What’s going on Trainwrecks? Today I would like to focus on staying motivated. When we try to accomplish our tasks everyday we have about a million other things pulling our attention away from what is most important. When we try to remain focused on difficult, tedious or unfamiliar tasks we face self-doubt, imposter syndrome and even a failure to execute. These are issues I personally experienced during my recovery from addiction and a toxic lifestyle. These are issues I continue to experience as I continue to develop myself after retiring from the military and learning to move forward with my life as I pursue my education and career goals. So today, I would like to discuss five strategies to remain motivated.
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When we think of accomplishing our goals, we often get hung up on our future end-desire and miss the importance of the process currently occurring. Maybe we need to practice? Maybe we need to educate ourselves on what comes next? Perhaps a mentor with a fresh set of eyes can reveal what we are missing in plain sight that is holding us up? Or maybe, just maybe we cannot accomplish our goals because we are just too friggin’ lazy. Whatever the case, as human beings we tend to blame our lack of success or fulfillment on others or claim it was due to immobile circumstances. Well, I’m a Trainwreck back on track and I call BS on that mentality.
Here are five strategies to stay motivated!
- Eliminate our distractions and temptations. We often fill our free time with gossip, meaningless apps and worrying about things that have nothing to do with us. Identify activities that do not keep us on task and move us toward accomplishing our goals and ELIMINATE THEM! Put down the telephone and pick up that book or weights (Johnson, 2016).
- Get among the experts. Often when we try to tackle our objectives and have never attempted something similar, we fail simply by not knowing any better. We cannot be afraid to ask for help when we need it and to seek the guidance of knowledgeable people. It sucks to admit we don’t know something. It sucks even more when we realize we could have avoided this failure if we just communicated with others. We are the product of the five most influential people in our lives (Chua, 2019).
- Redefine major obstacles as hurdles with a list of objectives to accomplish. When we view a mountain, it can appear as impossible and out of our league. The truth is, every goal that has ever been accomplished began as a large goal broken down into simpler and smaller goals. If we are able to understand that we cannot take everything on at once and instead realize the reality that goals are lists of objectives that combine to create the outcomes we desire. Most importantly, perception is everything. If we believe an objective cannot be accomplished, chances are we will justify that belief by simply giving up (Hall, 2016).
- Envision the process of accomplishing our objectives in terms of running a marathon and not a sprint. That’s right Trainwrecks lets try settling in for a long-haul and putting forth the required time and effort before we demand results. Do not be afraid to fail and more importantly when it happens, be ready to learn. Too often we become outcome-dependent and expect to replicate similar results others have discovered without putting in the correct elements of time and effort. Dedication is dependent upon time and effort being applied, thus there are few if any “experts” out there who did not learn how to fail-forward before they ever realized what it was to succeed (Joseph, 2017).
- Celebrate when the time is right. All work and no play? That’s a scientifically-proven way to fail. Rewards are an important part of a development process and provide reinforcement through positive spikes in endorphins as well as provide personal validation for effort. There more often we receive a reward for effort, the effort will be reinforced in a positive way. Celebrations are positive reference experiences which provide the opportunity to reinforce future behavior through a personal mental feedback-attribute event (Corso, 2019).
So, let’s have a discussion! Make sure you smash that LIKE button as you comment below.
• What are some ways you have found to remain motivated despite distractions?
• What are some ways you have found to overcome imposter syndrome, self-sabotage and other hurdles preventing us from forward movement?
Leave your comments below and join in the discussion.
Staying motivated is a challenge everyone experiences. The most successful people have managed to overcome these challenges and remain focused on our tasks. No matter what the challenge. We can do this!
You’re Welcome. Internet.
References:
Chua, C. (2019). You are the Average of the 5 People You Spend the Most Time With. Retrieved from https://personalexcellence.co/blog/average-of-5-people/
Corso, A. (2019). Why You Need To Celebrate Your Accomplishments. Retrieved from https://www.workitdaily.com/celebrate-accomplishments
Johnson, E. (2016). How to Eliminate Distractions. Retrieved from https://www.success.com/how-to-eliminate-distractions/
Joseph, J. (2017). 4 Ways I Fail Forward on a Daily Basis and Why You Should Do the Same. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/303509
Hall, K. (2016). Overcoming Obstacles. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/pieces-mind/201605/overcoming-obstacles
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Photo credit: Richard Bernardon
