How to Motivate Yourself

Staying motivated can be hard sometimes. When you are excited about doing something it’s really easy to stay motivated about it. It’s new and exciting! The hard part is when you have to keep that motivation going. So how do you motivate yourself to keep going even when it’s hard?

Same with goals you set for yourself. Staying motivated after the excitement wears off is hard to do. I’m going to share a few tips on how to motivate yourself and give you ideas for when that excitement wears off!

“Don’t imagine the start, imagine the finish”

I heard this amazing author, Jon Acuff say this simple affirmation and it was life changing for me. He said, “Don’t imagine the start, imagine the finish.”

Getting up to work out is hard. If you think about the alarm going off, feeling so exhausted, getting dressed, driving to the gym, you won’t go. If you think about walking out of the gym sweaty and done with that workout you and how proud you are that you did it, you’ll get your butt up to go.

How amazing will you feel when that workout is over? That’s what you need to focus on to stay motivated!

Combine something that is getting old

My kids have started to work out together and when the newness started to wear off, I told them to make a playlist of their favorite songs to listen to when they work out. They loved the idea and made a working out playlist together. So, they incorporated something new into their routine and it fired up their motivation! They were excited to do the same old routine because they added something new and exciting to the same old thing.

Try doing this if your routines are getting boring and you want to stay motivated about what you’re working on.

Surround yourself with positivity.

I mean this in every way! Here are some ways to do just that.

Start your day with gratitude. It sets the tone for the day.

Make sure that you are surrounding yourself with positive people. It’s hard to stay motivated with things when people are bringing you down.

Listen to uplifting music. I am telling you there is research that says that music can change your mood.  

Use positive affirmations. How can you possibly reach your goals and stay motivated if you are constantly telling yourself that you can’t do it. “It’s too hard. You are never going to make it. You can’t.” Remember, your mindset needs to be worked on just as much as your physical body.

Reward yourself for the little wins along the way. 

If you are not a morning person and getting up is so hard for you, then set a goal to get up 20 minutes earlier, so you aren’t rushing so much. To stay motivated tell yourself you are going to make yourself a great breakfast smoothie in the morning. That’s a little reward for getting up earlier, not rushing and not starving because you didn’t have time to eat.

It’s the little things that make us feel good inside that keep us going. Think of the things that you could do to reward yourself for staying motivated. I like crossing things off after I complete them. When I see a weeks’ worth of crossing off, it shows me I accomplished something and that is a reward to myself!

I hope this was helpful and gave you some ideas on how to motivate yourself.