Introduction

We all have been there, you have a goal, you are excited and you start your project. And then…. you get distracted and your motivation is gone. Out of the window, nowhere to be found. 

So, how do you get motivated and KEEP motivated?

2 sorts of motivation

Motivation is what drives you towards a goal, gets you up in the morning, and keeps you working through a task, determined to succeed when things get tough. Motivation can be both positive and negative:

• Positive motivations make you focus on the positive things that will happen when you take action. For example: ‘Just one more assignment and I have my degree!’
• Negative motivations focus on the negative effect that will occur if you don’t take action. For example: ‘If I don’t finish this assignment in the next few hours, I’ll fail my course.’

Negative and positive motivations can both be effective in different circumstances. However, it’s much easier to do something because you actually want to, rather than because you have to. As we want as much positive energy in our lives as possible, we focus on the positive motivation. That’s obvious!

How to get motivated and KEEP motivated?

First thing you need is of course a goal and a reason why you want to reach that goal. It could be a small goal, like finishing your laundry today  or a big goal, founding your own company. A goal sets a focus point and you want this focus point to be measurable and there should be an endpoint or milestone. 

Secondly you need to find the things that interest you to keep motivated. I think we all do not really like to do the laundry, but if you can do it while you are watching your favourite tv series, it can motivate you to get the laundry done AND watch your series.

It is also very important, especially when you have a big goal to achieve, to set milestones. Chop it up in smaller goals to not get lost and overwhelmed. Then you set up rewards for every goal or milestone you reach, small rewards or BIG rewards, whatever rocks your boat and keeps you motivated!

One last tip to keep your motivation high is to share your goal with other people or involve other people in your project. This way people will ask  you about your progress, they will encourage you to keep going and next to your intrinsic motivation, you get yourself some motivation from the outside world.. 

Do you need some encouragement too? Then don’t forget the online course Get EQ’ed.  This great course will address all the aspects of motivation and how to keep up the energy to reach your goals! Don’t miss the sign up, we will start in October 2020! You can’t wait, call me for a 1:1 coaching session, let’s keep the motivation high!