We need to stay motivated to perform various tasks effectively in our lives. A professional has to perform his career activities effectively to excel in his job and achieve career growth. A student need to engage in his/her studies effectively to gain knowledge and grow skills needed to excel in his/her examinations and this will help him/her to be successful in future careers. A housewife should successfully manage her household activities including housekeeping, activities relating to children’s education and health, household finances and spouse’s needs to make sure that her family’s goals are met. So it is clear that every one of us needs motivation to live our lives productively and successfully.
Motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviours. Motivation is what causes you to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.
But we all find that there are periods of time in our lives when we feel our motivation levels fall drastically. For a certain period of time we remain motivated and all of a sudden we lose it and at the end we need to build again to get back to normalcy. These slumps in motivation deteriorate our performance levels, our personal and professional relationships. Eventually this condition hinders our growth in life.
In this article I wish to highlight several key points that will help you to stay motivated.
1.Having a Goal in Life.
It is essential for anyone to have a goal in life. This is vital if you want to stay motivated. Then you are aware what you should achieve in life. Living your life without a goal is like a ship floating in the sea having no plan to reach a specific destination. So when you don’t have a goal your motivation level will be less. You will lose enthusiasm and the drive to accomplish various tasks in your life.
Having a goal is not enough you should visualize the goal on a regular basis. Then your mind becomes certain that you are able to achieve it. There are three types of goals.
- Short term goals: These can be achieved within fifteen days or few months.
- Midterm goals: These goals take a year or two to accomplish.
- Long term goals: Goals that can take a longer time can be considered as long term goals. For example, building or purchasing a home or developing your own business can be long term goals.
2. Planning and Prioritizing Your Work Ahead.
This is a very important task for your success. You have to prioritize your tasks and if you do not do that you will end up confused. The important things in your personal life and professional life that needs your immediate attention may be neglected. You will find that you have accomplished only things that have very little importance to you. As a result you might feel frustrated and disappointed. This will reduce your motivation ultimately. Moreover planning and prioritizing your work is a key factor to live a successful life. This is why the great American leadership authority Dr Stephen R. Covey has embedded planning and prioritizing in the 3rd habit of his Seven Habits paradigm i.e. put first things first. So plan and prioritize your work to stay motivated.
3. Having Self-Confidence.
Self-confidence is having a belief that you can successfully carry out activities and achieve your goals. This has a significant impact on every area of your life. These include educational achievements, career progression, entrepreneurial endeavours and relationships with people who are important to you. In the case of relationships self-confidence is necessary to maintain your position in the relationship. It will help you to express your emotional needs.
When you lack self-confidence, various things would happen. You would feel as if you are not worthy of what you have, saying what you believe in and making decisions to improve your lives. As a result of this you would feel weak, powerless and you would have thoughts of self-defeat, negativity and fear. This condition would definitely lower your motivation. Self-confidence is essential to stay motivated and achieve your goals.
4. Having a Growth Mindset.
Having a growth mindset is vital to stay motivated. Mindset is a set of beliefs or a view you adopt for yourself. The world renowned psychologist Dr Carol S. Dweck from Stanford University popularised the concept of mindsets. According to her there are two mindsets. One is growth mind set and the other is fixed mindset.
What is a growth mindset? If you have a growth mindset, then you expect that you can improve your ability—and a failure, therefore, shows you what you need to work on. On the other hand if you have a fixed mindset, then you think that your ability is inborn, then a failure can be disturbing and heart breaking because it makes you doubt how good you are. So you become frustrated.
When you have a fixed mindset you may get very defensive when someone suggests you made a mistake—in other words, you measure yourselves by your failures. People with a growth mindset, on the other hand, often show perseverance and resilience when they’ve committed errors—they become more motivated to work harder. You may lose motivation whenever you fail if you have a fixed mindset. You can imagine how much having a fixed or growth mindset can affect your lives. You may now understand it is very important to have a growth mindset to stay motivated.
5. Associate with Constructive Individuals.
Associating with individuals with positive attitude and disposition will help you immensely to stay motivated. They will consistently attempt to elevate your spirits despite your circumstances. These positive minded people will always inspire you and criticize you constructively so that they will always help you grow in your life. So whenever you are feeling down you should discuss your problems with this type of people and they will always encourage you and lift your motivation level.
It should be noted that at one point or the other you tend to lose motivation in your lives. As a result you may feel frustrated and disappointed. This is perfectly normal and you should not be worried about this. What you should do is analyse the situation thoroughly and figure out the reason for demotivation. Then you should find ways to counter it.
