desires with the promise of little or no hard work. Advertisers prey on consumers’ desire for instant gratification. Common themes are day trading, a diet without exercise, get rich quick schemes, online success gurus, pyramid schemes, and many more.
Don’t be deceived, lasting success comes from years of persistence and hard work. It takes time. It takes an average of at least 7 years to get really good or great at something, depending on how often we do it. According to researchers, it takes about 10,000 hours to master a skill.
We must learn to accept failure and see them as building blocks to our goals. Don’t get discouraged easily especially when you start out. You need to remember to have fun, learn to love what you’re doing, and take it one step at a time.
Whenever you start out on a goal and you feel like you’re not making progress fast enough, don’t give in. Be persistent. It’s okay to take a break if you must. But be known has that one person who never gives up.
If people identify with you as someone who never gives up, your motivation will transcend beyond you and influence people around you as well.
To learn more about mastery and persistence, I recommend you read “Mastery by Robert Greene“.
4. Comfort is our enemy
Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.
We all want to be comfortable. Humans crave stability. We are wired that way. Comfort is a good thing. Don’t you wonder why the rich seem insatiable? The rich get richer because they are never satisfied. As long as your ambition does not affect your health or family, it’s good to get more out of life.
A slacker’s lifestyle might feel satisfying, but it’s not desirable for people who want to live a life of legacy. To accomplish great things and stay motivated, you have to get out of your comfort zone, repeatedly.
Starting a business, asking a girl out on a date, pushing your boss for a raise all take courage. The more often you push yourself outside of your comfort zone, the easier these uncomfortable tasks become.
Learn to live in this discomfort. If you discover something that scares you, go after it day after day until it becomes routine. The more you embrace and overcome challenges, the more you become motivated for the next one.
5. Don’t be afraid to fail
Fail fast. Fail forward!
Just as much as we want comfort, we also want certainty. We desperately urge to control outcomes. We want to be in total control of our lives so that we can predict how things will end up for us. Our minds want to figure out stable patterns in the world and make sense of them.
Many people are afraid of failure. This is usually due to happenings in the past such as their childhood and past negative experiences. These experiences could be so negative or numerous, they automatically condemn themselves to fail if they’re presented with yet another opportunity.
The universe and everything in it constantly evolves. You may have failed in the past but at least try again, and again and again… Don’t let your difficulties dictate the quality of life you live.
The more we cling to things or events of the past or believe that life should remain the same, the more we will suffer. The more optimistic we are and the more we cherish every moment the better our future will be.
We’ll be less afraid to fail because we’ll know that life is impermanent, like all things. Make peace with yourself that life comes with some failures. If failure doesn’t exist, success wouldn’t exist either. So saddle up and stay motivated.
If you like this article, I’d recommend you also read about qualities that make a great leader.
