Simple Rules of Motivation

You can drag yourself up the same way you can drag yourself down. It is a choice you have to make every, single day. Whenever you are faced with this conflict of choices, bring with you these tiny nuggets of wisdom on motivation.
Never mind that you're not this or that.
It all begins with little excuses like 'I don’t feel good', 'I am not that smart', 'I don't have enough faith in myself'. Then you start believing in these things like they are written in stone, then these negative beliefs become a part of your system, a part of who you are.
Don’t give a second's worth of recognition on these negative self-talks. Whenever you hear that part of your brain tell you things that can pull you down, shut it out and listen to that less powerful, but oftentimes ignored voice that says 'you can!'.
Try to have a little faith - in yourself, in what you can do, and the things you believe in. It doesn't matter if you fail, everyone goes through that hurtful process. What matters is that every time you do, you bounce back, rebuild yourself, and give the world a better you.
Be very careful when choosing your side.
You can either talk yourself into doing the task or not, which means you can either be a part of success that one part of your head says you can be, or take part in the downfall the other side of your head tries to go to. Always take that side of your brain that believes in you, that cares about your well-being, and pushes you to be the person you are trying to be. 
Try to win the debate with yourself every time. Remember that sometimes, the act of doing something is not really difficult. It's the few minutes of mental chatter leading up to doing the act.
Hold on to that something that matters to you.
There is nothing more meaningful in life than that something that we dearly hold on to. Some people call it their passion, others call it their cause. What do you call yours?
Cause, passion, or whatever it is that propels your inner drive to accomplish something is a very powerful source of motivation. It never runs dry. It flows so long as you hold on to that thing you care about. Sometimes, it is what makes people do the impossible in the face of difficulties. And it is that thing that gives them the courage to face and get through the biggest difficulties life throws at them.
Dream big.
Big dreams inspire. It makes people work harder, with even more passion. What would happen to people if they have nothing to shoot for? Nothing. If there are no Olympic medals and several hundred Olympians to compete against, the champions will never exist. If Mount Everest is not the highest mountain, there will be no mountaineers and hikers who struggle everyday to reach the peak.
If you don’t dream big, you would stay forever in that nook of the world where everything is mediocre, where sense of achievement is an abstract concept, and where success is all but inexistent.
Compete with yourself.
Competing with others is good, but oftentimes it is sure-fire way to demotivate yourself because you will start to compare yourself with others each and every time. Run your own, personal race. How many times have you heard the saying, 'you are your worst enemy'?

On Staying Motivated

Life has a way of interfering us while we are going after our dreams. It distracts us from pursuing things that really matter and even convinces us that nothing really matters. It can attract us to adopt a defeatist attitude – lacking on enthusiasm and interest – ultimately sapping out our sense of purpose.
But there are ways to stay motivated, no matter how you feel about everything around you. These are not easy, far from that, but are nevertheless very helpful in keeping yourself fired with motivation.
Develop the attitude of interest. Find the thing you are most passionate about. The happiest people, they say, are those people who do the things they love the most. It is not coincidental that they are the most motivated people as well. After all, passion and motivation go hand in hand. They are closely intertwined to create a person who is full of zest about everything.
Nearly every successful people are very passionate about what they do. Why do you think Lance Armstrong, despite of having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, went on to win 7 consecutive Tour de France trophies? It is not only because he refused to give in to life's cruel joke, but because he is also very passionate about cycling. We are not saying that it has to take some forceful circumstances in our lives before we find the thing we are most passionate about. In most cases, this very thing is right at the tip of your nose. You just don’t want to see it, to accept it.
Find the thing that can spark and sustain your enthusiasm. Then channel all your energies towards that thing. This sparks motivation, productivity and satisfaction.
But what do you do when you are stuck with things that you are not truly passionate about? In times like this, when passion is lacking and your zeal is at its all time low, interest will suffice. Be interested in everything you do, no matter how boring, tedious or nonsensical it may seem. Find meaning in everything. Take the time to be engrossed, to be interested. Otherwise, your life will seem and feel like a living hell.
Having said that, always find reasons to be happy about the things you do, the goals you are pursuing, the dreams you are trying to realize, and the life you are trying to live. Never lose sight of happiness and never let it slip away.
Maintain an elevated level of energy. The mere act of smiling at yourself can recharge your energy. Having no energy almost always ensure that you won't feel as motivated as you need. Always take the time to recharge yourself – sleep, eat, breathe, relax, and rest. Do whatever it takes to always keep your energy high, if not sustained.
Act like it. Translate positive emotions into actions. If you are not feeling positive about anything, try to act like it. Sometimes, despite of lacking motivation, you can still feel motivated when you deliberately act with enthusiasm.

Motivation: Winning The Battle In Your Head

Motivation is a funny, complex thing. The thing that motivates one person is always different from that of another even though they are working for the same thing. And while people can motivate other people, they can only do so to a certain degree. At the end of the day, you still have to work out a way to get yourself moving. But when everything looks bleak and all you want to do is to surrender, from where do you muster the will to go on?
Begin with winning the battle in your head.
The battle always starts in the head. One part of your brain tells you to move, work, and strive for what you are working for. The other part tells you that it is foolish. It is always easier to listen to the latter, because it is more convenient, less taxing, and easier to do. The former forces you to act and work. All things equal, people always choose the less inconvenient, easy way out. But this isn’t always the better choice. In fact, it is never a good choice.
What separates very effective people from those who are not is their ability to always make the right choices most of the time, even if these choices are the hardest to make. They know how the game works and they try to beat it every single time. Exhausting, yes, but it is also gratifying. There is always a sense of satisfaction in defeating your worst enemy – yourself.
But how do you win the battle that goes on inside your head?
Understand your thoughts and how they affect your emotions and your will power. Negative thoughts can easily kill your sense of purpose. It comes in many forms – lack of self-confidence, general negativity, lack of belief in others, procrastination and the list goes on. Each of these has the power to convince you to throw in the towel and accept that you can't carry on. Identifying each of your negative thoughts is the first step to winning yourself back from a defeatist attitude.
It is not simple feat, though. It takes time before one can shut out the voice in the head that says 'give up, give in'. And sometimes, even when you have already succeeded in neutralizing your negative thoughts, it is still easy to give up at the first sign of a speed bump. After all, it gives you time to rest from the unending struggle to achieve whatever it is you are pursuing, even for just a moment. But don’t buy that. That short period of rest can turn to days, weeks, months, years, ultimately paralyzing you from taking action and living a full life. That's the characteristic of discouragement. It offers you immediate gratification without securing anything in return.
Try to gain positive momentum every time, instead of succumbing back into a demoralized attitude. Every time, even if that means you have to start the battle in your head all over again.

Motivation - Practical Tips To Get Yourself Up and Going

People have different issues with motivation. Some people find it hard to begin, while others find it excruciatingly hard to finish. Both ends of the tasks are often the hardest to accomplish. It could be because the task is unpleasant, uninteresting, or lacks the thing that makes you feel motivated to get off your butt and start working. When having troubles with getting or staying motivated, try these following tips.
Kick the habit of procrastination - Procrastination is very enticing, that is why many people are led to its path. But, never for a second believe that it is satisfying. Procrastination eats up a lot of your time while leaving nothing for you to get ahead with your task. Procrastination also leaves that lingering, powerful guilt feeling that saps the energy out of your body.
The unwashed laundry. The unfinished business plan. The project that lays idle on your table. All these are reminders that you haven’t done anything with your habit of procrastination. And all these produce that same sense of half-pleasure, half-guilt feeling produced by not doing the task on time.
Push yourself – Over pampering yourself is a bad habit, and a fatal one too. You may not lose your life while procrastinating, but you can lose your job, opportunities and the chances of success whenever you hesitate and delay your tasks. No one wants to miss out on these things, so just do the opposite of pampering, try to push yourself.
If you think you can do a task in one hour, try to finish it in 30 minutes. Add more outputs every day. Make yourself extra productive. There is a certain sense of pride and accomplishment in being able to defeat your worst enemy – yourself.
Be careful not to push yourself too hard though. Always leave time for rest and relaxation as these can charge your mind and body to keep your energy and interest in the things you do at the highest.
Stop talking yourself out of it - There are always two parts of your head that are battling for your attention. One part convinces you to start working on your task; the other gives you all the convincing arguments to delay your work. In most cases, the second part wins. But for people who have no serious issue with motivation, the good, inspiring side always wins out the debate. Always try to listen to that part that talks you into doing your tasks, not to the one that pulls you back to that cozy bed where you can steal a few minutes' worth more of rest.
Envision the completion of the task - Think like you have already finished your task. Few people appreciate the benefits of creating mental images of finished tasks. The reality though is, this can help a great deal in motivating you to get on with it. Think of the euphoria of not having anything to make you feel guilty. Or the sense of pride in being able to accomplish something. The more you think of the benefits of finishing your tasks, the more convinced you will become to get ahead with it.

Motivation: How To Fire Up Your Inner Drive

It happens to all of us. One day, we just wake up lacking the energy to do anything. Not wanting to go out of bed, not wanting to stay in it either. That's normal. That's the stuff of life, so to speak. What is not normal though is getting entangled with lack of energy, lack of drive, lack of motivation. What is not normal is to continuously talk yourself into the act of not doing anything. But what do you do when all the drive inside of you are purged out? Maybe you can begin with the following recommendations.
Think of the worst-case scenario - We have all been told that envisioning success is a good motivator. Now, why not do the exact opposite? Why not envision a future that is bleak, hopeless and stripped off all happiness and success. Why not envision yourself living eternally in a rut where sense of accomplishment and a tiny hope are inexistent?
Scary, right? Few people realize that they already own a one-way ticket towards this very vision. Now what you want to do is to get off your butt and work your way out of the train wreck you are heading to. Turn your life around and work for a goal. Now, that is getting motivated.
Set a date for change and commit to it - Change must come to everyone of us. Sometimes it is forced upon us, sometimes we choose when it will happen. It is always much more preferable to have control over the change that can take us over. If the change you are seeking requires a specific date on the calendar, then set it. Make a huge, red circle around the date and stick with it. Let this serve as a motivator to start doing the things you should have done weeks, months or years ago. Let this chosen date serve as the new beginning of your life.
Break the routine - When you're doing the same thing every day, sooner or later, the energy that you once had will drain out. No matter how passionate you were with your work, project, or goal when you were just beginning, you will suffer from lack of motivation once your body senses that it is doing the same thing day in, day out.
Don’t be afraid to break the routine once in a while. Quit work for a full day. Stop doing your routine for a week. Take a month-long vacation. Take on a new hobby for a year. These can help energize you and rekindle your drive. And while you're taking your break from your routine, don’t lose the faith that you will have the same kind of energy you once had by the time you get back to work.
Don’t lose sight of your goals - It is easy to lose your focus when there is too much distraction around. Whether it's the kids, clutter at your work area, Twitter or Facebook, you will find that these simple things remind you of other things that can drive your concentration away from the task at hand. To prevent yourself from killing your own motivation, always try to stick with your goals and shut out whatever it is that it trying to reduce it.

Motivation: Getting Yourself Back on Track

Sometimes, all we need is something that can keep us motivated and get us back on track. We hope the following suggestions will do just that for you.
Appreciate failure - Many people find failure a bit too daunting. For them, failing on something – whether it’s a simple goal or a grand task – is enough to keep them from moving another finger. For successful people, failure is a teacher. It was difficult and demoralizing while they were at it. But in retrospect, there is always something that can be gained from failing.
Don’t get used to failing, though. Bounce back every time you fail and refrain from doing the things that had caused you to fail before. Build a string of success out of the many failures you've had.
Always finish what you have started - Whether it’s a goal, a project, a book, a movie, a song, or a sentence…always finish what you have started. Never quit on anything, no matter how insignificant the thing is. Quitting is a bad habit that supports procrastination and by extension, the extinguishment of motivation.
Give yourself some incentives - Accomplishments should always be rewarded. Reward could be anything from a 30-minute break from work or a one-week vacation in a tropical island. No matter how small or big your accomplishments are, always try to give yourself some reward. Having something to work for or to look forward to always work to spark the drive that is often dormant inside you.
Write down your ideas - No matter how stupid or nonsensical your ideas may seem, they are still ideas and they can inspire you to think further. When lacking in motivation, the simple act of scribbling can trigger a part in your brain to be creative, driven, and imaginative.
Be attuned with your emotions - Don’t be overwhelmed by negative emotions such as the feeling of hopelessness, defeat or struggle. Try to channel your emotions to something more positive such as getting ahead with your work or finishing the task at hand.
Define your motivation - What motivates you? A better life? An accomplished task? A sense of achievement? People have different definitions for motivation. Define yours. Then, begin working for it.
Kick that avoidance attitude - A small percentage of people are allergic to doing something productive. They prefer to lie idle on the couch while killing their time over a movie marathon. That kind of existence is miserable. It lacks direction and definitely lacks that something that can make life a bit more exciting. Not that they have nothing better to do, but because they lack the drive not to avoid the things they need and must do. If you feel that you are leaning towards the avoidance attitude, immediately move yourself out of that rut.
Connect with people - Living in isolation? It is becoming more common nowadays to lose connection with the rest of the world because work is shifting from office setting to home setting. Even while social networking sites are doing their best to make you feel connected, nothing still beats the good old fashioned face-to-face interaction. So go out, talk to your pals, connect with people and be inspired. 

Motivation – From Building A Dream To Celebrating Your Accomplishments

Motivation is an intriguing stuff. Sometimes, you need big things – life events that have the power to turn you around – and sometimes, you only need those tiny motivators – a cute saying on a poster – to make you feel like you have to power to call your own shots.
Build a dream and fuel it.
Big or small, it really doesn’t matter. So long as you have a dream, a goal, an objective, something you can hold on to, something to work for…that's good enough to get you started. Once you have identified that something you want to achieve, hook yourself into it. Believe in it. Fuel it and keep the fire inside you burning for it. Give all you can for that dream to be achieved. Oftentimes, it is easy to bargain that dream for something less, like things that can immediately provide us with passing gratification. But don’t fall easily into that trap. If possible, don’t buy it at all.
Just get on with it.
Don’t feel like getting out of bed? Don’t think this is the best time to start a new project? Don’t feel ready yet? Shut these negative ideas out. Feel like you truly are ready for something. Realize that every day is just as good to start new things as any other day. Always make yourself feel ready about everything, even when it is tempting to have a few minutes more of nap.

The most critical part is always the beginning. It is where hesitation, self-doubt and all those nasty ideas that hold you back comes in. But, refuse to listen to these. Instead, gain the momentum and get on with it. Start with simple things. Take the baby steps. It is easier to be continuously motivated when you know that you are achieving something every time you try. Afterwards, it is much easier to push yourself to finish the task or goal you are trying to pursue. Only then you can start to shoot for far larger stars.
Keep on believing.
Life knows how to deal with us. It can sense whether we are hot or cold towards our dreams. When we are on fire, it throws at us experiences that will shake our beliefs in ourselves, in the dreams we are trying to pursue. When we are damp, it tries to mellow down to lessen the doubts we are feeling. It is when you are already near the achievement of your goal that you should be careful. Because it is during times like this that you will have to prove to life that you truly are serious about pursuing your dreams. In this critical moment, don’t back down, no matter how strong the urge to forget about everything you have worked for. Keep a positive outlook. 
Reward yourself.
Motivation can be rewarded in many ways, on many occasions. Throughout your journey, you will have little successes. And at the end, you have that one huge success. Whenever you overcome each of these successes, reward yourself. It is easy to keep on moving when you know that you are getting one step closer to realizing your dream.

How To Prod Yourself Very Effectively – Lessons on Motivation

It happens to the best of us. Sometimes, the drive, energy, enthusiasm, interest and passion just drain out. The problem is, most of the times we are not calling the shots. We have to move with the rhythm of our environment which always asks us to stay ready and up and moving. So what do you do in times when you just don’t feel like doing anything? Or when too much needs to be done and all you ever want is to quit? Try the following.
Imagine the consequences.
Worst comes to worst, you will lose the opportunities you are trying to pursue or lose your sense of enjoyment in life. When lacking in motivation, think of the worst case scenario that may happen because of it. Then, maybe, just maybe, you'll be in the mood to get off your butt.
Just begin.
Quit the mental chatter. Quit the debate in your head. Quit the whiff-whaff of dialogues that push and pull you from doing whatever it is that you need to do. Realize that hesitation doesn’t do you any good, it wastes your time at best. So why do it?
Stick with the plan.
Given that you have already started going for your goal, the next problem you'll be encountering is sticking with it. It is never easy to stick with the plan because the temptation to give up or give in to the lures of rest, relaxation or slacking is too strong. No matter what happens though, just stick with it. Never, for one second, turn your back on your goals. Keep your eyes on them
Crave for it.
Be passionate about what you are doing, even if it's the most boring, tedious job in the world.
Do it for compelling reasons.
This is actually pretty much like the tip above, but it's worth repeating. Do it for a compelling cause. Do it because you are burning with passion for it. Do it because it really excites you. If it doesn’t, then make it interesting. Motivation jumps out the nearest window if you don’t have an iota of interest in what you are doing.
Be careful when listening to that tiny voice.
The worst battles often happen inside the head, not during the act. What limits us in most cases is the self talk that convinces us of the negative sides of goal, of our self, or of our dreams. Shut this voice out and you will find it is easier to be motivated.
Skip the five-minute habit. 
The five minutes leading to doing the task is said to be the least comfortable of all. This is when hesitation kicks in. If you really want to be motivated, forget about this part and get on with doing the job.
Don’t get overly excited.
This is an absolute motivation killer. Many people commit the mistake of jumping right into the task. This is good save for the fact that excitement drains away with motivation. Manage your motivational level by trying to build up anticipation. Set a date, moderate your expectations, construct realizable goals, and sustain your energy. It is easier to get and stay motivated this way.

Having Problems With Staying Motivated?

Most of us have love-hate relationship with motivation. We need to get motivated all the time but we always find it hard to get out of our comfort zones and get ourselves working. We like to feel motivated but we hate the process of prodding ourselves into doing what we are supposed to be doing or finishing what we have already started.
Motivation is an hard to pin down thing. What few people realize though is that while it may be hard to pin down at times, there are plenty of things one can do to muster enough motivation to get yourself going.
Quit the debate -The battle always starts in the head. It begins ten to five minutes before you start doing the thing you have to do – whether it's a task, a business plan, a goal.
In the normal course of hesitating to do your task, one part of your head tries to talk you into doing it. It is immediately followed by a voice that talks you out of it. This process goes on until you decide to follow either of the two voices – abandon the task and live with the uneasy, guilty feeling or finish it and feel satisfied. The right choice is obvious, but the immediate convenience of the 'easy way out' presents make it very enticing.
Try not to prolong the debate. The longer it goes on, the more difficult it will be for you to begin and finish your task, the less motivated you will feel. This mental chatter is an absolute motivation killer.
Find your inspiration - Inspiration almost always comes out of nowhere. It is funny how one can feel inspired by simply listening to the rhythm of the falling rain or by simply watching little children play. It is amazing how a witty line from a poem can enlighten your mind and your mood.
It is never fully clear why these things happen, but it is evident that they happen all the time. When lacking the inspiration to get off your butt and do your work, try to look at the most unassuming places and see if something inside you will react. Don’t push it, though. Inspiration is a sudden occurrence, it can never be manufactured. It comes when the time is ripe.
Take a break - Exhaustion can kill your mood, not to mention lower your motivation level. There is enough time in the world to do and finish everything you have to do so don’t race against time. Always take the time to reward yourself with some sunshine and warm bath. Or with some relaxing minutes under the trees or in your bed. However you do it, just try to have the faith that once you get back to the drawing board, your mind is already geared to be productive. Don’t be afraid to take some time off and reward yourself with rest.
Always enjoy the process - What are life and work if they are not enjoyed? Try to always find the purpose and happiness in everything you do, no matter how uninterested you are. 

Breaking the Bad Habit of Not Having Enough Motivation

Finding the thing that motivates you is one thing, it is quite another to stick with it. And even while you have already succeeded in identifying what motivates you, the temptation to give in to more convenient, easier things like procrastination are much more powerful than getting yourself up and going.
Identify that lacking motivation or deliberately making yourself feel demotivated is a bad habit. Something isn’t quite right when you refuse to wake up on time to get to your office. Or, when you allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the power of procrastination when you have deadlines to beat. You know that something is going wrong inside you when the task you have to finish several days ago sits idly on your desk, untouched. And something is not right when you can't even force yourself to confront a problem that has been gnawing your will to live fully. You lack even the motivation to accept that you are not motivated. So how do you build your motivation from the ground up? Start with…
Identifying the things that sap out your motivation. It always starts with very simple things in a very natural manner. Then it starts to affect the other aspects of your life, which are not entirely connected with the thing that triggered your lack of motivation. Maybe you just didn’t feel like getting up after your alarm rung off one morning. The next day, you did the same thing and on and on until you developed the bad habit of not feeling motivated to do anything.
The first effective step to gaining back your sense of motivation is to figure out the thing or things that sap the energy out of you. It could be a small thing like not waking up in time or a really serious thing like hating everything about your job.
No matter what the form, you can identify the things that sap out your energy by their power to make you feel discouraged. Start with the sample exercise of listing down the areas in your life where you find no motivation to pursue at all and the particular things which you think makes you feel disheartened. This will help you gain some perspective on the entire issue. You can even derive solutions in simply knowing the cause. This will shed clarity on your issues with motivation.
Then you can move on to evaluating the risks and benefits of not feeling motivated. Believe us, there are benefits to having no motivation - immediate self-gratification in the form of rest for one. And there are risks, for sure. Plenty of them. And the risks oftentimes outweigh the benefits. Discovering the risks and benefits of not feeling motivated could be very enlightening. In general, you would realize that it is never worth it to procrastinate, to give in to the temptation of hating to move a finger to finish your tasks, or to deliberately believe that it is much more gratifying to lie around and do nothing.
Finally, commit yourself to change. This is not easy, it never was. But try to set the date for mustering your sense of motivation.