9 Tips: Learn How to Motivate Yourself

Learning to motivate yourself is absolutely fundamental if you want to reach your goals. Only when there is real motivation does our effort get us where we want to be. Thanks to the flame of passion, we will make our dreams come true.

Discipline and perseverance are very important. However, these things will only get you so far. It’s true that sometimes these things are enough, but it is motivation that adds that magic touch. It is that extra boost that helps you move forward, and make your dreams reality too.

We’ll admit it, no goal worth achieving is very easy. That’s why learning to motivate yourself is so important. Tenacity, an indispensable trait that helps you persevere when things are hard, is very closely linked to motivation. Fortunately, learning to motivate yourself is within your reach. Next, we’ll delve into nine key lessons if that’s what you want to do.

1. Visualize a cause

The first tip is to know that the thing with the most power to motivate us is a cause, a reason. Objectives and goals are intermediate steps. In other words, the point is to identify the underlying reason driving us toward the goal.

Say your goal is to experience another country. However, the cause motivating you is to discover what your real abilities are when you’re all alone in a new place. The reason could even go further, too. Maybe the root motivating reason is your desire to beat fear. Or maybe it’s even to broaden your cognitive horizens and undo prejudices.

Therefore when the reason behind a behavior is profound, the motivation is more solid. It’s impossible to learn to motivate yourself if you don’t learn to identify the deeper causes moving you to action.

2. Think hopefully about the future

We need to look at the future from a place of inspiration and passion. The future should be like a magnet pulling us towards it and giving us a powerful vision of everything we want to achieve. This is the best motivation when it comes to making dreams come true.

It’s important to think about the future. What will I be like in a month? In a year? In five years? The crucial thing is to feed these visualizations with positive expectations. Allow yourself to dream. Put aside your fear of failure. Look at yourself as a determined person who moves towards the goal and will reach it no matter what.

3. Feeding the passion, the secret to motivate yourself

Passion is an extraordinary feeling. It makes us feel alive and strong. It is quite a unique, special feeling. But i t’s impossible to experience passion when fear or anger keeps us blocked. These emotions consume us so much that they leave no room for the flame of passion to burn. On the contrary, they take away our energy and lead us to inaction.

To awaken your passion, you have to untangle the bonds holding you back. Passion only finds a home in free spirits, and we are all able to free ourselves.

4. Increase the scope of your goals

Dream big, aim high. Only if the goal is very high do you feel a desire big enough to get your there. We make small goals only when we are discouraged.

Here’s a very interesting exercise that can teach you to motivate yourself.

• The first thing to do is write the objective that you want to achieve.
• Then, multiply its size by three.
• Finally, evaluate how it looks now that you’ve broadened the scope. Most likely, your mind will react and say: “Why not?”

5. Build your own path

You have to understand that each person’s path in life is unique. Comparing yours to the paths of others doesn’t make sense because it’s a personal experience, known only to the person who walks it. From the very beginning, you have to understand that the only person you need to beat is yourself. You are your only point of comparison.

Both when identifying an underlying cause, setting objectives and feeding your desire to achieve them, you must always think in individual terms. Yes, maybe there are elements you can learn from those around you. However, the road you’re building must be customized to the one who will walk it — you.

6. Take one step at a time

Learning to motivate yourself means understanding that two perspectives have to come together: that of the present and that of the future. That’s why it’s important to take one step at a time. When there are obstacles it’s easy to get upset and lose confidence. However, if we keep with the rhythm of one step and then the other, the road is much more positive and encouraging. It is also more effective.

7. Learn to control your emotions

If a person is depressed or anxious, they will take actions that bear the stamp of those emotions. And, of course, the results will be consistent with them as well. Hence the importance of recognizing what emotions you’re feeling and how to work with them or redirect them when necessary.

There are three major ways our emotions come out:

• The body. When you’re feeling a difficult emotion, your body reacts internally and externally. Therefore both areas should be addressed. Through breathing, you can regulate the physiological processes. Through your body posture and attitude, your body gets refocused.
• Language. When you have depression or anxiety, you’ll probably see it in how you talk. For example, you might say things like, “I can’t”, “It’s too hard”, or “I’m sick of everything.” If you identify with these words, transform them. For example, “A part of me thinks that I can’t, but I won’t be able to if I keep thinking that way.”
• Focus. When you’re in a bad mood, you start to focus only on the negative aspects of life. It is then when willpower becomes very important and helps us see things more positively. We start to see alternatives.

Also, on our way to great goals, we will need to take breaks. Their job is to give us margin — space and time to manage our emotions. The important thing is to learn how to identify the feelings that block us and redirect them.

8. Appropriating the cycle of success

It has been established that the cycle of success always works in the same way. Everything starts with beliefs. If a person believes in herself and in the cause that inspires her, everything starts moving. The convictions or beliefs are transformed into actions marked by firmness and power. What follows is good results. Then, these feed one’s self-confidence and the cycle begins again, this time even stronger.

The opposite can also happen. The belief that we are not able to do something leads to wrong actions or inaction. This in turn leads to limited or disappointing results. Finally, all of this feeds the conviction that we are not capable. So you must decide which cycle you want.

9. Take advantage of inertia

After starting a success cycle, you reach a point where everything seems to flow on its own. It’s inertia. Inertia is very rewarding, but it can also carry some risk. We must be careful not to let everything “take care of itself”. Instead, let’s do the opposite. Let’s take advantage of inertia to give us more momentum to meet our biggest objectives. 

Likewise, negative inertia must be addressed promptly and decisively. A conflict postponed only leads to more conflicts. We do not want destructive inertia.

Learning to motivate yourself is a process. You don’t get there overnight. You’ll need to keep feeding your motivation every day. Because getting it is difficult and losing it is easy, especially when we are programmed not to believe, not to dream…

However, one thing we know is that it is really worthwhile. A self-motivated person is capable of doing anything they set out to do. Internal obstacles are always the most difficult to overcome. And when you knock those down, your life changes. You feel alive, like the master of your own destiny. You feel free.