How To Motivate Yourself

I am not an expert or therapist. This is by no means medical advice. If you need help please seek professional help.

Being a self motivator has never been my strongest quality. Not that I don’t ever feel motivated, it’s just that I struggle with it. Do you ever feel that way? When you do, does it make you feel that you are lazy, a slacker, or that you don’t have any goals?

Being unmotivated can come when we have a lot on our plate or even when we have nothing in particular to do. But there are things that you can do to help you on how to motivate yourself.

6 Tips On How To Motivate Yourself

Embrace Your Feelings

At times I thought to myself, why is there such a bad connotation around feeling unmotivated? I know from personal experience that sometimes just having the unsettling feelings of being unmotivated, makes you feel even more unmotivated. 

But it’s okay to not be in the mood to do things from time to time. That is actually a normal reaction especially when you feel overwhelmed. We’re not always going to feel good all the time. It’s ok to be kind to yourself.

So what can help you to embrace the feeling of being unmotivated. What I found to help me and hopefully it will help you is allow yourself to feel the feeling, sit with it for a bit. Then tell yourself it’s okay.

You don’t need the extra burden of being hard on yourself. Just know that these feelings soon will pass.

Write A Realistic List

A lot of times we have so much to do that we don’t know where to start. Or we just don’t want to tackle it. It’s too much for our minds to sort out, so that’s where a list comes in to play.

For all you list lovers, I’m sure you would agree with me, that when you write your list it feels like you are releasing all the stress out of your mind and putting it on paper. And from there you can start to prioritize what really needs to be done that day and what can be done later.

Writing a list allows you to be in control and be realistic with your time and energy. And when you get done with what you needed to, you feel accomplished. Which will help bring on feelings of motivation.

Start Your Day The Way You Like

Set your alarm clock a little earlier than normal. Make yourself a cup of coffee or tea. Sit on your porch, couch, or bed and take some time to wake up in a calm and relaxed way.

Read your favorite book or take a walk.

I actually go more in detail about this in my blogs “How To Have A Productive Morning” and “How To Have A Productive Day”. In them you will find some more tips that will help you to know how motivate yourself at the start of your day.

You’ll be surprised that even a small adjustment at the beginning of your day will do wonders for not feeling motivated.

Accept The Circumstance

I’m sure you would agree, life can be unpredictable. From personal experience, I can say that many times the reason why we feel unmotivated is because we don’t want to deal with the “have-to’s”. It’s a way to not face, so to speak, the feelings of uneasiness or obligation.

You’re not alone! We all do it!

But once you accept what you have to do, which may not be fun at first, then the load will start to feel a little lighter. Naturally you will begin to view the situation from a different perspective. Which will help to motivate yourself to deal with the problem.

Take Time For Yourself

Personally I can admit, that this is easier said than done. There have been so many times that when I got the chance to slow down, I didn’t take advantage of it. Or simply I felt like “How, When, or Where” and I ended up paying for it later on.

I’ve had to learn and still am, that taking even small moments in your day or week can really help with having enough energy to motivate yourself.

A small weekend trip can help you to reboot. Or just taking one day out of the week to do nothing will help tremendously.

Try this, look at what you do everyday. Could you wake up a little earlier, as I mentioned already in this blog, to enjoy a little bit of quiet time?

Or maybe when the kids are at school take some time from your busy schedule to have lunch outside on your back porch. Or on the way home from work grab your favorite treat and spend 10-15 minutes enjoying it in your car or at a park. 

Whatever it is or wherever it may be, make it work for you and enjoy that time without any distractions.

Taking the time for yourself is not only there to help in knowing how to motivate yourself, but it’s also a part of self-care, which will keep you feeling motivated. For more tips check out my blog 5 Tips On Self Care!.

Don’t Expect Perfection From Yourself

You are probably saying to yourself, once again, easier said than done. That is a totally realistic feeling to have. From time to time, I struggle with that as well. 

But when we set unrealistic standards or goals for ourselves, we are selling ourselves short. We don’t get to see what we actually can do or have done because we just look at what we didn’t.

Don’t expect to get everything done or to even do it exactly the way you thought you should. Look at yourself with the same kindness you would if you saw someone else in your shoes.

Knowing how to motivate yourself can be a struggle, but it is not impossible. I hope this has helped!