To achieve any goals, you must maintain a level of motivation. You can ask for support from coaches. Or you can learn to do it yourself. The process is not fast, but definitely worth it.
The key to developing a skill is in its name. Inside the word lies the meaning: to independently find motives for movement. Motives - what gets you involved, motivates you to keep pace and strive to move on and on towards your goal. In this context, motives are resources, fuel for movement.
For self-motivation, it is important to remember this and that motives are associated not with external circumstances, but with the internal meanings and content of specific activities.
The formula for developing a skill will be as follows:
I understand where I am striving, there is a vision / picture + I understand why it is important for me, there is meaning and significance + I understand why and how I support my resources and motives
Let's take the steps.
- Forcing yourself to do something that doesn't make sense is useless. This meaning must be found. The first step to developing the skill of self-motivation is to find a specific image in the future that you want to approach, because it is important. For example, I want to be a healthy person with an active lifestyle. This image can be drawn, arranged in the form of a collage, presented. The more detailed the better.
- The second step will be to clarify the significance of this image. For example, I want to be active in order to feel healthier. Health will allow me to live a comfortable and long life. At 80, I want to move around on my own and be able to travel.
- The third step will be to find and find ways to get closer to such a result. For example, for my health, it is important for me to eat a balanced diet, continue regular physical activity, be more attentive to the needs of the body and soul, and build a balance of work and rest. And to do this not only in the near future, but in the future too. Always. This means that it must be something feasible and preferably pleasant.
- The fourth step is to schedule the week based on what is needed and important. And next week. And then too.
When you "walk" on these points, keep in mind that the motives are not in the head, they are in emotions, and in bodily sensations, and in the ideas of the future. Pay attention to all channels of perception both during the exercise and after, when you need to remind yourself why you are “forcing” yourself to do this or that.
If you keep in sight the deep meaning that you have defined for yourself, self-motivation will become natural. You don't have to do anything extra. Only to optimize activities taking into account the emerging circumstances.
If the meaning loses its meaning, you will face obstacles in the form of laziness and resistance to further movement.
An important point
External circumstances will not go anywhere. In order to keep them on track, learn to manage attention, prioritize and optimize the tasks that you set for yourself in terms of their importance and the effects they have on your quality of life.
At a minimum, ask yourself questions:
- What happens if I do this?
- How will life change if I don't?
- Why is it important now?
Be sure to strike a balance between work and rest. It is an essential component for keeping you motivated. It's easy to confuse fatigue with laziness and falling motivation. So you can start “drinking the wrong vitamins” and “feeding” the wrong resource.
Make it a rule to write down the results of your actions. In moments of internal discord and bad weather, they will help you not to devalue what you have already done. In all other cases, you will be able to analyze them and optimize your activities.
Intrinsic motivation can be supported by extrinsic means. For example, create a comfortable environment for sports, choose a suit that is pleasant to the touch and other attributes.
If we continue the example with health, we can find stories of people who started to lead an active lifestyle at 20-30-40 years old and feel great by 70. But unsuccessful stories can provide motivational support. Do not ignore them.
Try this formula on a small-scale life or work project - on some simple one. Analyze at what point the level of motivation begins to decline, support it. Draw conclusions. Repeat
This will train you a skill that will benefit the rest of your life. It will not become fully automatic, because it will require a meaningful approach every time. But it will give you a bonus in the form of a better understanding of your needs and motives that prompt you to act. Again and again. And again.
