How to get and stay motivated
Achieving your goals, both large and small, takes hard work, dedication and, most of all, the motivation to stick with them, even when things get tough.
While staying motivated may seem tricky, there’s actually a science to it – and you can train yourself to approach motivation more effectively.
Set small, actionable goals that you can celebrate along the way. Instead of looking at success as getting to the finish line, acknowledge that any step towards it is progress.
Motivation is the driving force behind any successful dream. Bummer is, it’s also one of the hardest skills to master. Each year, millions of people decide on resolutions to improve their lives. Yet somehow many end up at the same place, with the same goal, time and time again.
The truth is, we live in a culture that emphasizes setting goals, but isn’t too great at finishing them. The good news is that you can train yourself to approach your motivation more effectively. The difference may come down to the way you view your goals. Use this motivational guide to check in with your resolutions and upgrade your goals for maximum success.
Why effective goal-setting helps you stay motivated
As 2020 comes to a close, you may be already thinking about the goals that didn’t quite happen this year. If 2021 is the year you’re finally going to accomplish that goal, let’s make it a good one. Too many people make the mistake of seeing resolutions in black and white: if you step off track once, you’ve failed. Instead, focus on making sustainable progress in the right direction, and don’t treat a temporary setback as a failure. That way, your motivation will stay strong, and you’ll be less apt to feel discouraged. Effective goal-setting make progress a routine, so set goals with follow-ups in mind.
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic motivation
Every goal is grounded in motivational factors to validate your mission. Depending on the situation, your motivation is driven by intrinsic (i.e. personal satisfaction, desire, curiosity) or extrinsic (i.e. financial reward, recognition, competition) factors.
Extrinsic
Different situations thrive with a different balance of motivational factors. External factors such as deadlines take some of the weight off your willpower by creating a structure for your goal. You will engage in behavior not necessarily because you enjoy it or because you find it satisfying, but because you expect to get something in return or avoid something unpleasant. You can use external rewards to motivate yourself to start a new habit or make yourself more interested in that activity. For example, if your goal is to exercise more frequently at the gym, you can decide to listen to your favorite podcast while you workout, or go to a favorite place to eat as a reward. This can be a valuable tool in building new habits.
Intrinsic motivation
The external factors that motivate you are not always reliable and could change. Imagine that your competitor drops out of your next big race: without an extrinsic motivational factor (competition), you count on intrinsic motivation to drive progress towards your own goal.
Intrinsic motivation is working toward a goal for reasons within yourself. There’s nobody telling you to do it, no deadline to meet, no competitor to beat. It’s you vs. you. Developing intrinsic motivation involves learning to efficiently use your willpower, and to build out personal motivation factors, feedback, and rewards.
Decide what you want and don’t settle
Eliminate “Plan B” from your vocabulary.
No kid has ever said, ‘when I grow up I want to win a bronze medal.’ But yet we accept a bronze medal years later when we don’t win the gold, or we settle for some mediocrity or some average way of being. So that is what I’m against. Go back to our roots, where we said, ‘This is what I desire, this is what I want.’ And then there’s no way out of that option. That’s the only one you got, and those are the people who do win gold medals.
Decide what you want, then work toward it. Stop at nothing to reach your goal. It’s your most primal instinct to unapologetically go after it.
Keep your motivational energy on track
The motivation that helps you jump-start a resolution in its early stages might not be the same type of motivation that carries you through to your goal. As you progress towards a goal, your motivational energy changes from promotion-focused (i.e building habits or gaining skills), to prevention-focused (i.e avoiding relapses or establishing obligations).
For example, if your goal is to improve your sleep, you might start by promoting positive changes such as buying a sleep tracker or setting a bedtime. Once you’ve established those steps, your focus might shift to preventing negative changes, such as limiting electronics after 7pm or avoiding foods you know impact your sleep.
“Generally speaking, people in North America are predominantly promotion-focused, so they are good at starting goals, but not as good at accomplishing them,” says Olya Bullard, PhD, lead author of the study.
These results suggest that in the later stages of a goal, you’re better off refocusing your will power on what you can do to maintain the changes you’ve already made
