Motivation Is An Inside Job: 11 Ways To Motivate Yourself

Motivation is an inside job. Truth be told, business leaders, coaches and teachers often believe they can motivate someone. They are wrong.

A person must motivate herself, or at least agree that motivation from a boss is necessary before it can happen.

So, today, let’s talk about self-motivation techniques to get us up and at ’em when we need a little kick in the pants.

The 11 Ways To Motivate Yourself

1. Start your day with a positive affirmation. As soon as you get out of bed in the morning, try a motivational positive affirmation such as one of these: I am successful and will not stop at anything until I achieve my goals. Or, Motivation comes to me from inside. I am my own motivator.

2. Create a success list. Write down as many successes as you can think of and keep the list close at hand. When you are having trouble getting started, look at what you have accomplished in the past.

3.Redefine failure. There is no failure just lessons along the way toward perfecting your vocation or avocation. As Michael Jordan said, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

4. Ditch the digital. TV and social media sap your motivation, and take up valuable time you could be spending with friends and family, or building a side business. You don’t have to quit, just cut back a bit and watch the positive results.

5. Delineate your dreams. What dreams do you have? Do you want to live a life proscribed by someone else, or pursue your own? Write your dreams down and use your innate creativity to figure out what you need to do to achieve them. Then, go after them.

6. Know your why. We’ve talked here before about finding your purpose, or your why. As Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl said, “If you know your why, you can survive any how.” Having a purpose helps you determine what you should be doing in order to live out your purpose. Here’s our program for how to determine your purpose.

7. Start small. Select a small task and tackle it to get you primed. Once you have a small success you’ll be ready for bigger tasks.

8. Today is your only day. We have no guarantees about how much time we have on this planet. So, let this thought motivate you: time – your life’s currency – is a finite, non-replenishable resource. Use it wisely.

9. Listen up. Consider signing up for Audible and downloading self-improvement books (maybe my book, Get Glad, for instance) to listen to while you are on the move. Also, there are plenty of free podcasts that offer self-improvement and motivational information.

10. Reward yourself. When you succeed or make progress on one of your goals, give yourself a treat of some kind. This reinforces the positive behavior.

11.Commit to happiness daily – It’s easier to be motivated if you are happy. So, each day make a decision to be happy. As Aristotle said, “happiness is an inside job.” If he had thought of it, he would have said motivation is an inside job, too.