All of us, even the most motivated of people, can feel unmotivated from time to time. All the amount of planning and thinking about doing things can’t help if you’re feeling in a slump and finding it difficult to make positive changes in your life. 

However, there are a few small ways you can help yourself find motivation and get started with positive changes.

Stick to One Goal

Having too much to focus on can make it hard to feel motivated, and can drain your energy and make you feel overwhelmed. This is one of the most common mistakes that people make - trying to take on too much and accomplish too many things at once. It’s harder to maintain focus when you’re trying to do two or more things at once. Choose one goal and focus on it alone, and move on to the next once you’ve achieved it.

Get Inspired

Find what you need to get inspiration for your goals. This can come from others that have accomplished what you want to achieve, or books, magazines, online blogs. Find success stories and get inspired to stick to and achieve your goals.

Get Excited

Try and get excited about your goals and aspirations. Take your inspiration and build on it till you have a sense of excitement about what you want to do. This can be helped by talking to others about your goals, visualizing what success looks like for you, and carrying that excited energy with you to get motivation.

Build Anticipation

Starting straight away can actually mean you don’t achieve your goals. Building anticipation really works, so set a date in the future to start working towards your goals, mark it in your diary, and start to feel excited about that day. You can use the time you have before your start date to plan and increase your focus and energy.

Write Down Your Goals

Write down what you want to achieve and put it somewhere you see every day. Make it into a mantra, and put it at home and work, to remind yourself of your goal every day. Pictures can also help as well as words.

Tell People

We’re likely to stick to something when other people know about it. Write about it, post on social media, tell your friends and family about it. When more people know about your goal, you’re less likely to back down and more likely to stick to meeting your goal when you’re feeling less motivated. As well as this - hold yourself accountable and give the people in your life progress updates.

Focus On Your Goal Daily

When you think about your goal every day, it's more likely that you’ll achieve it. Try posting your goal on your wall as mentioned, as well as send yourself daily reminders. If you can commit to doing one small thing every day to help you achieve your goal, it will be more likely to come true.

Get Support

It’s hard to achieve something alone. Friends and family can be great to help you boost your motivation, as well as foster a sense of community. Online forums can also help with specific advice relevant to what you want to achieve. It’s going to be a lot harder to stay motivated if you don’t have a support network, either in the real world or online. 

Realize Motivation Comes and Goes

Motivation isn’t something that is a constant. It won’t always be easy to feel motivated, and your motivation can come and go with the days. It’s important to remember that you’ll feel motivated again if your motivation dips one day. Stick it out, and wait for that feeling to come again. Think about your goal, and ask for help if you need to.

Stick With It

Don’t give up! If you’re not feeling motivated today, or tomorrow - don’t give up on your goals. The motivation will come back, and slumps are a normal bump in the road of your journey. If everyone gave up on every bump - no one would achieve anything! Stay with your goal for the long term, and you’ll get there in the end.

Start Small

If you’re struggling to get started, it may be because your goals are too big. Start small, for example, get moving for just 20 minutes a day rather than committing to hours of intense workouts. Instead, try some small baby steps and commit to them. Try doing it every day, and work your way up to your larger goal.

Celebrate Your Successes

By starting small, you’re more likely to experience success - after all it’s hard to fail at something that’s easy! Celebrate your successes and take the time to feel good about yourself, building on the feeling to motivate yourself further. With each small step, you’ll feel more successful, and you’ll make a lot of progress.

Think About the Benefits

It can be easy to lose motivation if you’re thinking about how hard something is going to be. Instead, try to think about the benefits, and what you will get out of it. Focus on the positive aspects and feelings, to energise yourself.

Think Positively

In a similar vein, when you think negatively about your goals, try to replace those thoughts with positive ones. Negative self-talk can cause you to slump and lose motivation. Try to catch yourself when you find yourself thinking negative thoughts, and replace them with a positive aspect. 

By Amy Cavill

Help motivate yourself towards your goals with daily yoga!