8 Ways To Stay Motivated (Positively)

This page may have affiliate links, meaning I'll earn a commission if you purchase through my link at no extra cost to you.

There are many situations where we need to be motivated to complete tasks and goals, especially when things get more challenging or don’t work the way we want. Staying motivated plays a vital role in being persistent and even pushing ourselves to do better at times of need. Motivation is a factor that can influence us in various ways that can both be helpful but, at times, even be an obstacle, and it is essential to have some measures that bring you back to the positive side. 

Having positive motivation provides us with multiple benefits. It can be a great energy booster that helps us be productive in what we pursue and see the results of the efforts. Sometimes, you might be in a situation where you don’t want to do something, but you have to do it, and it becomes difficult to get through that situation or even complete it to a good standard. There are different ways to stay motivated and think about having the positive motivation to continue pursuing your passion and even complete tasks you may not want to do.

You should set goals that you can pursue and achieve. Making achievements is a great motivation trigger that can allow you to chase the goals you made for yourself continuously. To put it into context, if this would help you. For instance, you could think of it as a game where you play to finish it, and you would need to play continuously to achieve this goal. 

You can make the goals how you want. It can be a baby step, a short-term or a long-term goal, and even a more specific purpose, such as making something into a habit like eating breakfast at 8 am. However, the goals should be meaningful and have a function for you to pursue them in the first place. 

Even though you should be making the goals yourself, and it could be a long-term goal, this doesn’t mean to make an unrealistic goal, and you may not even have the chance to take the first step in the journey. The goals you make should be realistic to some extent, and if you make the goals you make more specific, that can be helpful. 

Also, depending on goals, you may find that putting a specific time that you will be working on achieving the goal can assist you. For instance, making something a habit such as running for 30 minutes at 7 am every day so as you go for runs at 7 am more some term, you will start to build a motivation pushing you to run because it is 7 am. Try to make goals to motivate yourself, and as you get used to the goals system, it will get easier for you, and you will see the results from what you did. 

It would be best to manage your time not to feel overwhelmed by what you are trying to do. Time is an essential resource that can’t be bought and returned, but this doesn’t mean that you should overuse the time you have. This is like when you overwork. Sometimes, it might be okay when you overwork, but as you increase the times you overwork, you become overwhelmed and exhausted. 

Being exhausted and overwhelmed will not be helpful when you are trying to be motivated. Sometimes, you may feel that time is not enough, but you must understand everyone can feel this, and you shouldn’t constantly try to overuse the time. Instead of squeezing your time, it would be better to use time management tools to manage your time more efficiently. 

Using time management tools such as a day planner and timetable, create a schedule for the day or week by putting activities you need to do spread out to time. You are designating time for each thing you need to do and even leaving room to make changes to the schedule as you need easier since you have it planned in front of you. 

You can develop stress and be unmotivated when you don’t finish the work you want to do, especially if you have an unlimited things-to-do list. Create a schedule for yourself and manage your time better to be productive and stay motivated from finishing tasks instead of having multiple unfinished tasks at the end of the day. If you want to learn more, you can check this post that shares additional tips on how to manage time efficiently.

It would help if you balanced your lifestyle so that you are not stuck pursuing one thing. It is good that you have something you want to do or need to do, but you should balance yourself to find other things you can do. Whether you had the sudden motivation to be doing what you are now, your motivation might not last long if you aimed for one thing just because you had that sudden motivation. 

Balance your lifestyle by engaging in social life, visiting new places, and learning new things, and it can be something that can help you in your daily life, such as cooking from time to time. Having motivation can be great, but don’t get held up in it completely as sometimes motivation can be good, but it can be an obstacle. 

Diversifying can be sometimes good, and you may learn something new that can even help with what you are trying to do. If you don’t engage in other activities, you may start to fall behind although you feel ahead of things. Balance your lifestyle so that you don’t continuously do repeated things and become unmotivated. Changes can be complex, but they can be good sometimes. We need changes to go forward and interact with new things.

Related Post: 10 Five-Minute Habits That Can Help You Lead A Healthier Lifestyle

Sometimes things don’t go right, and that is okay. Your motivation can fluctuate, and this is normal. There will be a point where your motivation starts to decrease from things not going correct, from controllable or uncontrollable factors. The vital thing is what you are planning to do when things go wrong or at a spot where you need some help to get your motivation back.

You can ask for help or hold this to yourself, but how long can you keep something to yourself if it is something that some support can help. The help can be as simple as someone saying ‘I believe you’ or ‘You can do it,’ but you should understand it is okay to get help. Getting help doesn’t mean you lack something or can’t finish what you started, but it can be a motivation booster.

However, you might have heard about this idea that the cup that is being filled will eventually be full and start to spill. It would be best to ask for assistance when you need it and not be late when you are at the spilling point. You could ask someone close to you and even anonymous help communities but a place that can genuinely help you in some way. It is okay if you find your limit and you are questioning yourself. Sometimes it can be a good thing, but don’t be afraid to ask for or find help when you need them. 

We don’t give enough credit to ourselves for doing or achieving something most of the time. Give yourself some credit, and it can sound unusual, but you should acknowledge yourself. Tell yourself that you did well and if some things don’t go to your plan, but you tried your best, say it to yourself. Do it in your comfort zone, and this is for yourself and not for anyone else. 

It can have a positive effect when you say positive things to yourself. For instance, you believe in yourself, and if you believe in yourself, other people will believe you and what you are doing. If you don’t acknowledge what you are trying to accomplish, other people would probably not as well. 

You can stay motivated to encourage yourself, especially when you find something challenging is the time when you should make more effort to be persistent through positivity. Don’t put yourself down when you tried your best, but things still go wrong. Instead, empower yourself by giving credits to yourself so you can try again and even with stronger motivation. You can learn more here about what you can say to yourself every day to boost your positivity.

Motivation can be a natural thing, and you shouldn’t feel like you are chased to do something and forcefully build motivation to go through with the challenges you face. If you feel like you are chased, you would feel overcome and tired that you would start to lose your motivation. It would be best if you took charge of what you do. Instead of feeling chased, get control to stay motivated, especially in times of difficulty. 

You should find an aspect in the activities you find that you enjoy, no matter how small. If you are working in a team, you can even like working with the people in your group. If you really looked but didn’t find any, you can at that time create a motivator factor for yourself. Consider what has made you feel motivated in the past and create your own aspect, such as you felt motivated when learning or encountering a challenge. Implement the idea you had to the task you have to complete to find motivation, and you should feel ready to complete that task since you added meaning to it. 

There can be times when you don’t feel motivated, and you might even want to spend some time by yourself. Keeping yourself positive is pretty crucial to keeping motivated and building motivation. Find a positive energy source by exploring experiences where a particular thing just made you feel like yourself or motivated no matter how unmotivated you were, and try those things that can be tried from where you are. 

When you feel the motivation build up, you can get empowered to do other things you need to do, and now, you have found a positive energy source that can recharge you at times of trouble. You should discover different activities and places that help you to be positive. If you have various options for diverse situations, you don’t always need to use the same ways, weakening the effect of a motivation boost.

Read More: 7 Reasons Having Hobbies Is Important For A Healthy Lifestyle

To stay motivated is not to forget resting. When you really feel energised to do something, you can sometimes forget that you require rest. Find ways to rest, especially when you know a challenge is coming soon. It would be best to prepare for the challenge you will face, but having a good rest is also part of preparing. 

Taking time to rest is an important skill to have, and it can be just taking time for yourself or even not doing anything. Find out what resting is to you because you might need to rest often now, but when you have more responsibilities or things you want to do, you will want to know what you can do to slow down. 

You can build a habit of putting break time in your schedule where you actually take a break, not use it for more thinking. If you work all the time, you can feel used to working, which can be good at times, but you might find it hard to stop having that routine. It can be 2-3 times per day, 10 mins between work you do to stay motivated and not exhausted that can impair your motivation. 

Building and staying motivated can be a challenge, especially when you want to be positively motivated. Therefore, you need to create different measures and options that can help you be motivated. After all, having motivation can give you many benefits, whether allowing you to pursue your passion or challenging yourself to push yourself. It would be best to create goals for yourself, manage time efficiently, encourage yourself, and take time to rest.

Motivation is crucial in staying persistent in what you need to do, especially when you start something new, and there are challenges after challenges that you would need to overcome. You can be tested constantly, and knowing different ways to stay motivated would be key to helping you take control of your situation.