Motivation is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? When you have daily motivation, the whole world is your oyster. Confidence is high, all things seem possible, life is bright and beautiful, and you know exactly what you want to do and achieve.
Unfortunately, motivation is also notoriously fleeting — and there are all sorts of negative circumstances we can come across in daily life that can sap our motivation, ranging from things like a gut condition that warrants a visit to a gastroenterologist, to a career setback.
Finding ways to get regular motivation — and to consistently fuel your tank — can work wonders. It can help you to become more resilient, keep you from becoming disheartened, and help you live a dynamic and optimistic life to achieve your dreams.
Here are just a few tips to get motivation regularly.
Set goals to encourage daily motivation
Many people have been discouraged on the path to their goals. You might be put off of the act of goal setting altogether, due to previous setbacks and frustrations.
What’s more, there are some people who outright argue against goal setting as a practice. They might say that becoming too fixated on your goals can prevent you from living in the present moment and can cause stress and anxiety.
It’s certainly important to be present at the moment, and not to neglect the important features of your everyday life in the pursuit of a goal. However, it’s also important to realize just how fundamental goal setting is to the human experience.
Everything humans do, other than sitting still in one place, is driven by a goal. It’s just that people don’t normally recognize this fact.
Here’s an example. When you’re hungry and go to prepare dinner, you are driven by the goal of feeding yourself. Want another example? When you are going on a road trip to visit family, the goal of seeing your loved ones propels you forward.
Goals are more or less synonymous with motivation. Goals are the things that motivate individuals to do particular things in life.
Setting core goals can really enrich your life when you achieve them. Try to spend a bit of time each day visualizing those goals. You’ll likely find that this exercise adds a lot of motivation to your life as a whole.
Resist the natural tendency to follow the path of least resistance
One of the most counterproductive and detrimental behaviors that we are all susceptible to, is following the path of least resistance and engaging in the same wellness-sapping activities. Instead, deliberately notice and engage in activities that make you feel more alive
If you allow yourself to sink into this kind of loop, you may spend all your free time mindlessly surfing the web. In this scenario, you’ll likely feel increasingly unmotivated and lack energy as a result.
Making a daily practice of resisting the natural tendency to follow the path of least resistance takes practice to get better at it, but it’s certainly possible. Replace that tendency with deliberately participating in activities that make you feel more whole. It can transform your whole life for the better and significantly boost your motivation.
Perhaps you notice that you’ve always got a smile on your face after completing a yoga workout but often feel too lazy to want to start. By reminding yourself how good you feel after the workout, and then doing it consistently, you directly push back against the state of inertia directly responsible for stealing your motivation.
For motivation, interact with energetic and optimistic people daily
The attitudes and “energy” of other people are undeniably contagious. In fact, psychologists even talk about the “social contagion” effect. That means certain habits — both positive and negative — appear to spread in peer groups like the common cold.
Regularly interacting with energetic, optimistic, and driven people is likely to do a lot of good when it comes to boosting your sense of motivation and well-being in life. And the opposite, unfortunately, is also true; pessimism can spread like wildfire.
So let’s keep the positive energy high! That might mean joining a particular class, club, or hobby group, or it might just mean regularly calling up an uplifting loved one.
Read, watch, and revisit motivational material
There’s a lot of great motivational material out there to read and watch. The content ranges from uplifting documentaries of people beating the odds to inspiring books.
What you spend your time taking in can recharge your spirit, motivate you in the soul, and increase your self-confidence. Even upbeat songs can work wonders.
Regularly reading, watching, and absorbing this kind of motivational material — and revisiting it regularly — can help you more than you might realize at first. It can energize and give you a sense of drive you might have lost for a long time.