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Introduc on/Overview
Increasing Your Mo va on
What You Need to Know About Mo va on
Types of Mo va on
Mo va on Components
Why You Procras nate
Adop ng of An -procras na on Strategies
The 80/20 Rule
will motivate you towards your goal. Your goal is clarified, for you to know what you are pushing towards.
It is also worthy of note that motivation helps to prioritize once you can figure out what your goal is. For instance, you compulsorily have to set aside some time every week if your goal is to write a book. Motivation demands your commitment, make you focused till your goal is accomplished.
Also, when you have any setback, you will be able to bounce back from it if you are motivated. A dream route to success is merely a fantasy. There is nothing as such because every success has its own setback. Setbacks discourage you from pursuing your goal, but it is the motivation that will enable you to push through it.
Further, another importance of motivation is its lesson on perseverance. Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb noted that he never failed, but only learned 10,000 ways not to do it. He was also quoted saying, “Our biggest weakness lies in giving up.” Imagine if he had given up in the quest of inventing the bulb, his name would probably not be remembered today.
Moreso, motivation is what kicks fear in the face when you are about to take an action. Motivation will tell you that, you are still going to do it anyway, no matter what you are feeling. When you are motivated, you will be able to see beyond your fears, as you will be able to see the bigger picture.
In addition, if you are motivated, you will be able to attract your tribe, such that you would want to sync your energy and draw from your expertise. The vibe when a group of motivated people meets themselves is alluring. The energy helps to increase the motivation to succeed. A good leader understands that bringing together a group of motivated people on a team will deliver the results that are being aimed at.
Lastly, motivation is contagious. It can inspire others to make things happen in their life. You will instantly feel the aura and energy to be motivated if you have hung, or meet with motivated people because their can-do, and
There is an opportunity to feel more energized, and happier if you talk in specific rather than generalities.
You can start training your brain to measure specific, which can potentially increase your motivation, and ground your feeling.
Increase your motivation by celebrating little successes: Always think about the progress of what you have achieved from a starting point, rather than focusing on your ideal. You are presented with two choices if your goal is to 20lbs in 7 months, but you lost 5lb in the first 3 months. The choices are:
Focusing on the fact that you have lost 5lbs since you started
Or focus on the fact that you are still 15lbs away from your target.
If you focus on the first option, you will increase your motivation, allow you to celebrate success, and refocus your mind to losing more weight, while the second option will focus your mind on how far you are still from the goal.
Your brain should be allowed to set your goals, and have your experience.
Set measurable goals: Setting measurable goals, follows up from previous points. You will train your brain to focus on the important thing that is measurable and specific, and as well increase your motivation by goal setting. It will make you a lot happier when you are making real progress towards your goals.
The future is the future. The past is gone. We all have a sense of where we are in this present moment. Time can’t be stopped. We can only make the best use of it. Right in this present moment, we feel like we are making progress, gradually moving in the right direction, or we are not.
You may start comparing yourself with others if you are not happy with the progress you are making, which can make you reduce your motivation, and also make you feel worse.
Boost your motivation with 90 days goals: Do you have a goal you would love to achieve in the next 90 days? If not, think about them. Note these goals, and ask yourself the purpose, and meaning of each of the goals.
Don’t forget to write down these goals. Visualize what achieving the goal will mean to you personally, and remember to put specific measurements against each goal.
Readjust your motivation from getting to giving: Many people focus on what they can get from relationships, and life can offer them, and not on what they can give in return. Wayne Dyer said, “When you change the way you look at things, the thing you look at change.” However, your mindset can switch from merely receiving to giving if you focus on helping and serving, and being more conscious of the world around you. Your brain starts generating ways to spread more abundance when this shift is created, which is inspired by giving. This can become a true focus and purpose for you, as it is far more satisfying to give.
Be more motivated by deepening relationships: Focusing on deepening relationships, rather than focusing on simple transactions will really make you happy. Surrounding yourself with people of a similar mindset, and focusing on gratitude will skyrocket your motivation level. Compared to an individual level, when givers come together, the outcome is usually bigger, as everything already available can be multiplied. Your brain will think of more and more creative ways to give if your motivation is to do so. Random ideas can, as a result, come to your mind, which will make you will find a creative way to make positive impacts in both personal and business life.
Develop and stay consistent with a new positive habit: Sometimes, the biggest result is created by the smallest shift. Whether it is improving your speaking or creating a new video, or going to the gym, the key is repetition and consistency.
Your brain wires new pathways by doing something new over and over again, as this helps you establish incremental improvements. The key is repetition if you are starting a new morning routine. Stay consistent with it if you want to start meditating. Running every day and building your strength and stamina is the key to gearing up to running a 5k.
You will think of yourself as someone who doesn’t complete a task when you have such a vision for yourself. It is advisable to start small, and always do something that will bring you closer to your goal if you find yourself always procrastinating on big projects. Do something, even if it is for five minutes, then work on the project the following day.
Deciding what you want to improve on is the key, then working on it every day. A consistent drop of water makes an ocean. A little improvement every day can bring about big results.
Boost motivation and increase gratitude: There will be an immense change when you come from a place of appreciation to people around you, and what you have. You will be less fixated on what other people have when you express gratitude for what you have.
You will change how people feel about you, and how you are perceived when you express gratitude to the important people in your life. Expressing gratitude increases abundance feeling, and energy. Everything is appreciated with gratitude.
In addition to that, showing gratitude deepens your motivation, and also makes you a lot more creative. Calls, instantaneous notes, more expressive feelings, and handwritten notes become commonplace.
Something to also note about gratitude is that it needs active pursuit in every part of your professional and personal life. This is not about someone doing something for you. It is about what you are feeling about them, and how you value them.
Increasing your gratitude:
Perform this simple exercise:
Think about important people in your life. Then write down 6 things you appreciate about that person, and what you are grateful for. You can just keep these 6 things to yourself, or tell them about it, and feel how you are with these people the next time you meet them.
Also, another focus is yourself. Write down what you are grateful for today? Taking the time to appreciate and look inwardly at what you have
Motivation Components
There are three main components of motivation, which are intensity, persistence, and activation.
Intensity is the energy and concentration that a person injects into accomplishing his or her goal.
Persistence is all about a continual investment in achieving a goal in the face of different obstacles.
The decision to start doing a certain behavior is activation.
The three theories that have been identified to explain if motivation is cognitive, social, emotional, and biological have been revealed. The theories are Arousal Theory, Theory of Drives and Needs, and Instinct Theory.
Arousal Theory
This theory reveals that individuals behaviors allow people to maintain their level of arousal at optimal. For instance, someone with high arousal is likely to perform a very risky behavior such as rock climbing, or skydiving. Some with low arousal may just be okay with listening to music.
Theory of Drives and Needs
Shelter, water, and food are the biological needs we all need. This theory states that our behaviors are spurred by the necessity to meet these needs. Hence, we find rest, drink, and food.
Instinct Theory
The Instinct Theory states that we are motivated to complete goals through our instincts. Instinct is a fixed, inborn pattern of behavior that acts as a drive. Therefore, Instinct theory postulates that behaviors occur so we can satisfy basic survival needs. An example of an instinctual drive is fear, which allows people to avoid dangerous situations. This theory states that instinct is what motivates us to complete goals. Instinct is an inborn pattern, it is fixed, and it acts as a driver. This theory
When you adopt a phrase such as “I choose to,” you will feel more in control of your workload. This will make you own your project. On the other hand, it could disempower you, and seem like it is self-sabotage. But for example, when you rephrase it to something like: “I have to” “I need to” it will mean that you are not considering any other choice than to do it.
Identifying the long-term benefit of completing the task, is one of the effective ways of tackling procrastination. For example, you may look at how it would affect the bonuses you are supposed to receive at the end of the year when considering your overall annual performance. Studies have also revealed that people who are focused and impulsive or short-term benefits or goals have the tendency to procrastinate. If you procrastinate because of the unpleasant tasks, then switch to focusing on the “long term gain”
Another powerful way of making an unpleasant task enjoyable for you is to identify the consequences behind not completing the tasks or the consequences that come with outrightly not doing it. For instance, you can question yourself on what will happen if you fail to complete the work you are assigned.
On the other hand, you need to give a task a try sometimes, because it may not even be bad as you have thought. This is the reason it is crucial to acknowledge that some tasks that we think are unpleasant, can turn out to be good, and enjoyable. You can look at the relevance and meaning if you would like to look at it from another perspective. This makes a task worthwhile, and will also increase its value.
If you procrastinate a lot, these are some strategies that will help you become more organized:
You can use the principle of Eisenhower. That is, the Urgent/Important Principle to prioritize your to-do list. This will enable you to prioritize and identify the tasks that can wait, and the one that is urgent, and important.
If you have a to-do list, you won’t forget some of your tasks.
Become a master of project planning and scheduling. An approach like this will help you when you need to plan your time effectively and reduce your
stress if you don’t know where to begin when you have a big project, or multiple projects at once.
Identify the time you are very effective, by paying attention to the time of the day you work better, perhaps in the morning, afternoon, or even evening, and ensure that you use that period to do the most difficult task. So the trick is to tackle your hardest task at your peak.
You can adopt setting time-bound goals. When you have a task, set a time in which you are going to complete it. This is what will help keep you on track and enable you to achieve your goals, at the end of the day.
Another easy way you could consider is downloading apps that will help you manage your time, and schedule effectively. There are many apps that are designed in that regard.
Rather than focusing on finishing your tasks, divert your energy to breaking your project into smaller units, and starting them. If you know you are always delaying your project because of how unpleasant and overwhelming it seems, break it down into a manageable chunk.
What you can do again is to celebrate small wins, as they will make you feel less overwhelmed, and more positive about yourself, which will contribute to giving you a sense of achievement. Starting with quick, and small tasks is the best way to start. In the 2011 book “The Procrastination” by Jeffery Combs, he recommends 15-minute bursts of activity. You can also create a plan to organize your project.
Summarily, If you put something off because you find it hard to make a decision or can’t decide the action to take, take a look at this range of decision-making tips to help you develop yours.
The 80/20 Rule
One of the most renowned concepts of management and life goal is the 80/20 principle. Also known as the Pareto principle, this principle states that 80 percent of our results come from the most important 20 percent of what we do.
Becoming Successful
with the 80/20
Principle
The norm of great achievement and success is that they both have the same starting point. The starting point is a dream. When a dream is conceived, that is when it starts its process into reality.
For you to break limitations, you need to be able to fantasize about your success and see yourself in the end state of all the hard work you have invested. When you start dreaming big, it will increase your level of selfconfidence and self-esteem. The reason a lot of people don’t end-up achieving success is because they haven’t sat down to really consider the kind of life they would like to live. We all know that a big dream is the only thing capable of moving the mind of men, and as individuals, we need to be able to summon the courage to pursue this dream. For the fact that you’ve dreamed big, you will be able to handle whatever comes for you.
The Theory of Constraint
According to Goldratt, who established this theory of constraint, he made us understand that there will always be a bottleneck choke that prevents us in the process of achieving a goal. Some people classify this thinking, as one of the biggest thinking in modern history. This theory was propounded by Elihu Goldratt, and the theory allows one to dream without constraint. The theory further reveals that the speed at which a dream is actualized is determined by the degree of constraint.
Goldratt’s theory showed that you can expedite the process of your dream rather than doing any other thing, by diverting all your creative energies, and attention on pushing off your identified constraint.
If you would like to increase your income, for example, you can identify the constraint holding you back from such. It can probably be not having the required qualifications to increase your income, or not being able to perform your tasks as at when due. If you are not able to identify your constraint, you can ask yourself a question, such as: “ Is there a constraint holding me back, or something that is deciding the speed at which I am going to achieve my dream?”
are short of experience, time, and money to actualize the vision. Hence, when you are setting your goals, ensure that you attach the proper time frame and skill that will enable you to implement these steps for you to effectively set your goals.
6.Set realistic goals
You need to be able to set realistic goals. Your goals need to mirror the objective you are striving towards. You will feel discouraged if you are not able to achieve a goal you set. No one, apart from you, can determine how substantial your goals are. However, you need to make your goals as realistic as possible, such that given the appropriate condition or circumstance, you will be able to achieve what you have set your mind to do.
7. Make your goals timely
If you don’t include a time frame, there can be no sense of urgency. You need to attach a time frame to every goal you want to achieve. Without having a time frame for when you would like to achieve your goal, it can as well take you forever to achieve. Setting a time frame helps to boost your morale, and supply you with the needed energy to pursue your goal. However, setting a time frame for your goal can be tricky and sensitive. But being timely can motivate you. The other side of this is that if you are not ticking the box on the dates you scheduled, you can easily become demotivated.
8. Remain accountable
When you are striving towards a goal, things are bound to be difficult. When you start facing adversities, you have to be able to hold yourself accountable. You can saddle your friends or family with the duty to help you stay responsible, and help supply the strength you need to push further. It is, therefore, crucial to surround yourself with those who will constantly encourage you, and those following your progress, in order for you to stay accountable in the pursuit of your goal.
9. Always be ready to ask
When you are about to venture into something new, it is important to learn from those around you. You don’t have to be ashamed of asking for help, because gathering experience from those who have tread the path you are on can be what will set you apart from others, and also expedite your journey. You can seek advice in various forms, such as asking from friends or a variety of people, seeking mentorship from someone who is experienced, etc. When attempting to attain your goal, the place of seeking advice can’t be ruled out.
10. Periodically assess your progress
As we grow, and time moves on, we constantly tweak or change our goals, or goals keep evolving. Although, the outcome of the goal may not pan out as projected, but it can be something good. You will be able to learn from your mistakes when you constantly assess your goals and progress in the journey of achieving your dreams. This will help you whenever you want to set another goal.
How to Quickly Adapt to Change
According to J.F Kennedy, “Change is the law of life. And those we look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
We can’t avoid change. Change is part of nature. Change is a human reality. Change can’t be cheated. It is part of what nature has designed that must happen-- to us, and everything around us. The more you try to avoid or resist change, the tougher it gets. Change is the law of life, going by how Kennedy quoted it. We are surrounded by it. It has one of the most dramatic impacts on our lives. It is pointless attempting to avoid it, as It will automatically come, and put you on the spot to reconsider and challenge you on how you perceive or live your life.
Why it is important to adapt to change?
It was Jim Rohn that said “Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change.”
Change can come into our lives through different entries. It can come in through chance, choice, or even crisis. But most times, we are always
presented with the choice of either making the change or not.
This is why it is better to prepare for change because we have the power to handle how we react to it. Preparedness is what will enable you to properly handle it. But if you are not prepared for it, or try to resist it, you will lose control of your reaction. This will then mean that instead of living your life as an activator, you will become a reactor.
Lao Tzu said: “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
You can‘t prepare for unexpected events. You can’t prevent them from happening, and in most cases, these events are what will tip you off your comfort zone, and change your perspective about life, thereby forcing you to change. If we try to hide or ignore changes or challenges, we will be denying ourselves the opportunity to grow, and learn.
According to Henri Bergson“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
Embracing change in a positive way will strengthen your resilience, which will make you grow stronger, and debar you from the experiences that change can offer.
The impact change will bring to your life can’t be avoided, so the best approach to it is just to embrace it. You have to embrace change if you want a thriving life.
How You Can Adapt to Change
1. Change your mindset-- The power of choice
George Bernard Shaw said, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their mindset cannot change anything.”
The idea of a comfort zone sits well with everyone. Our subconscious likes it because it is what we are used to. It is our known. And when we go beyond this comfort zone, it means we are stepping into the unknown, and the unknown is scary. Even by default, our brain tries to protect us from
what is perceived as scary. Therefore, we are scared of the unknown because we are scared of what it entails. And that is the reason we resist it.
Our self-limiting beliefs and fear will kick into action when we are faced with disruptive consequences of change. This change is known as a disruptor, because of how comfortable it can be, and its scary features. Armed with the power of change, we would be able to embrace the positive change life brings.
We can control our reaction to the impact that an unexpected event brings to our life, but we cannot control the events of change in our life.
The event of change can’t be controlled, but we still have power over how we react to it.
Graham Brown once said: “Life is about choices. Some we regret, some we are proud of. Some will haunt us forever. The message: we are what we chose to be.”
2. Find a meaning to your life
A quote by Roy T. Bennett goes thus: “Step out of your comfort zone. Comfort zones, where your unrealized dreams are buried, are the enemies of achievement. Leadership begins when you step outside your comfort zone.”
Having a sense of focus and clarity will enable you to have a sense of meaning and purpose in life. It will enable you to have a definite direction of how you would like to live your life. If you want to be able to manage and successfully manage the impact of change in your life, you need to recognize that this element is very important, and you must put it into cognizance.
You tend to drift if you don’t have a sense of purpose and focus. This will also make you become comfortable with your comfort zone. You can step out of your comfort zone with purpose and courage, which always come with the opportunity to learn something new from the experience.
3. Free yourself from regrets
Steve Maraboll said: “The truth is unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you can not move forward.”
Freeing yourself from regrets is one of the things you need to do to live a fulfilled life. When you hold on to regret, it has an impact on how we respond to change, because regret contributes to the factor that holds people back from making headway.
Holding on to the events of the past can potentially prevent you from accessing present and future opportunities, as it is change that presents one with life opportunity.
The event of the past can’t be undone. It has already happened, and you should, therefore, allow bygone to be bygone. The only power you have is to live in the present because it is the only control you have.
A very effective exercise for regret is to blow balloons and write regret on each, and allow them to blow away into the air. Say goodbye to each as they blow into the air. You may even write what you regret on each of them if you wish to.
It looks very simple and stress-free, and it is a very effective exercise, that helps in dealing with shades of regrets you have had over time
4. Note some scary things you would like to try-- then do them
As aforementioned, the reason why change is scary is because it forces people out of their comfort zone. Our subconscious needs to be activated for us to be familiar with the unknown we are scared of exploring, and engaging in some scary activities is one of the ways of doing such. In fact, it is recommended to make our subconscious get used to doing scary things.
Write down a list of scary activities you would like to do, but haven’t been able to gather the courage for. It may be fear of skydiving, mountaineering, public speaking, and so on. Notes these activities, and commence plans on when and how you will perform them. You would be astounded at your level of confidence, after trying out these activities that once made you scared. And it will also boost your confidence for a second trial.
5. Be sensitive to living a balanced and healthy life
Budda was quoted to have said: “To keep the body in good health is a duty...otherwise we shall not be able to keep the mind strong and clear.”
You need to be able to develop a balanced and healthy life for yourself to be able to develop resilience, and develop the ability to cope with and handle the stress that change can also bring into your life.
Stress can sometimes be the reaction that you will elicit as a result of change, or some other challenges that may occur in your life. With stress, you can perform well in the short, and long term. But when it becomes too constant, it can harm your health.
Therefore, if you are looking for the key to both your emotional and physical level, you need to develop a sustainable and positive way to deal with pressure and stress.
How to Cope When You Are Emotionally Overwhelmed
Being emotionally overwhelmed can be consuming and stressful. When one is emotionally overwhelmed, it means such a person is completely overshadowed by unruly and intense emotions that seem too challenging to deal with and overcome. When one is emotionally overwhelmed, it brings about stress. And stress can lead to a more complicated health problem. When confronted with an overwhelming situation, it can be hard to behave or think rationally. Experiencing this feeling is unpalatable, and it can damage both your personal and professional life.
Why You Are Emotionally Overwhelm?
For someone to be overwhelmed, it means the stressor is too much to handle, thus the need for it to be reduced. This then means that there are different reasons that could bring about the overwhelming feeling. What it means to become emotionally overwhelmed
If someone is emotionally overwhelmed, we can say that what is wrong with such a person is beyond being stressed. Considering the definition,
emotional overwhelming is when one is a result of serious thoughts and emotions in current situations of life, that can make one feel helplessly frozen, or paralyzed, and lack the energy to do something else. Sea Wave is the closest description of how being emotionally overwhelmed can be. Once you are submerged by the sea wave, you lose control of yourself, and if you are not a professional swimmer, you will drown. If you are currently emotionally overwhelmed, you won’t be able to think straight. This is what happens when you are not able to think straight in both your personal and professional life. Whether it happens as a result of a stressful time at work, or a traumatic experience, being emotionally overwhelmed can happen for a short, or a long time-- depending on the situation, and unique factors. It is also possible for consecutive hardship can make you become overwhelmed by your situation. Below are some of the experience that can make you become emotionally overwhelmed:
Financial distress and insecurity
Lack of nutrition
A demanding job
Physical or mental health illness
Relationship issues
Habitual lack of sleep
Personal trauma such as abuse
Death of a loved one
Time constraints
Significant life changes
Signs of Being Overwhelm
Experiencing an overwhelming feeling can take shape in various ways. In many instances, a person is likely to be overwhelmed with negative
Using Therapy to Manage Your Overwhelm
When you are not able to manage your overwhelming feeling, undergoing therapy can be all you need to see to address the thought or feeling that is gradually consuming you. Of course, there many available professionals that will help proffer a solution to your stress, and anxiety. When you have acquired an understanding of what situations, or stressor that triggers this uncomfortable mental condition, you will be able to develop a calmer frame of mind in future. If you have started looking for the right therapy to manage your experience, there are a lot of practices to consider. Some therapy requires teaching people how to soothe themselves whenever they encounter distress, while some require physical activities, and some only need a journal.
It is also worth noting that some therapy will require hypnosis and meditation, which has been discovered to prevent being overwhelmed emotionally. If you want to build your mental strength, one of the proven ways to do that is to take on life challenges, which will enable you to develop the resilience that will see you through whatever challenges coming in the future. Also, you don’t know what life has in store for you in the future. So when you take the required time to learn about your triggers such as stress or anxiety, you will be able to better manage your overwhelming feeling when they occur in the future. Further, this will help you reduce the impact and occurrence of being overwhelmed with hard work, and the right tool.
Overcoming Your Fear Of Failure
One of the fundamental human nature is fear. And the fear of doing things wrong ranks high. In most cases, fear is what holds people back from being successful. The motivation to succeed is generally triggered by the fear of failure. There is no one on this planet that enjoys failing, which is why we do everything within our power to avoid failure. The fear of failure stalls progress, create self-doubt, reduces self-confidence, and generates little or no result. Fear of failure can make one go against his or her moral standard, and put a limit to what can be achieved in life.
Fake self-confidence can lead you to fear of failure: Confidence is needed in whatever you do. But it has to be the real one, and not the false one. Mind you, individuals who reflect genuine confidence understand that they won’t always succeed, and they see the event as an opportunity to learn and improve their craft. But for perfectionists, they see failure as the worst thing that could ever happen to them, which will often make them not try at all. On such individuals, the fear of failure can have a devastating outcome on their personal and professional life, such as regret, loss of creativity, loss of a valuable relationship, and losing out on valuable opportunities. You have to overcome your fear of failure to achieve your full potential.
Childhood pattern can cause you to fear failure: If you grow up in an environment where there is a constantly established ultimatum or fear-based rules, it is possible for you to assimilate that fear, which can prevent you from trying new things, or taking up new tasks because you don’t want to fail. Also, when you grow in an environment when there is excessive criticism, it can cause you to internalize a negative or damaging mindset. So the solution to this is to come to the realization that what is holding you back is in your mind, and you have the responsibility to jettison them.
Overcoming Your Limiting Beliefs
Again, overcoming self-limiting beliefs is not as easy as ABC. Self-limiting beliefs are the wrong and negative beliefs that we cling to that prevent us from making headway or even growing. Our purpose and expectations are formed by our beliefs. Our beliefs are very essential to the way we see ourselves, and how other people see us, which includes what we expect from ourselves, and what other people expect from us.
Going by the description of self-limiting beliefs, it is clear that it is capable of reducing one’s chances of success, and also capable of running one’s level of confidence. Most of the self-limiting beliefs we acquire are gained from childhood, which is why it feels difficult to outgrow or jettison. This self-limiting belief plays a very negative role in our life and debars one from attaining his or her peak in both professional and personal relationships. You will be dragged back from pushing, and never demand something better if you are under the spell of self-limiting beliefs.
