Have you ever experienced a time when it was difficult to visualize success? A time when it seemed that hope was distant on the horizon and your immediate path was frustratingly unclear? At that point you may have known what it was you wanted to achieve and yet had little idea about how to make it happen. When this occurs it’s very easy to lose your motivation and cease to make progress because you feel as though your efforts aren’t producing much anyhow, so why bother…? Unchecked, negativity creeps in and all of a sudden you are not only confused but also discouraged. It can happen to the best of us, and when it does here are some ideas to help you regain your motivation and re-energize yourself:
Understand the importance of Perception
Everything in your world simply is and awaits your reaction. You are the one who provides the meaning. For example, imagine a couple sitting at a sidewalk cafe on a Saturday afternoon. They both see the same trees, the same grass, the same street and sidewalk, the same people sitting or walking nearby, are both breathing the same air, etc. They have been together for several years and share a common history. Should their emotions differ it is probably to the extent that they have different patterns of interpreting the world around them. If one has a way of filtering information through the lenses of what went wrong before or what may go wrong in the near future it will color their emotions accordingly. Conversely, if the other thinks hopefully about the future they will most likely experience an entirely different emotional state. Nothing about their present situation is any different except for their respective interpretations of it. Take charge of your emotions by realizing that circumstances have no power over you except that which you give them by the thoughts that you create to interpret them. Choose the ones that are most helpful to you and will bring you closest to achieving your goals.
Narrow Your Focus
If you’re like me it can be very easy to become distracted while multi-tasking. When I get bogged down, I find it much easier to focus my concentration on only one thing until I begin to have an effect on achieving what it is I desire. Making progress however small is gratifying when you are trying to pull yourself out of an emotional slump. Concentrate on one thing at a time and begin to see how you are indeed making a difference.
Stick With It
If the purpose you are striving towards is important enough to you, giving up just because the going is tough isn’t going to make you any happier. Sometimes it helps to project your thoughts forward a few years and ask yourself this question: “If I quit now, will I likely find myself at a similar junction again having to overcome this same obstacle again somewhere down the road?” If so, decide to do whatever it takes to clear that hurdle now so that you won’t have to face it again.
Pace Yourself Emotionally
When you first embark on a new project or goal staying motivated is easy. You believe that you can do it, you are fired up, and nothing is going to slow you down. Until something does. Then something else does.
All of a sudden you’re off track and behind schedule and staying motivated isn’t as easy
as it was at the beginning. Going in with a more realistic expectation that there will be ups and downs, challenges and setbacks, and emotional peaks and valleys will help you to weather the course.
Understand there is order in chaos
If you have a plan to achieve something
and are dedicated to making it happen, there is a order in the chaos and that order is you. Plans will change, the path you charted out at the beginning may prove next to worthless, yet if you stay focused upon the outcome and give consistent effort, solutions will appear that you could not have possibly conceived that will help transport you to your ultimate destination.
Eliminate Negative Self Talk
Negative self talk only serves to make you feel bad and rob you of your energy. If you catch yourself slipping, change gears and focus on appreciating all it is that you already have
and the things you have achieved.
Reclaim Your Sense of Humor
Not much seems funny when you lose your motivation and can’t seem to find your way. The best way to change this is by simply deciding to do so. Look for the humor in things large and small, even in taking yourself so seriously to begin with. With a little change of perspective, the world can seem like a whole lot nicer place and that goal of yours not quite so out of reach.
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