We often know what we want and how to get it. Strategies, mind maps: all seem to be placed perfectly as great as Napoleon Bonaparte would have planned. But as often as we might feel “our goal is just within our reach” we also might feel as if something is missing. Something like some trigger to transfer our visions into determined actions, some “secret ingredient” we might lack once in a while, a true motivation, a vision, an energy to get us from A to B in “no time”. Many of us forget that we have our own tools to motivate ourselves and the result is our constant dependence on others to motivate us instead. But if we keep waiting for this, our actions will reflect our lack of motivation and there will be less encouragement from others by definition, which will never end well. So we have to look into our own body and mind and learn to motivate ourselves.
12 Ways To Motivate Yourself
A Positive Approach
Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will… – Zig Ziglar
Every strong motivation begins with a positive approach and a positive vision. It begins with a strong faith in your own power and willingness to change some parts of your life, or the entire thing all together at once. If you used to be a permanent resident of a “pessimistic kingdom” it’s great you’ve chosen to move somewhere else. It takes far greater effort to stay in a negative mode, than to be synced with a positive one. A positive person goes further in life and succeeds in just about everything that he might wish for! Positive approach begins with counting your blessings and expressing gratitude for all the great things, emotions and people you have in your life and lucky to learn from… Thinking positively may be difficult now but this is how successful people achieve their goals. Instead of bogging yourself down with the difficulty of a task at hand, think about how it will make you feel when you complete it. This will bring positive emotions and give you motivation to go for it. Next step to reinforce positive thinking is to watch out what you say. The biggest revelation for me was when I learned that our mind does not comprehend negative in sentences. When I say to you “don’t think about a red door”, what do you vividly see in your mind now? A bright red door, perhaps? 
As kids, remember how our parents used to forbid us what we could not do. And we often did the exact opposite because that is what we were in fact told to do. And this is why we know that reverse psychology usually works because the words “don’t” and “can’t” only register with us for a short while but every other word that follows stays deep in our subconscious. So from now on we will start remembering all the good things in our lives and we will start using positive words instead of negative to keep our motivation high.
Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. – Oprah Winfrey
Do What You Love
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. ― Confucius
What is it that makes you tick? Do you have a hobby? Or is there some of you out there lucky enough to follow your passions and transfer hobbies into full time occupation that brings you nothing but joy, inspiration and more motivation to go further? Explore your passions, do what you love. Even if it’s something you do on the weekends – find the time to pursue that something special that makes you happy. Discover, create and go further! Try something new! This will always keep you motivated to go far beyond your “limits” that you carefully set for yourself! And how exciting it is to break those limits! You will only look back to your old self and laugh at how you could not believe before that something was possible.
The Power Of Recharging
If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race. – Oprah Winfrey
Sometimes we are stewing just a bit to much in sets of the same tasks and environment that this makes us lose our creative approach or even sweep our focused mind away. It’s about time to switch and twist things around and turn our minds for a while to something different that will draw our attention. Nothing recharges the batteries better than a new activity. Be careful though, recharging batteries does not mean sit down and do something meaningless. If your task requires brain activity then the best way to recharge is to switch to something more physical. If you have been laying bricks and lifting things all day, then there is nothing better than to sit down with your favourite book and give your brain a nice workout.
Make It Simple
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. – Hans Hofmann
Make your life as simple as possible! Declutter your thoughts, relationships, homes from old and unwanted things that somehow still may hang out there in your life weighing your down. Simplifying your life also means accepting that people think differently and have different values. This will lift a lot of weight from worrying about someone not appreciating your passions as much as you do and trying to make others to change their mind. Re-evaluating difficult relationships and letting go is one of the most important things that you can do to make your life simpler. Once you’ve done that, have a look around. How many unnecessary things do you have? How much sentimental value can that stone you picked up on a beach a few years back can really hold? Make a list of those things you want out from your life. No way back. Just a feeling of liberation and space for something new and valuable!
Sport It UP
Sport can be fun as long as you like what you are doing. It can be running, boxing, pilates, yoga, body balance, body combat, zumba, spinning class etc. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of running! It’s very exhausting for me and I don’t feel energised as normal people do afterwards. But I do understand the importance of keeping my heart healthy (cardio exercises) that’s why I found a perfect substitute – rebound. So every evening I put my festive music on and off I go up to the ceiling. So the main idea is to find something appealing to you in sport and do it as often as you can. Sport really keeps me motivated and organised. A good blood circulation enriches brain and makes it run smoothly as a Swiss watch.
Motivational Movies
Every once in a while I love to watch something that inspires and motivates me. I’m sure every person has a list of movies that hit us extra hard with motivation.
Here is a short list of my favorite movies I found motivational in many ways:
1. Atlas Shrugged - 2011,Taylor Schilling, Grant Bowler 
2. V for Vendetta – 2005, Natalie Portman
3. Amelie – 2001, Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz
4. Midnight in Paris – 2011, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams
5. What’s eating Gilbert Grape – 1993, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio Amazon
6. Inception – 2010, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard
7. Forrest Gump – 1994, Tom Hanks
8. A Little bit of Heaven – 2011, Kate Hudson
9. The Notebook – 2004, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams
10. Erin Brockovich – 2000, Julia Roberts
Better Nutrition Choices
Good nutrition directly affects our wellness. Our wellness directly affects our performance and productivity. Here is a simple rule to follow: eat more veggies and fruits than junk food, drink more water than coffee and soda drinks. I had my own problems with being highly addicted to coffee. And when I’ve opened my eyes on a problem I was amazed how little of water I drank before I learned how important it is. “Drinking enough water is a key element for maintaining your health and general well-being. Increasing your daily intake of water helps keep your skin looking vibrant and younger, aids digestion, improves your concentration and helps to remove toxins from your body.” There is also an app I use to track my water intake Drink More Water 
Ditch Unproductive Activities
Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade! – Tony Robbins
Every tv show watched, every junk magazine you’ve read, disappearing into the wild of social networks and every gossip session with your mates – clutters your life and renders your mind out of focus. This is also stealing your time that you could have spent doing something that would bring you a little bit closer to your goals and dreams. Think about all of those annoying little things that steal your time and evaluate what’s more important to you: time wasting or spending time leaving your dent in this world?! Be a master of your own time management.
The Butterfly Effect
Even the smallest effort today can improve all tomorrows. When you are at the beginning of pursuing your dream the whole task may seem unbearable at once, but it’s just an opinion. Learn to delegate and separate huge tasks into smaller ones. By achieving each of those smaller tasks you will feel more and more reinforced and eager to go further! The further you go accomplishing your goals the higher your motivation will be at which point everything you do is possible and easy!
Give Yourself Credit
It is in the small decisions you and I make every day that create our destiny – Tony Robbins
Everything you do and every step you take should be well celebrated within you. Fears of loosing or not having enough time, or not succeeding at something should be put aside all at once! You are trying to get there – it counts more than never even daring to dream about achieving something. There is no such thing as negative result, there is life experience that every event brings you and makes you wiser. Every time you are successful and you achieve something – stop for a moment and give yourself a pat on the back. Well done you! This is great! Keep doing whatever your are doing because it is working!
Nature Is Calling
I read a lot. So I came across one good advice (although I cannot recall where exactly) but it goes something like this: take at least 20 mins out of your day for a walk or find a good spot for visualisation. During the week it’s hard to make time and reunite with nature, I know. However, at least we can try to find some time for a simple fresh air walk. I guess I am extremely lucky currently living 20 meters from the River Thames which makes my visualisation outings possible and bring me an extra pleasure when I walk along the river and stare into the water. It clears my mind and gives me new perspective. Think about your special “places of power” that give you true inspiration and make a habit to be there more often.
Self-Development is Never an Option, it’s a MUST!
People who seek true motivation are those who are always on the road of self-development and self-improvement! The best way is to read more, to communicate more and strive for new things to experience. If sport is a remedy for our body, the book is a remedy for our minds that absorbe new knowledge as a good sponge. Think about the area you are interested in the most. Take trainings and courses to expand your knowledge and skills. Whatever you are into – stay interested in exploring life and you will be granted your motivation to go even further.
By LesyaLi
Photo by Sonando Imposibles