If you suffer from a lack of motivation, then you are in luck, because you will learn the 7 main reasons why you have little motivational energy you need to successfully achieve your goal ... and exactly how to fix each of them. By the time you finish reading this, you will have the necessary knowledge to unlock the motivational source within you.
1. You don't know what you want
All the reasons responsible for what might be lacking in the motivation department are the first by far the most common: either you don't know what you want, or there is a lack of clarity about what you want. When I do goal-setting workshops with people or organizations, one of the first questions I ask is “what do you want?” You'd be surprised how many people couldn't give me a convincing answer to this question. In other words: what's the bottom line you're after? What would it look like if everything went as planned or better? It's hard to get motivated to do anything at all when we're sure what we're looking for in the first place. Conversely, if we take these blurry dreams that we have and pay special attention to them by writing them as goals, then the motivation will flow naturally. If you ask a typical sports fan about your favorite team, they can give you so many statistics it will make your head spin. They can give you all the details you need to know about the team and its players – from point-per-game rate and so on… But when someone asks them about the details of their personal lives – they can hardly remember what they had for dinner last night . And it's not a matter of intelligence, either. I believe that most people are about as intelligent as they make their minds to be. If it was a matter of intelligence, they don't have such a deep understanding of their favorite team's stats. It's not about intelligence. It's about focus. If you lack motivation in any area of your life, then chances are you haven't decided in detail what you want in that area. And we can't focus on something if we don't know what we're aiming for..
Solution
The solution to the first reason why most people lack motivation is simple. Keep in mind that you cannot hit a target that you cannot see. What I said, identify some attractive and interesting goals for yourself in each of the major areas of your life - physical, financial, emotional, spiritual, etc. - and write them down. You can also ask yourself these 7 powerful questions to figure out what you want to do with your life.
2. You are unable to control your physiology.
Take a moment to picture in your mind what a person who has a lack of motivation actually looks like, physically. If a person is unmotivated, how do they stand? How do they sit? Do they have good posture or bad posture? Are their shoulders pulled back or are they thrown forward? Are they back upright or rounded? Now imagine that a person who is fully motivated looks like... Like a person with persistent motivation? Close and narrow, or open and upright? How motivated person? Was he holding his head low, or held his head high? Their shoulders are dropped forward, huddled well, how do they walk? How do they sit? How is their posture? Are their backs bent forward or are they sitting upright? = How do they talk? How do they cost? Hi—what if I told you that you could instantly motivate yourself by imitating images of a motivated person that you are just in a photo in your mind?
Solution
Movement leads to motivation. If you want to get motivated, learn to control your physiological state. Here's how:
- First, figure out what kinds of movement you naturally do when you feel motivated...
- Then, do those things and your mind will follow your body.
You will start to feel more motivated when you put yourself in a position to actually feel more motivated. Move how you move when you are motivated. Stand up the way you stand when you are motivated. Here's my silly—but incredibly effective process for using my body to boost my motivation: jump in the air. Clap your hands. And shout, "WHOOOOOO!" at the top of my lungs. Just try it and see if it doesn't change your condition.
3. You don't aim high
What we strive to do - write a book, lose weight, achieve ideal relationships with our significant others - is the degree of desire we have to achieve these goals, which ultimately becomes the most important element in achieving them. But too many people try to set limits on their desires. They tell themselves and others that they don't need wild success. This kind of thinking is dangerous because when we limit the scope of our desire, we limit the scope of what we are willing to do to achieve our goals. And when we limit the scope of what we want to do, we limit the scope of our motivation. Lack of interest and desire easily leaves too many people down the road of low levels of motivation. If you limit your potential for success, you will limit what you are willing to do to create something—that limits your motivation, not to mention the overall sense of fulfillment about the life you lead. The solution to this problem is what is known as 10x rulewhich reads:
You must set goals that are worth 10 times what you think you want and then do 10 times what you think it will take to reach those goals.
While some people will tell you that setting impossible goals kills motivation, and that it's better to "underpromise and exceed the planned amount," this line of thinking is actually stupid. 10X targets—commonly referred to as "stretch goals"—will only encourage you to get stronger, do more, and try harder than ever before.((MeaningfulHQ: stretch goals)) also, even if we are far from achieving our 10X-level goal and ambition, it is better to achieve a big goal than just achieving it a little bit ... because if the goal is high enough, you will demand more of yourself and become better , in pursuit of a massive gate. But setting high goals is only the first step. The second step is to take 10 times the action you deem necessary to reach that goal.
Solution
When we have frail, boring goals, we tend to feel lethargic and unmotivated to achieve them. On the other hand, when we have huge and ambitious goals, we feel more confident and empowered to take action to achieve them. bottom line? A set of massive targets. Take massive action. Force yourself to your outer limits. You will find that the more you take, the more motivated you will be to keep doing more.
4. You are overworked.
Have you ever been so shocked, so shocked, under such pressure - it's more like, “to hell with everything. I don't even care,” the further you go with what you're trying to do? Be that as it may, one thing we know about depression (or stressed gills) is that it can drain motivation. great time. It's hard to get motivated when you're overwhelmed. Here are some practical solutions to get you back on track...
Solution
Maybe you took what I used to - about aiming higher and 10x your goals to get you motivated - to heart. But maybe you also directed slightly higher than your current capabilities. If so, then the bottom bar is beat-for-beat – until you hit your sweet spot (somewhere between your current capabilities and a goal that's just hard enough to achieve that you have to stretch it out). Or maybe you just have too many things on your plate. If so, then it's time for the couple to focus on crushing one big goal at once, rather than trying to do too many things at once. It's like the old saying
"If you chase two rabbits, you won't even catch."
5. You tend to procrastinate.
Another thing that can cause flunking – which leads to massive depletion of motivation – is when we lack clarity of what to do next. This uncertainty leads to procrastination. And procrastination leads to a lack of motivation. Here's how to fix it: Piece things down to immediate, doable action.
Solution
Take what you lack the motivation to do and part of it to an immediate, doable next action you can take right away. so that they can improve their lives and achieve their goals. This is a 30 day program that shares everything I've learned about the topic of personal development. This includes a lot of work on my part, from structuring the curriculum, to putting together sheets, to recording audio sessions with a million things in between. I recently thought about such a workload and I felt incredibly overwhelmed and demotivated due to the amount involved in such a project. And just as I was about to curl up in a fetal position in the corner of my office, I knew I needed to grab my fucking tips and piece this thing. Instead of thinking about everything that needs to be done, I decided to ask, What is “the only thing I can do right now to make progress on this goal?” The answer to that question, for me, was to write a plan. Which is what I did. And the sense of motivation that started to bubble up as I started doing it was wonderful. So here's the key: If you're low on motivation, consider whether you need to piece it all together into something doable to move the ball forward. And if that's a problem, piece your project (or whatever you're not motivated about) into something that's doable–and then it'll work out!
6. You're not being specific enough to spur motivation.
Motivation as a fickle, fleeting, emotional being with ADHD. It's hard to do it to focus on one thing for a long period of time... if you will provide her with very specific directions. One reason could be a lack of motivation because you're leaving things too open.
When everything is vague, motivation will disappear.
When you can't tap into the motivation you need to succeed, it may be because whatever you want to get motivated to do is too vague. Here are some examples of general goals that are too vague:
- Wake up earlier.
- More exercise.
- Eat healthy.
If you were to choose any of the examples above, here's what would likely play out: You start out with a ton of motivation at the very beginning… But after a while, you'll notice that the motivation fades and loses its power. So how can this be fixed?
Solution
Give your brain specific and practical directions. This will enable them with the controlled focus it needs in order to unleash the motivational energy you are looking for. A great way to drill down and get specific is to ask yourself questions. Here is a great example that can narrow down and, as a result, spark some kind of motivation: “How do I know that I am successful?” Answer this question with something specific and measurable. Here is an example of one of my own answers to this question (along with specific + measurable actions). I wrote this to help me get motivated again while working on an article + podcast a while ago :((Dean Bukhari: smart goal + stretch goal = success))
- How do I know that I am successful? I will be posting an inspirational podcast episode on how to use stretch goals and smart heads to help my readers and listeners improve their lives and reach their goals.
- Specific: come up with at least 3 examples of pairing stretch targets using smart targets to help explain the concept; and then the draft/structure/records of the article and episode.
- measurable: link to my previously published articles/podcasts on goal setting, as well as 1-3 credible books on goal setting. Then, share ideas while I settle for three great examples I can use to make this concept clear.
The more specific the actions you do and the habits you have to take on, the less they become. And the less action you take, the easier it will be to motivate yourself to do it. After all, those small, concrete steps you take on a daily basis will stack on top of each other—leading to a constant sense of motivation and achievement.
7. You are looking for motivation where you should be looking for habits
The final reason most people suffer from a constant lack of motivation is simply because, after all, none of us can be motivated all the time. Often people say to me: “Wow, you are so motivated.” But here's the truth: I just *look* like I'm motivated all the time when in fact I've just been diligent about setting up a few keystone habits in the areas of life that matter most to me. You see, I don't have to be motivated to get up at 5 am every morning and go to the gym because it's a habit. I don't need to motivate myself to focus on writing this article right now because I have developed the habit of writing every day. I don't need to motivate myself to do anything that I'm used to in my life because the habits are what we do regularly and automatically with little or no conscious thought or effort. So here's the real question: How do you develop habits?
Solution
You can cook an egg if you go outside on a sunny day and hold a magnifying glass over it. After all, this magnifying glass uses the energy of the sun's rays and puts them aside for the sole purpose of boiling an egg. But if you go outside and repeatedly wave the magnifying glass from side to side over the pan, you'll never boil your eggs. That's what happens to most people—they can't create habits and stay motivated to achieve their goals because they're out of waving that darn magnifying glass over a pot full of raw eggs they'll never be able to enjoy. The best way to get closer to your goal, and the habits you'll need to achieve them, is to put all your energy and effort into getting closer to each of them one at a time, as follows:
- Choose your targetA: What is the one main, long-term goal you absolutely intend to achieve over the next 12 months or more?
- Choose your habit: that one new habit can be formed, for example, that by forming it you can achieve or exceed your goals? Take a moment to figure it out and write it down.
- Next, find out everything you can on how to do it right. They go deep. For example, one of my main writing habits. I do it every day no matter what. Most of what I write, I never publish. And that's okay with me, because I can't do good things without cranking out shitty things first. I write every day because my ultimate goal is to continue to grow as a writer for the rest of my life. No matter how great I think I might be, there is always room for improvement.
- Define a habit, you can do all the time. It should be something that you can include in your schedule and do on a daily basis, no matter what. In the end, there will be something that you can do easily without thinking about it or having to get yourself motivated. At this point, you have the habit set so it requires minimal effort to perform and you can put it on autopilot. And if you want, you can now start forming another new habit.
Learn more about how to create habits in this article: What is a habit? Understand it to control it 100%
Bottom Line
What is the reason for the lack of motivation? Determine why you are demotivated and eliminate the reason for your lack of motivation with my above solution, you will soon find yourself staying motivated even in the most difficult time!
More Motivational Tips
- How to get motivated every day when you wake up
- 9 types of motivation that allow you to achieve your dreams
- Why intrinsic motivation is so powerful (and how to find it)