Do you find that your motivation doesn’t seem to last?
Getting Motivation is the easy part, you decide what you want to achieve, and you compile a plan, a list of things you can do in order to achieve your goal.
By looking at this plan you can create a motivated state, in which you have the drive and desire to do things. But why does that state seem to only last a few hours or days?
Motivation Doesn’t Last – Neither Does Bathing!
A somewhat funny quote but one with a serious point, Motivation is a state of mind, and in order to get results, we must maintain this state of mind.
If you get into the motivated state once, and then go back to doing what you’ve always done in a weeks time, guess what you’re going to get?
What’s you’ve always got.
Nothing will change unless you change what you do and maintain that change for long enough to get the results.
Let’s think of an example, say you’re trying to develop your muscles, and more specifically, you want to know how to be able to do 30 pullups in a row.
Deep down, you know how to achieve this, by exercising the muscles involved for long enough so that they grow strong enough to do it.
So you start working out, doing pull-ups every couple of days, and you may see an increase in your number of reps, but then you take a few days off, and your rep number goes down.
So many people would give up at this point.
They would think, ‘I’ve put the effort in and motivated myself, but nothings happening’.
This is sad, because had they just stuck it out properly, maybe tried a 30-day challenge or something, they probably would have seen the results they were after.
The 3 reasons why Motivation doesn’t last
Here’s what you can do about it. Feel free to bookmark this post by the way, so you can come back to it if you want. It’s hopefully useful advice!
1 – You become discouraged by negative results
In anything you do in life, there will be times when you fail, fall down and get it wrong. It’s going to happen.
The trick is to not let these days get you down and to stay motivated all the while. Understand that some days will be better than others, and some days you’ll feel like quitting.
When you keep going, you’re exercising one of the 11 Skills Everyone Should Have.
You’ll look at your negative results and it will make you think ‘what’s the point’ but the point is to stick at it, to keep moving forward no matter how hard you fall or fail, just keep going, and in the end, you will achieve your goal.
2 – You get distracted
Other things can come into your life which make the first goal seem less important.
You might decide to learn a new language, develop a new relationship or start playing a new game. You might even want to start working towards a new goal altogether.
The fact is that you probably know your motivation doesn’t last because you get distracted, but do you have the strength to do something about it?
3 – You rationalize doing or achieving less
Your mind is incredible, and it can make you believe anything. It really can; if you find just one reason for something, your brain can block out all other things to make you feel like you’re in the right.
You might not feel like doing your daily run one day, and your brain will tell you things like ‘You can miss just this one day, you’ve done so well up until now’.
It’s a bad habit to listen to this. Keep going and keep doing what you set out to do.
Don’t give up or start slacking, or you won’t reach that goal.
Making sure your motivation lasts
That’s my top 3 reasons why your motivation doesn’t last. But you probably knew most of those. Here’s what to do about it.
Here’s how to make sure your motivation does last, and how to make your drive for success grow stronger after you fall or experience a negative result.
1 – Make sure your Motivated state is really there before starting out
Write down your goals and plans, and ask yourself if you really want them.
If you want them as much as you want to breathe, when you want your dream or goal as much as you want to breathe, you’ll achieve it. Hold your breath right now for one minute.
Keep holding it. Go to a minute and a half. Keep holding it.
When you get to the point where you start trying to swallow and your vision starts to blur and all you can think about is taking that breath of air, that’s the feeling.
That’s the level of motivation I’m talking about here. Do you really want it? as much as you wanted to breathe? If you don’t know what you want, read my article, Finding your life purpose in 4 minutes.
2 – Make a plan, and stick to it
Make a concise and specific plan with specific steps and time frames, and stick to it.
If you’re trying to lose weight, don’t just write ‘lose weight’; write ‘lose 4 pounds before such and such date by doing daily cardio sessions of half an hour and cutting out carbs and saturated fats from my diet’.
Make it specific! This is good for a number of reasons:
- You clearly know when you’re either achieving or not achieving the goal.
- You can monitor your progress more easily if it’s a specific goal.
- You can’t cheat yourself.
3 – Adopt a new mindset
A mindset that anything you can imagine is possible an that whatever you set out to achieve, you can achieve.
With this mindset, consistently push yourself, test your limits, and then go beyond them next time.
Keep pushing, and growing. Every time you make a mistake or even watch others make a mistake, learn something from it. Learn what to not do next time.
Learn how to do things more efficiently and effectively. Do everything you do in your life as best as you possibly can do it.
Someone once said;
‘You might not be able to build a wall at first, you might not know where to start, but you start by laying one brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid, then you do the next one, again as carefully and perfectly as is possible, and sooner or later, you’ll have yourself a wall’.
Follow these tips, and you’ll maintain your motivation for longer. Keep motivated and working towards your goal, and one day you’ll wake up and you’ll have your wall.