Focusing on just one thing at a time keeps you moving forward and cuts down the probability of distractions arising. This is increasingly important to remember in our “multitasking” world.
Multitasking, you should know, just means screwing up more than one thing at a time. When you stay focused, you ensure each task gets done correctly.
2. Think of Your Inspirations
Who are the people that inspire you? What have they done with their lives that makes you want to emulate them?
Map out their journeys. Think of the lessons you can learn from how they got to where they are today from where they were at the beginning. The more positive inspirations you have to look to, the better off you’ll be.
3. Talk Yourself Up
Sometimes you have to give yourself a pep talk to get out of the doldrums and into the game. If you find yourself lagging in motivation, take a moment to remind yourself what a champion you are.
It will be of extra help if you can speak out loud to yourself, preferably where people won’t overhear you and think you’re crazy. It also helps to think of your past successes when gearing up for that self-pep talk.
4. Promote Your Efforts
Promoting your efforts is one of the most important motivation tactics, but what exactly does that mean? It means building anticipation for what you’re about to do.
You can do this by setting a start date and building anticipation. Make a public post about it. Enlist the help of your friends and acquaintances to “keep you honest” about what you are setting out to do.
5. Fixate on Getting It Done
Try to envision what it will be like to actually get it done. Make it your obsession for the next few hours or days or weeks.
It really depends on how big the task is when it comes to the question of how long you fixate. Just make sure that it gets your hyper-intense focus for whatever period of time that you have set aside for it.
6. Look for Help
Sometimes you are going to need some extra help to accomplish what you need to accomplish. When you feel yourself up against it and losing motivation, reach out to people who are capable of helping you.
Look for friends or family. See if there is anyone in your community with the expertise to help as well. You may be able to grow or strengthen your professional network in the process.
7. Fight Discouragement
Discouragement is inevitable. This especially is true in the times we are currently living. It’s not yet known how long it will take to “get back to normal,” or if it will even be possible to get back to normal.
Actively recognizing those discouraging feelings as they come is essential. It will keep you from being overwhelmed by it, and it will keep you motivated to fight back.
8. Keep Going
The quality of your work may reach points where it starts to suffer. That’s okay. Sometimes you have to just work through it with the attitude that you can come back later to fix what needs fixing.
Adopting the one-step-at-a-time mindset will keep you moving forward. As you progress, you’ll find your skills and knowledge growing stronger. You’ll actually end up “growing in” to the challenges ahead.
9. Take Small Steps
Small steps offer the fastest way to accomplish big tasks. The problem with focusing on the “big picture” is that everything starts to feel overwhelming.
If you can reel in your long view and just focus on taking one small successful step at a time, you’ll get to the point where you have a lot less ahead of you than behind you. That’s a good place to be.
10. Celebrate Successes
Successes, no matter how small, are worth celebrating. How do you plan to do it, though?
You’ll need to make the successes reasonable. You don’t want to rush out and spend $50 or $100 every time you accomplish a goal. That creates a new set of problems that can zap your motivation and your bank account.
11. Read
Whenever we hit a roadblock with motivation, it always helps to read. Usually, a good self-help book or something specific to the problem you’re facing will do the trick.
The act of reading brings more ideas into your head. Ideas you can put to work on your own problems!
12. Build a Support Unit
In times like these, we all need our support system. The people in your support system need a support system.
That means two things. You shouldn’t be afraid to ask, and you should be willing to give of yourself. As the old New Radicals song says, “You Get What You Give”!
13. Focus on Benefits
The work can be quite messy, and it can lead to feelings of burnout if you aren’t keeping the benefits of what you are doing in mind. Be careful, though.
You don’t want to focus on the long game of tasks ahead. Instead, visualize how your life will be improved by completing each step of the process on the road ahead.
14. Replace Your Negative Thinking
Another older song worth bringing up is the one that reminds us to “accentuate the positive” to eliminate the negative. There’s your answer any time you start thinking negative thoughts.
Don’t try to pretend they’re not there. Just take those negative thoughts and subvert them into some kind of positivity. Go 100 percent in the opposite direction, and see what you come up with!
15. Face Your Fears
What is it that’s making you afraid? Fear often holds us back from what we know we should be doing, and it can zap you of all motivation.
However, you’ll find you can rise to the challenge more often than not if you just resolve to face your fears head-on. As you do so, think about the worst-case scenario. Knowing what you’re up against ahead of time will allow you to do whatever you need to do to overcome it or, at the very least, mitigate the harmful effects.
16. Clarify Your Goals
Another big motivation killer is having unclear goals. Not knowing what you’re supposed to accomplish can cloud any judgment or actions that you put into play.
Clarifying your goals at once will help you build a strategic plan that you can more easily adapt to. You can do this by taking some time alone to plan and process and, above all, write your goals down.
17. Check Your Values
Beyond goals and action plans, have you ever stopped to ask yourself what your values are? What principles do you possess that you would never violate?
Losing motivation is possible when you aren’t living close to your values. Take some time to answer the hard questions about what you want out of your life and how to get it without compromising your principles.
18. Embrace Autonomy
Feeling like you’re under a microscope can be a pretty significant motivation killer. And while you may not always get to be autonomous, times like these offer certain opportunities to work on your own.
Whenever those moments arise, cherish them with the full knowledge that you are the Captain of your Ship. That freedom can be enough to get you going again when you’ve seemingly hit burnout.
19. Make It Challenging
Some motivation tactics require one to look at the ease of a situation and find ways to make it more challenging. This is particularly true when you feel like you move faster than the rest of your class.
If you find yourself getting bored with your work, look at ways to up the challenges involved. By doing so, you could give yourself the mental push that is necessary for one to reengage with their work.
20. Get Sleep
A major step you can take to get your motivation back on track is to go to bed early. Allow yourself to get a full night’s sleep, and see what type of difference it makes.
Getting the cobwebs out of your brain allows you to think with energy and enthusiasm. That extra sleep can mean the difference between being trapped in your head and committed to finishing the tasks at hand.
21. Recalibrate Steps
Goals can shift and change as you go along. For this reason, it’s necessary to pause every now and then and recalibrate the steps you need to be taking.
Each time you recalibrate, approach it like you are starting all over. Make a new list of action steps to get you from where you are through the finish line.
22. Inventory Time
Take a break from your goals and targets every now and then. Use this time to take inventory of how you’re spending your time.
Try to make a full 24-hour schedule that includes time out for sleep and meals. Be as specific as you can, for it is in the specifics that you’ll be able to find extra work time to take care of your obligation.
23. Start from the End
Having a tough time figuring out what steps you should be taking? Start with the result that you want to see — the ultimate result — and work backwards from it one step at a time.
After you’ve done this, you might consider recounting the steps in chronological order, filling in any gaps that you need to along the way. The “start from the end” method allows you to have more clarity than anything else.
24. Know When to Seek Criticism
Early criticism can often shut down your motivation. While criticism is a very good thing, make sure that you have enough of an understanding with what you’re doing that you’ll be able to receive and understand criticism by the time you ask.
25. Remove All Distractions
Finally, get away from any source of distraction that you have in your room, dorm room, or apartment. Make sure you have to go to a lot of extra effort to break free from the priorities that you are required to have.
These Motivation Tactics Will Get You Through
Motivation tactics like these will help you in the months ahead to stay focused and on-track for success once the world returns to its version of “normal,” whatever that normal may be. Good luck as you move ahead, and stay safe!
Aric Mitchell's work appears regularly here at 4tests.com and across the web for sites, such as The Inquisitr and Life'd. A former high school teacher, his passion for education has only intensified since leaving the classroom. At 4tests, he hopes to continue passing along words of encouragement and study tips to ensure you leave school ready to face an ever-changing world.
