How To Develop Motivation in Your Everyday Life

Written by Ryan Whiteside - 18 Comments
Categories: motivation, self improvement

Personal development, maximizing your potential, goals setting, motivating yourself for the better – these are some of the inter-related things that you need to work on as an individual. Here, we will set our sights on the many ways that you can develop motivation in life.

The Importance of Finding Out what Motivates You

First, let’s find out what the importance of motivation exactly is. Simply put, motivation is that driving force which allows you to achieve your goals and go after what you want in life. If you want to change your personality for the better, get a promotion at work, start a new habit, be a better person who is part of the community, become a better parent for your kid – all of these things would be easier accomplished if you are properly motivated.

As long as you have a strong personal motivation, you can achieve almost anything that you want from life. However, remember not to fall into the trap of looking for short-cuts to achieve your goals. It’s perfectly fine if you have to take a long and winding road to achieve your goal. It will be an even sweeter victory when you finally achieve your goal, knowing that you have had to go through several hurdles to attain it.

Developing Motivation in Life

So how can you develop motivation in life? If you wish to accomplish a goal – be it short-term or long-term in nature – how can you find it in you to be properly motivated? Here are a few things that you should keep in mind:

1. Focus on one goal at a time.

This should be partnered with the fact that you should make sure that your short-term goals all help in achieving your long-term goals. One of the best ways for you to focus on one goal at a time is to make a diary of your goals – yes, write it down – so that you will have a visual representation of the things that you want to achieve rather than letting it all get lost in your head.

2. Get rid of all the distractions which might prevent you from achieving your goal.

Let’s say that you are a writer who wants to finish a book. How can you type away on your keyboard one chapter after another if there are many distractions surrounding you like television, friends chattering away or the lure of aimlessly browsing through the Internet. In order for you to stay properly motivated, make sure to steer clear of any distractions.

3. Completely block out any negative influences.

Finally, make sure that you are completely blocking out any negative influences in your life. If you feel that you are being distracted from your goal by a problem which does not seem to go away, ask yourself what you can do to eliminate such a challenge and distraction in your life. Maybe you are being sidetracked by negative thoughts and feelings because you have no faith in yourself. Addressing the root of the problem, completely blocking out any negative distractions and thinking purely positive thoughts is the best way for you to develop motivation in your everyday life.

Constantly Work At Motivating Yourself

A goal doesn’t do you much good unless you are constantly thinking about, and working towards it. Write down your goal and place it somewhere that you will see it at least 1-2 times a day. If you have a weight loss goal, place your written goal beside the refrigerator. If your goal is to get physically stronger, place your written goal near your weight bench so you can see it when you are working out. This provides the extra motivation you need for those tough days.

A great way to motivate yourself with business goals is to put up a motivational quote beside your desk. Do a Google search for motivational quotes, then print off one and put it inside of a picture frame. Keep it there and read it occasionally throughout the day. Whenever you find yourself not looking at the quote anymore, or it no longer provides the inspiration that it once did, it’s time to change the quote. It’s perfectly OK to change this quote every 1-2 weeks for maximum motivation.

Some people make a habit of reading their goals either when they first wake up or right before they go to bed. When you read your goals upon arising, you may begin to notice that you find yourself doing more each day to help you reach your goals. Similarly, when you read your goals right before bed, you may notice that you wake up with good ideas that you never thought of before.

Final Thoughts

It’s important to have motivation in your life. Motivation is the fuel that you need to continue striving for your goals. Soak up motivating things in your life on a daily basis. Read great books that will inspire you. Read great blogs that are both positive and informative.

It’s human nature to have days were you aren’t very motivated. However, if you continue to surround yourself with positive and motivational things, those days will be few and far between.

Ryan Whiteside is a Guest Blogger for PickTheBrain. To learn more about personal development and how to set goals visit the Ultimate Guide To Personal Development.

Don’t Forget to Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!


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How To Increase Your Will Power

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  • http://www.read-y.com Boris

    Ryan,
    To keep motivated is critical! But I think that once you have defined what you realy want in your life, you may be able to do only the relevant activities that get you cloder to your ultimate goal, and then, your motivation wil be continuous!
    Very good post!
    Boris

  • http://www.selfhelpfriend.com SallyBeam | Self Help Friend .com

    Once we have a goal in life. Motivation keeps us moving forward.

    Here’re motivational and inspirational sayings I love to let them inspire me keep going.

  • http://enlightr.com/cloud Craig

    Motivation was one of weakest areas until I discovered one massive important thing… I was comfortable. I had a comfortable chair, I was comfortable and therefore found it easier to procrastinate. Now I stand up at my desk and I simply don’t procrastinate – if I need a break I walk away.

  • http://www.personal-success-factors.com Steve-Personal Success Factors

    Another key to remember about motivation and goals is to ask yourself whether it’s a goal that you truly want to accomplish, or whether this is a goal that you are setting because of someone else’s opinion or expectation. Also, you may want to ask yourself, “What type of person do I need to be or become to reach this goal?” This will tell you what qualities you need to work on to attain your goal.

    Great post!

  • Kamal Broomes

    Thanks for the tips!! I was actually thinking of doing something similar by leaving sticky notes all over the place to remind me to keep me on track of my goals.

  • http://www.myrelationshipguy.com/lifecoach Guy Farmer

    Great tips to keep people motivated Ryan. I’ve also found it valuable to focus on taking action and doing small things that eventually end up in big results. Clarifying and thinking are very important but they become even more powerful when people take action.

  • http://www.MotivateMeFit.com Brian Dzubinski

    This was a great reminder…Thank You.

  • http://www.anto-dwiharja.com anto

    Hi Ryan, I found an interesting sentence in your writing: “As long as you have a strong personal motivation, you can achieve almost anything that you want from life.”

    Well, as all of us know, it is very difficult to keep our self motivated every time even we write our goal beside the refrigerator or stick it on our monitor. Many times it feels so hard to reach our goal or it has been a long time we have spent to reach it. Finally we don’t feel excited anymore and slow but sure we forget our goal.

    I want to share with you about a motivator from Asia named Adam Khoo. He wrote a great book titled Master Your Mind Design Your Destiny. In his book he revealed the secret how to be a motivated person every single time. it is very important to not depend with our mood.
    So what happend if we don’t have the mood. Think about your dream, imagine what will happent if you can achieve the goal. Make your imagination bigger and bigger. If you do it every morning, I am sure it will help you much to be a motivated person.

    Ok don’t forget to read this:
    http://tinyurl.com/successwithnlp-adamkhoo

    Here is the book link http://tinyurl.com/successwithnlp-adamkhoo. I really recommend everybody to read this book as the book will teach your how to me motivated every second. Yes I mean it, every second being a motivated person in the world. Isn’t it good?

    Good luck.
    Anto

  • http://localhost/zen/story.php?id=2 zeny-life.com

    How To Develop Motivation in Your Everyday Life – PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement…

    Personal development, maximizing your potential, goals setting, motivating yourself for the better – these are some of the inter-related things that you need to work on as an individual. Here, we will set our sights on the many ways that you can develo…

  • http://topsy.com/tb/bit.ly/9UugZ0 Tweets that mention How To Develop Motivation in Your Everyday Life – PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Woman Wife Mom Me, Ashley Betz and Jenna Lundemo, JoonSangWon. JoonSangWon said: RT @JennaLundemo: How to develop motivation in your everyday life. http://bit.ly/9UugZ0 [...]

  • http://www.fawnmcmanigal.com Fawn

    I like your suggestions, Ryan. Number three, blocking out negativity, is a lot harder than it sounds and could be a topic on its own. But I like that you did not overburden the art of finding and staying motivated.

    I’ve found the WHY behind any goal to be a powerful motivator. If we identify our reasons for doing something and think about the WHY when situations test our conviction, it easier to see obstacles as temporary things, and just part of the process.

    Why = motivation = action = success. –If it could only be this simple!

  • http://www.self-helpmotivation.com/?p=17 Linda Davis

    Great suggestions! In relation to number 3 of your tip, before you block out the negative influences, you should first learn your self-limiting beliefs so you can turn these into challenges. Turn these limitations into possibilities. For example your I CAN’Ts should be turned into I WANTs. In doing so, you’d be able to identify your strengths.

  • http://www.theselfhelpmom.blogspot.com Kelly @ The Self Help Mom

    Hello, and thank you for such a motivating and helpful
    site it is very encouraging. Have a great day!

  • John

    Yes, I really agree blocking out any negative influences. Our lives are constantly bombarded with garbage that it’s hard to block everything out. From the moment of birth we are trained to buy certain things, act a certain way, fear almost everything, and on and on.

    But as you stated we have to address the root of the problem and fill our minds with positive information. Actually, that’s filling our minds with positive is a great way to negate or over run all the other negative thinking. If we’ve been brainwashed into thinking negative, we could clean up and filter all that negativity with positive reinforcement.

    Personal Development Tips has some great tips.

  • http://www.yourpersonaldevelopmentandsuccess.com/ Personal Development

    I like your way of thinking. I am currently looking for different views on the subject of personal development and success and here�s one interesting article about it: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/why-do-we-need-personal-development-to-be-successful

  • http://workforlgihomes.com/blog/?p=728 Texas Employment Opportunity: Wanted: Self-Motivation | Work for LGI Homes

    [...] there is no exact regimen to follow in order to “become” motivated. Instead, most advice for developing motivation revolves around finding your own “spark,” an inner energy that drives you to perform on your [...]

  • http://flawlessconfidence.com Martin K.

    Motivation is all about focus. You won’t achieve your goals if you don’t concentrate on them and even become obsessed about achieving them. I think that’s the real secret to success – stick to it!