Tough times are inevitable. How to motivate yourself is a serious challenge, right?
For instance, losing a loved one is not a joke. Death weakens hope knowing that only God can regain life. How to motivate yourself then?
The good news is, mistakes can be corrected. You can bounce back from failures and regain lost opportunities.
Here are 12 helpful tips on how to motivate yourself in difficulty.
Remind Yourself Of Your Goal And The Reason
Hope and motivation are useless if you don’t have a goal in life. Accomplished people in business, academics, sports, or any field, never lose sight of their dreams.
Silver utensils can never serve success. If you want to know how to motivate yourself, expect every possible challenge and breakdown. Condition yourself for the worst-case scenario. And keep your mind alert for the unexpected.
Studying From Inspired Wisdom
The Bible, Quran, Vedas, Torah and other religious scriptures offer instructions on how to motivate yourself and live through difficult times. The texts contain comforting promises.
Read, study and meditate on passages about how to motivate yourself and others. The wisdom you gain will guide you in every step you take.
Appear Strong Even If You Are Weak
From the legendary war tactician Sun Tzu, we learn a strategy still in use. It is an effective way to motivate not only soldiers in war but anyone facing distress.
Appearing strong in a weakened state has two major purposes. First, it prevents others from exploiting you. Second, it tells your body to hold on and not give up; help will arrive soon.
The appearance of being strong will keep you motivated, technically speaking. You will feel obliged to remain on top of a tricky situation.
Want more tips on how to motivate yourself?
Surround Yourself With Motivated People
Seeking how to motivate yourself means surrounding yourself with motivated people as well.
If you live in an environment surrounded by negative people, move out immediately. Stay away from people with corrupt thinking and behaviour.
A study by Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School and Dr. James Fowler of the University of California, showed that an individual’s social network affects their levels of happiness. Positivity affects the mood of others and creates a chain reaction.
Surround yourself with positive people. Seek to discover how their optimism pervades their lives, even when they are struggling. Permit their attitude to influence you; their optimism to contaminate you.
Use Inspirational Publications
In this technologically advanced world we can reach almost everything through our fingertips. Take advantage of the online portal to search for books, blogs, podcasts, sermons and messages. You can draw on these sources for inspiration. Religious broadcasts from providers like Hope Channel can offer messages of encouragement and hope.
Have you heard about the seven habits of highly effective people? These are still the best reference points on how to motivate yourself and your contacts. Check out how the renowned entrepreneur and motivational speaker Francis Kong continues to dominate and inspire generations of Filipinos.
Don't Ignore Help From Strangers
God has many ways. He can transform Himself according to the gravity of our need. We hear of stories that have gone viral, about strangers successfully preventing the suicide attempts of hopeless individuals.
Isn’t it amazing that a simple knock on the door or a phone call or text message from a stranger can interrupt and put an end to such futile attempts?
The thing is, God sends strangers to the aid of some who are no longer in control of their troubled minds and on the brink of suicide.
What such comforting advice on how to motivate yourself!
Celebrate Small Victories
If you’re learning how to motivate yourself, know that there is joy in celebrating even small victories. It encourages us to continue making steps to move forward. Appreciating your work progress restores confidence.
Let’s admit it, we’re happy when people acknowledge our accomplishments. The drive to go further and do better becomes less burdensome and more exciting. Monitoring these developments increases motivation sufficiently enough to brush aside despair.
Assess The Journey - See How Far You Have Come
Looking back to see how far you’ve come is gratifying. Remembering when and where it all began and how you overcame problems is good for your body, mind and soul.
Learn to laugh at your sorry, past experiences! Success is achievable without the need for unnecessary grieving or overreaction to failings along the way.
The point is, a sense of pride fuels the courage we need to face our endless challenges. Every recovery we make regenerates us into a better version of ourselves. This is how to motivate yourself by recognizing your achievements.
Remember, You Inspire Others When You Succeed
Obviously, you are the one in need of help right now. But knowing how to motivate yourself also involves being the motivation for others as well.
The best role models are those who have hope-filled success stories. People who suffer from intense despair may seek inspiration from others. You can be that ray of hope to them too.
Count it a privilege to be part of someone’s character reference— it equates to saving their life.
Conquer your imperfections. Bounce back from failures. Learn from mistakes. Move out of despair and be a living testimony to influence others for the greater good.
Find Comfort In Nature
There is no greater comfort for learning how to motivate yourself than the tranquility of nature and its biodiversity. Nature itself is a miracle. Do you ever ponder how creatures survive despite their harsh living conditions or how they are able to live in harmony? The answers to these questions can serve as excellent lessons for us and also help to provide solutions in our pain and doubt.
Nature is God’s gift— providing comfort. Human greed may have over exploited this gift, but still He sends the rain and sunshine to reflourish the earth, a way of telling us to never lose hope.
Take a stroll in the forest, listen to the waves, or observe the sunrise and sunset. These are just a few activities in nature that answers how to motivate yourself.
Take Care Of Your Physical Health
How to motivate yourself? Be healthy.
Never allow your mental or emotional pains to affect your physical health. They are connected, but there are boundaries. Learn where to draw the line.
Make it a habit to observe strict health standards. Alcohol does not comfort sadness; the same is true of drugs or tobacco.
Exercise regularly and stay away from unhealthy food, drink and vices. A motivated mind can best harness its full potential within a healthy body.
Learn A New Skill And Become Good At It
Don’t let grief and sadness outweigh your abilities and skills. Don’t spend the whole day sitting in the corner, sobbing about what went wrong. Failures in life can become golden opportunities to explore ourselves or undertake new endeavors.
For instance, you can do cooking, gardening, dinging, and writing. These are interesting activities to learn how to motivate yourself.
Since skill is not acquired outright at birth, learn as much as possible then improve and develop. A busy mind leaves no room for stress.
There are times in our lives when we don’t get what we think we’re entitled to. Despair becomes imminent. Such difficult times may pull us down and rob us of our motivation.
But what can these trying times teach us?
Maybe there’s a reason behind it all, yet someone is telling us “don’t lose hope”.
How do we get our motivation back?
Can the journey to finding hope become more bearable?
Here are another 12 helpful tips that will help you get through the tough times in your life, also advising how to motivate yourself further:
Take Time To Rest
Sometimes the overhype of newly-found hope and overwhelming motivation can create a strain on the body and mind. It may be due to an overload of tasks leading to a buildup of excitement.
Getting tired after a day’s work can be a blessing. Take time to have regular breaks. Reward yourself with a good sleep or a quality vacation after a day’s work. Good rest recalibrates the mind and way of thinking.
Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness
It is tough to invite comfort, hope, or motivation when the place is untidy. Similarly, it is difficult to start over if pessimism and negativity clog the thoughts. The common impression is that the outward appearance resembles the inner self.
As you cleanse internally, also remember to clean externally. A clean, hygienic working environment will help to attract positive energy.
Always Be Grateful
Learning how to motivate yourself involves gratefulness.
A grateful attitude keeps the mind optimistic. It always seeks the brighter side of any circumstance.
Grateful people are less prone to suffer from the devastating effects of grief and despair. They consider such situations to be blessings in disguise. This type of mentality motivates them to manoeuver through difficult times with a smile.
Reorganize Your To-Do Lists
Nobody eats food whole no matter how tasty it is; otherwise, you will choke. Similarly, nobody succeeds at a task without careful planning, even with the hype of motivation. Motivation is like adrenaline, but it’s not only activated in dire circumstances. It guides us towards our goal-oriented behavior.
When restarting, carefully plan every detail in a more achievable manner. Remember, be a learner; be SMART!
Isn’t this a smart advice on how to motivate yourself?
Don't Procrastinate
Procrastination works efficiently in unmotivated people. Sorrow, despair or sadness also work well with procrastination, and encourage failure.
Manage time and work properly, and be strict with it. Avoid idle times except for a reasonable rest. An inactive body and mind create a vacuum that procrastination quickly fills. Never fall into this trap under any circumstances. This is a very effective strategy on how to motivate yourself better.
Keep Reminding Yourself Why You Must Do This
How to motivate yourself? Simple, tell yourself that you can do it.
The way we live depends on the choices we make. We are accountable for our actions. Remind yourself of this when tough times loom.
We have only two options: give up and fail or deal with it and succeed. The decision is ours and the actions embedded within.
Regret is only reserved for those who don’t have the courage to make a stand on their own.
It Is OK To Ask For Help
Nobody is born perfect in every aspect. Everyone is a complement to others. We become perfect when we unite our individual strengths. Never hesitate to ask for help and offer support when someone needs it. Pride or arrogance will only worsen your despair. Helping one another in difficult times lessens the burden of suffering. That is an important tip on how to motivate yourself the best you can.
Try A New Adventure
There is a common proverb that goes, “If everything is coming your way, you might be in the wrong way.”
Giving up does not necessarily mean losing hope. It’s a different story if you give up and lose hope simultaneously. Hope is the power that drives us on to recovery from misery and eventual success.
Finding a new goal and equipping it with the same level of motivation as before will achieve the same level of success.
Learn The Art Of Self-Discipline
The more determined we are, the more tempting undesirable cravings become. The temporary comfort they offer is an invitation to our carnal desires.
Yielding to unnecessary desires is a dangerous trap. It can prolong or, worse still, end our journey to success.
Self control is a crucial element on how to motivate yourself. Learn to sacrifice a little happiness. Focus on the splendid reward that lies ahead.
Do Not Make Excuses
Making excuses is the worst enemy of success. It hinders you from learning how to motivate yourself.
A famous quote goes, “The only acceptable excuse for any unaccomplished matter is when the doer is dead.” While this may sound overrated, it is not an exaggeration.
Indeed, human capability has its limitations. But the same fact also suggests that being alive is more than enough reason to achieve goals. Humans are rational enough to think of ways and means.
Just think, if ants can survive despite their minute size and microscopic brains then why can’t we? What’s your excuse?
Unload Unnecessary Emotion
When faced with an incredibly difficult situation, we can become too emotionally attached.
This is normal to start with, but if we are not careful we get carried away by the drama. We have a tendency to recall previous strife and this adds to the emotion of the situation. Eventually we fall into the trap of self-pity.
In challenging times, don’t recall past mistakes. Stop dramatizing the situation. Concentrate on dealing with the current problem. Compose yourself, get on your feet, and leave behind negative emotions. This is how to motivate yourself better.
Pray
If there is one among the best ways on how to motivate yourself, that is prayer.
Prayer is still the most effective weapon against life’s challenges. It is the long-term solution to life’s never-ending difficulties.
Nothing is more incredible than the comfort found in communicating with God in prayer. Whether addressed to the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic or Christian God, prayer unites every religion. It is the common language everyone understands.
When the pressure of life gets unbearable, fall on your knees and talk to God in prayer. It will surely lift the weight off your shoulders.
Faith Answers All Imperfections And Limitations
With all these, what should be the best advice on how to motivate yourself. That is, have faith.
When humanity is pushed to the edge they begin to throw questions at God, sometimes complaints or, worse still, tantrums.
The weight of suffering causes loss of motivation. Hope turns to doubt. It’s all summed up in a question of faith.
The good news is, God is way bigger than all the world’s problems! Faith is a direct connection to God regardless of religious background. Trusting in Him is the ultimate answer when everything becomes unbearable for fragile humanity.
Have you come to a point where you would also want to give up? Is your situation so difficult right now that only God could deliver you out? Feel free to write on the comment section and share your experience. We could be of help, or you might influence us on your transformation.
