Motivation tips
Published by Hypno on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 13:47:17 - Filed under
“Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.” – Les Brown
There are two kinds of motivations. One comes from within. The other comes from external influences. The one that comes from within is way more powerful and beneficial than the one that comes from the outside. But finding your “inner” motivation (if you don’t have it) is HARD work, and takes a long time. And lots of people are in a life situation that they can’t afford to experiment finding their sources of inner motivation.(E.g.: Lots of people are stuck working in a company that they hate, but can’t risk quitting their job because of their financial situation) In those cases the external motivation can be really helpful. The main problem with external motivation is that it doesn’t last, so you have to do it daily.
People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing.. that’s why we recommend it daily. - Zig Ziglar
This post will be about the “external” motivation. Mostly because YOU have to find your “inner” motivation by yourself. For inner motivation I can only offer guidelines. But currently I don’t feel that I have the proper knowledge to guide anyone about finding inner motivation. (Even lots of popular self-help books avoid the topic or just give some vague idea how to find it which is not very useful for most people)When I acquire enough knowledge I WILL post about it. (I promise)
Until then here are a few tips to motivate yourself:
1. Know what you want!
WRITE down your goal. Knowing in not enough, you must WRITE it down. Take a piece of paper or open a notepad application and write down your goal. Be specific.
2. Know your rewards!
WRITE down what will you get if you reach your goal. What is the benefit that you will get from reaching the goal.(finish project -> get money for it) If you want to buy a car for example then download a picture of it and use it as your wallpaper. That way you will always remind yourself of your goal
3. Break down the task
Write down all the things you have to do. This will lead you to be more concentrated on your work, because your subconscious mind will know that it doesn’t have to remind you of things you have to do because those things will be in a place that you can always return to. After you’ve finished writing the list, break down the “big”
things into smaller chunks. This way your tasks will seem easier to achieve, and you are going to gain motivation this way.
4. Know your rewards! – part two
If you are far away from your goal, then make it a habit to reward yourself with something each and every day, after you accomplished your daily tasks. Rewarding yourself is important, because if you constantly push yourself without taking a break or relaxing, usually will lead to stress and you can burn out very quickly that way.
5. Remind yourself of the consequences if you fail
WRITE DOWN what will happen if you don’t motivate yourself. Write down what will happen if you fail to reach your goal. Write down how much time you’ll waste, and how much pain you will cause yourself if you end up procrastinating.
6. Burn your ships
In the book “Think and Grow Rich” Napoleon Hill writes about a warrior who motivated his troops by burning the ships that carried them to the enemies’ country, so that they could not have other choice, but either to win or perish. The troops ended up winning. And if you look into history books you will find that lots of times successful people “burnt their ships”(sabotaged their own abilities to escape) in order to motivate themselves. IMPORTANT NOTE: “Burning your ships” Can be dangerous, and sometimes having a back up plan can come in handy. “Burning your ships” isn’t always the smartest idea. Do it at your own risk. And make sure that you think about burning your ships twice before actually burning them.
7. Visualize
Visualize your goals. Close your eyes, take a few breaths and imagine in your minds eye that you have already achieved your goal, try to imagine it as clearly as possible. Don’t beat yourself up if it isn’t crystal clear, just holding the thought in your head can be effective enough.
8. Music
Pump yourself up with motivational music. The genre or the music doesn’t matter the only thing that matters is that it should motivate you. Here are some of my personal favorites:
- Eye of the Tiger
- I’ve got the power
- We are the champions
- The final countdown
- Carmina Burana
9. Use environmental conditioning
Tell your friends about your goals, and tell them that you WILL achieve them. This way they will ask you how your progress is going, that way you will be reminded of your goals, and will be forced to do something about it. You can also set up your wallpaper to remind you of your goals as I have already mentioned earlier. Or you can write inspirational, motivational quotes on pieces of paper and stick them all over your house, so that you could be inspired and motivated multiple times a day.
10. Hypnotize yourself
Got to the hypnosis section of this site and install a command into your subconscious mind that makes you more motivated(E.g. : I am HIGHLY motivated, I have a BURNING DESIRE to achieve my goals, etc.)
And last but not least a poem from an unknown author to motivate you:
When Things Go Wrong
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It might be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit -
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.