Md. Tabrej
Director, Dept. of BBA, St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama
Being self-motivated means being ready for driven, focused discussion and behavior. It also means being sharp and smart enough not to be manipulated and to be open to positive learning. Being in this state of mind is the challenge! Luckily, you have every tool at your disposal to get started right now. Here we go!
Get positive.
It's pretty hard to get anything done when we're stuck on negative thoughts. Positive thoughts are the only way you'll even find motivation in the first place. If you find yourself thinking negative thoughts, stop yourself — you have the power to say "Stop, Enough". Divert your attention elsewhere. Especially if you're thinking about your motivation! This task in front of you? It's doable and you have the abilities to do it. Any other thinking will keep you from even trying.
Get confident.
With thinking positive about your world, you have to think positive about yourself too. If you think you're incapable, it'll seriously put a damper on the amount of effort you give. Why would you bother doing something you don't think you can do? Exactly, you won't. To get started, count your successes. What do you have going for you? What have you done in the past that was awesome? What resources do you have at your disposal? Think of all the things you've achieved in the past. For what reason would you not be able to achieve what you want now?! You've done similar things before.
Get hungry.
When Les Brown talks about motivation, he repeats, "You got to be hungry!" What he's saying here is that you have to actually want it. You can't imagine a life without it.
Know setbacks will happen.
It's important to go into a behavior (possibly even a lifelong habit) knowing there will be failures along the way. Being a perfectionist about yourself will just leave you frustrated and tempted to give up. There will be times when you fail. You just have to know that you're capable of getting back up and better yet, that you will. Your failures or setbacks have nothing to do with you and everything to do with being human. They happen. Sometimes they'll happen because of you, but sometimes they'll happen because of circumstances that are beyond your control. Going into this with a level head will benefit you greatly in the end.
Focus on positive goals.
It's simple to know what we don't want. It's simple to know what we're afraid of. Often it's harder to pinpoint what exactly would make us happy and what exactly we're striving for. However, to get anything done, we have to start thinking with positive goals, not negative fears. Instead of "I don't want to be poor," a better goal is "I'd like to save X amount of money each month." See how the latter is much, much more doable? And less scary!
Keep it small.
Having lofty goals is tough. You take one look at a book that's seven volumes long and you don't want to read it. Instead, break it up. The rest of the volumes are still there, they're just waiting in the wings for when you're ready to bring them on.
Take breaks.
We are not machines (but even machines need breaks). Studies have shown that students who take breaks are more effective at studying. And it's common knowledge that our muscles need breaks, too. Breaks aren't for the lazy -- they're for those that know they want to keep going.
Use rewards.
This is a point to be considered carefully. However, rewards can be powerful when used sparingly and efficiently. When you've completed something, be sure to do something you deserve!
Keep motivators around you.
We need reminders to keep ourselves going. These can be people or things -- whatever might keep you in the right mindset. It's natural to get off-balance and forget where we want to be -- these external motivators offer focus and direction. You can do a lot of small things to get you in gear. Change your desktop background on your computer. Put a post-it note on your wall. A reminder on your phone. People can be motivators, too! Tell everyone you know that you're trying to do something. Hopefully they'll offer resources and make the path that much easier, in addition to holding you accountable.
Only compare you to you.
The best way to get demotivated and fast is to compare yourself to others. You'll never be them and they'll never be you, so what's the point? Though you've heard it a billion times before, it bears repeating: the only person you should compare yourself to is your previous self. Make sure to keep the end goal in mind or it'll start to feel far away and unachievable. Why have you gone to all this work anyway? You know exactly why -- and the light is at the end of the tunnel. What will you do when you reach this one? Onto the next, hopefully!
