Winning Self Motivation Tips To Help You Last The Distance

How To Achieve Your Goal

Self motivation tips only work when you already have a personal development plan and goal in mind. If you're still asking yourself, "what is my life purpose?" then you have other work to do before thinking about what self motivation tips will work best for you.

When you don't know what your purpose is, or you don't know where you want to go, it's hard to develop the motivation to go anywhere. Most people who live without a purpose get tied up in the day-to-day mundanity of life, like paying bills and cleaning and just getting by. When you have a larger purpose, you elevate yourself above these concerns. Yes, they're still important and you still have to do them but your focus is on something much bigger.

So first thing's first: make sure you know what your purpose is before you look to motivate yourself. Otherwise, you'll quickly be back here looking for new self motivation tips, as the ones you try won't work.

How To Achieve Your Goal When You're Losing Motivation

It's an expected part of any journey of value that you'll lose motivation at some point. Real journeys are tranformational. They change who you are as you pave your way. And a loss of motivation usually occurs right before a significant shift is set to take place.

Ego Defense Mechanisms

What's actually happening when you feel dejected and deflated is the ego is trying to resist further change. It wants you to stop walking your new path because it's threatened by the unfamiliar. The ego's function is to keep you safe and protect your existence. And the best way the ego knows to do this is to keep repeating the past. That's why change can be so difficult.

The best of all the self motivation tips for managing your resistance to change (i.e. managing your ego) is to get into the habit of frequently focusing on your destination. Don't jump off your path and try and reason with your ego. It can't be reasoned with! Just keep moving and observe the resistance that comes up. There's no need to pay it any more attention than this.

To keep focused on the desitination I use visualization and affirmations in my personal development plan. Here's a process I can recommend:

1. I write on an index card what my goal is
2. I review it twice daily (saying it out loud)
3. Whenever I feel lost on my course to achieving my goal, I look at the index card again as a reminder there's a path in place
4. I create a vision board that captures all the benefits I will experience once I achieve my goal
5. I take five minutes to imagine a time in the future when I have achieved my goal. I play a scene in my head imagining my life with this new success

Other Excellent Self Motivation Tips

• Face your fears. Often fear can cripple your energy and stop you feeling motivated. Talk rationally to yourself when this happens. Remind yourself that fear is just a feeling and an irrational one at that. Then face your fear. You will feel more motivated than ever once you face it and put your fear in the past
• Read about people who've achieved what you want to achieve. There's nothing more powerful than knowing someone else has done what you so badly want to do. Seek out biographies on people who've fought and overcome their own hurdles. You might be surprised at how similar your challenges are to the ones they faced
• Reframe your current challenges. Often when we face hurdles we feel defeated and want to give in. If you remind yourself at these times that every meaningful success involves many challenges, then you will suddenly see that your current challenge is in fact a sign of progress
• Always finish what you start. If you make this a rule that you follow religiously, then any loss of motivation is put in the background. What you focus on is the fact that you need to finish whatever it is you're doing, otherwise you'll be breaking the rules you live by
• Take risks. When you're taking risks, playing the game of life, you feel invigorated and energized. Usually a loss of motivation is associated with moving to the sidelines. Get back up and back into the game. Keep playing and your motivation will return
• And finally, the most powerful of all the self motivation tips: Always go for your big, pie-in-the-sky dreams. If you don't you might find life feels hollow and empty. As Abraham Maslow said (this is one of my favorite quotes on motivation):

  "If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life."

There's no question, life is much much better when you have a personal development plan and life goals to strive for. When you're doing what you love or going after what you truly desire you'll struggling much less frequently with how to develop motivation. And the only time, if ever that you'll need some outside help is when you're managing your resistance to change (i.e. your ego.)

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