Secrets to Keep You Motivated
There’s no denying it — our lives are filled with chores and responsibilities to fulfill. However, not every task is something we enjoy or find easy to do, so how can we expect ourselves to stay motivated? There are, in fact, many secrets in psychology that may make it easier for you to accomplish your goals.
I recently watched a Youtube video titled “The Unfair Advantage That Introverts Have” from the channel HealthyGamerGG by Dr. K. In his video, he discussed how talking about our dreams or goals could lead to us leaking our motivation to do the task itself.
For example, when you decide to start writing a book, you may tell your friends about your plan. Subsequently, there’s a high chance that they provide positive feedback by praising you for doing so.
This praise can serve as a reward, even though you haven’t done anything yet. In Dr.K’s words, “Language can be a substitute for action”. When we are rewarded and praised, we then lose our motivation to continue doing the task, because we’ve already accomplished something. What’s the point of starting the book now that you’ve already received praise for it?
Of course, this isn’t always the case. But when our goal is derived from the desire of impressing others, it may be a better choice to keep it a secret and let your actions speak for themselves.
Another way to increase your chances of achieving an objective is by making it physically easier for you to do so.
Let’s say you want to study, but every time you try to you end up watching television. Your aim should be to make it as easy as possible to study, but a lot more inconvenient to watch the television. You can do this by clearing your desk, placing all your study materials on it, and ensuring your requirements are as accessible as possible.
Then, you can take the television remote, and place it in the furthest, most troublesome corner of your house. Perhaps you can place it on the highest shelf in your kitchen where you have trouble reaching it, or somewhere at the back of a low cabinet where your back has to suffer retrieving it.
This trick is to try and convince your mind that it’s easier to study than it is to watch TV, motivating you to study instead.
What about bigger projects? Working towards a big goal can be overwhelming, and the best way to deal with it is to break it down into smaller steps. If you’re looking to learn the guitar, you can make a plan for each step you will need to take to accomplish that goal: every chord you need to learn, songs you want to practice, and so on.
Focusing on smaller tasks can help you set a clear framework to accomplish your goal, rather than just throwing out a big dream and having an unclear way to achieve it.
One of the simplest ways to do something, especially a mundane but necessary task, is to start. President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” How many times do we remember a chore we have to do and overthink how difficult, or boring, the job will be?
Removing all negative thoughts about the task and simply just doing it is one of the best ways to get something done; we waste far too much time dreading having to make a start.
Plus, after starting, you might find that the job was actually kind of fun and that it was a lot easier than it seemed.
It might seem like obvious advice, but people often overlook how many excuses they make to procrastinate things instead of simply… just starting.
So stop sleeping on your dreams and letting trivial things de-motivate you. It’s time to finally get things done.
By: Jashmehar Kaur
