Motivation to go on

10 Things That Steal Our Motivation—and How to Get It Back

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Motivation is central to creativity, productivity, and happiness. Motivation is what causes us to act, and when we act, we create movement, growth, and change; we feel involved, masterful, and significant; we feel powerful through experiencing how we can change the world; and we create more of what we love in our lives. And all of this gives our lives purpose and happiness.

Demotivation Is Like Snow

It’s said that Inuit have multiple words for snow. It's so familiar to them, they can appreciate the subtle differences between the varied types. These distinctions let Inuit respond differently to different types of snow, depending on the challenges and opportunities that each particular type of snow presents.

Most of us have just one conception of demotivation, which means that whenever you’re unmotivated, you’re likely to assume that you’re struggling with the same problem. The truth: Demotivation is a category of problems, containing many variations. When you have just one kind of demotivation, you’ll apply the same old strategies whenever you feel unmotivated. For many people, those strategies look like this: set goals, push harder, create accountability checks that will push you, and run your life using to-do lists. These strategies are ineffective with most types of demotivation, and in some instances they can even make you more unmotivated.

Demotivation is a category of problems, containing many variations.

At its essence, demotivation is about not fully committing to act, and there are many reasons why you might be in that position. Having more ways to categorize your demotivation will help you identify the real reasons for your unwillingness move forward. Then, you can pick the right tools and strategies to help you get motivated again.

Here are 10 types of demotivation and the strategies that will help you find your fire:

1.

You're Demotivated by Fear

When you’re afraid, even if you’re entering territory that you’ve chosen to move into, a part of you is determined to avoid going forward. Fear slows you down and makes you hesitant and careful, which can be beneficial to you, but sometimes your fears are based on your imagination rather than on an accurate assessment of the risks in your reality. If your fear is big enough, even if you’re also excited to go forward, the part of you that wants to keep you safe can successfully prevent you from going forward into territory that’s both desirable and safe.

How to get motivated again: To get motivated, you need to deal with your fear. Start by naming your fears so that they’re out in the open. Remember to say a gentle “thank you” to your fears–they’re trying to protect you, after all. Then question your fears: “Why am I afraid of that happening?” “What are the chances that would really happen?” Some of your fears will slip away now.

To get motivated, you need to deal with your fear.

Look at the fears that are left. What are they telling you about the research you need to do, the gaps you need to fill, and the risk management strategies you need to put in place? Honor that wisdom by building it into your plan. Finally, consider breaking down the changes into smaller steps and focusing on just the next few small steps–this will calm your fears.

2. You're Demotivated by Setting the Wrong Goals

Martha Beck has a great model for understanding motivation. She explains that we have an Essential Self and a Social Self. Your Essential Self is the part of you that’s spontaneous and creative and playful, the part that knows what’s most important to you. Your Social Self is the part of you that has been developing since the day you were born, learning the rules of the tribe and working hard to make sure that you’re safe by making you follow "the rules."

We’re all surrounded by so many messages that feed into our Social Selves and we’re keen to impress our tribes. When you feel unmotivated, it’s because you’re setting goals based purely on what your Social Self wants and this is pulling you away from the direction your Essential Self wants you to take. Your Essential Self uses demotivation to slow you down and to detach you from the toxic goals you’ve set.

Notice how your body responds as you think of each of the goals you’re trying to work on.

How to get motivated again: Take some time to review your goals. Since your Essential Self is non-verbal, you can easily access your Essential Self through your body. Notice how your body responds as you think of each of the goals you’re trying to work on.

When your body (and particularly your breathing) shows signs of tightness and constriction, that’s a pretty good indication that you’re trying to follow toxic goals. If you get a constricted reaction, scrap your current goals and question all your stories about what you “should” do with your life. Notice what makes you smile spontaneously or lose track of time, and set goals related to that stuff instead.

3. You're Demotivated by Lack of Clarity

When you haven’t consciously and clearly articulated what you want, your picture of your future will be vague. We like what’s familiar, so we resist what’s unfamiliar and vague and we stay with and re-create what’s familiar to us. If you’re not clear about what you want to create, then it makes sense that you’ll lack motivation because you’d rather stay with your current familiar reality.

How to get motivated again: If you want to create something different from what you’ve been experiencing, it’s not enough to just know what you don’t want. You need to know what you do want, and you need to articulate a clear and specific vision of what you want to create so that you can become familiar with that new outcome and feel comfortable moving toward it. Take some time to articulate what you want and why you want it.

4. You're Demotivated by a Values Conflict

Your values are what’s important to you in life. If you have a values conflict, it means that there are two or more values that are important to you but you believe that you can’t satisfy all of those values in a particular situation.

This situation causes you to feel conflicted and pulled in different directions as you try to find ways to get what’s important to you. You might have brief spurts of motivation to work on something and then lose motivation and start working on something else, or your motivation might dry up altogether because the effort of dealing with internal conflict quickly tires you out and saps your energy.

How to get motivated again: You need to unpack your values conflict and play mediator. You have to get the parts of you that are advocating for different values to play on the same team again. Start with acknowledging the internal conflict.

Grab a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle so that you have two columns. Write about the two different directions you feel pulled in, one in each column, and summarize it with a statement of what each part wants.

Now, pick one column and chunk it up: “Why does this part want that? What does it hope to get as a result of having that?” Keep asking the questions and writing your answers until you feel that you’ve hit on the result that this part of you ultimately wants. Now do the same for the other part, and notice when you get to the level where the answers in the two columns are the same.

Ultimately, all of the parts of you always want the same thing, because they’re all you. Now that you know what you really want, you can evaluate the strategies that each part had been advocating for and decide which strategy would work best.

Ultimately, all of the parts of you always want the same thing, because they’re all you.

Often, once you’re clear on what you really want, you spot new strategies for getting it that you hadn’t noticed before. Sometimes by doing this exercise you’ll find ways to satisfy all of your values, but sometimes that’s not possible. If you’ve taken time to think through your values and you’ve consciously chosen to prioritize a particular value over your other values for a while, this clarity will ease the internal conflict and your motivation will return.

5. You're Demotivated by Lack of Autonomy

We thrive on autonomy. We all have a decision-making center in our brains, and this part of us needs to be exercised. Studies have found that this decision-making center in the brain is under-developed in people who have depression and that if you practice using this part of the brain and making decisions, depression often clears.

In his book Drive, Daniel Pink writes about the research that shows that when it comes to doing creative work, having some autonomy to decide what we do, when we do it, how we do it, and whom we do it with is core to igniting and sustaining motivation, creativity, and productivity.

We all have a decision-making center in our brains, and this part of us needs to be exercised.

How to get motivated again: Consider how much autonomy you have in relation to the goals you’ve been trying to pursue. Are there areas where you feel constricted and controlled? Consider how you could gradually introduce more autonomy in your task, time, technique, location, and team, and then, if you’re employed, have a discussion with your manager and ask for greater autonomy in a few specific areas of your work.

6. You're Demotivated by Lack of Challenge

Challenge is another crucial ingredient for motivation that authors like Daniel Pink and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, highlight. When it comes to dealing with challenges, there’s a sweet spot. Too great a challenge, and the fear becomes too great and saps our motivation (see point 1), and if the challenge is too small, we quickly get bored and struggle to stay motivated. We’re designed to be living, growing creatures, and we need constant challenges and opportunities to master new skills. Without challenges, our Essential Self steps in and demotivates us as a way of telling us that we’ve departed from the path that’s right for us.

If the challenge is too small, we quickly get bored and struggle to stay motivated.

How to get motivated again: Review your goals and the projects you’re working on. Are they challenging you? Are they going to require you to grow in order to achieve them, or are you treading water in your comfort zone, doing only the things you know you can do? Try tweaking your goals to make them a bit more challenging, take on projects that will require you to grow, and find a new thing or two to learn to stimulate yourself.

7. You're Demotivated by Grief

At the beginning of any change, we go through a phase of wondering if we should or could hang on to the way things were and grieving what we’ll be losing if we make significant changes. Confusion, self-doubt, mistrust of the world around us, and feeling lost are common symptoms, and the bigger the change, the more powerful these symptoms. Sometimes we even go through a bit of depression and social withdrawal. Martha Beck calls this phase the “Death and Rebirth” phase of change in her book Finding Your Own North Star. With all the grieving and fearing and feeling lost that go on in this phase, it’s normal for your motivation to dry up.

How to get motivated again: If you’ve just experienced a trauma or loss, or you’re going through a major change and finding that there are days where you’re hit hard with Death and Rebirth symptoms, don’t try to make yourself motivated and proactive. You can’t rush grieving or the undoing of your old life and ways of thinking, and you can’t skip the Death and Rebirth phase and go straight into Dreaming and Scheming.

Take it one day at a time and go easy on yourself.

You need to give yourself a lot of space for nurturing and reflection. Look after your body with good food, rest, and exercise. Express your grief, confusion, and fears with people who can listen lovingly. Spend time in nature and with calm, loving people to center yourself. Accept every feeling and thought you have–they’re all normal and safe.

Take one day at a time and go easy on yourself. Confusion, forgetfulness, and clumsiness are all normal in this stage. The grieving will end when it’s ready, and if you relax into it and express your grief, it’ll be sooner rather than later.

8. You're Demotivated by Loneliness

This is an especially important one for those of us who work alone from home. You know those days when you feel a bit cabin-feverish, you just don’t feel like working, and you’d rather be out having a drink with a friend or playing a game of soccer? Well, perhaps it’s because we’re designed to be social creatures and sometimes your Essential Self is just longing for some connection with other people. Your Essential Self hijacks your work motivation so that you’ll take a break from work and go spend some time with other people.

How to get motivated again: Take a break and go spend some time with someone you enjoy. You may be surprised at the motivating impact this has and find yourself much more clear and productive when you return to your work. And then look for ways that you can begin to build more networking and joint venturing into your work.

9. You're Demotivated by Burnout

I attract overachieving Type A’s, and, as a recovering Type A myself, I know that sometimes we’re banging on about wanting to get more done even after we’ve exceeded the limit on what’s sustainable. If you’re feeling tired all the time, you’ve lost your energy for socializing, and the idea of taking a snooze sounds more compelling than the stuff you’re usually interested in, then you’ve probably pushed yourself too long and hard and you may be burned out.

Your Essential Self will always work to motivate you to move toward what you most need. So if you’re burned out and needing sleep, your Essential Self may even sap the motivation from the things that you’re usually really ignited about–just to get you to meet your core needs again.

Your Essential Self will always work to motivate you to move toward what you most need.

How to get motivated again: Sleep. And then when you’re done sleeping and the quality of your thinking has been restored, check back in with your Essential Self about what’s most important to you. Start building sustainable ways to do more of what’s important to you.

10. You're Demotivated By Fuzzy Next Steps

Your end-goal might be nice and clear, but if you haven’t taken time to chunk it down into smaller goals, you’ll get stuck, confused, and unmotivated when it’s time to take action. Some projects are small and familiar enough that they don’t need a plan, but if you’re often worrying that you don’t know what to do next and you don’t have a clear plan, then this might be the source of your demotivation.

How to get motivated again: If you want to keep your motivation flowing steadily through all stages of your projects, take time to create clear project plans and to schedule your plans into your calendar.

Write down all of your “I-don’t-know-how-to” concerns and turn these into research questions.

Use your fears to point you to the potential risks you need to manage. Write down all of your “I-don’t-know-how-to” concerns and turn these into research questions. The first part of any planning stage is research, and you’ll find new research questions along the way, so realize that conducting research should be part of your action plan at every stage of your project. Finally, ask yourself what smaller goals need to be achieved for you to achieve your end-goal, and schedule deadlines for yourself.

Goal-setting, planning, organizing, and accountability structures are often touted as the big solution to demotivation and the silver bullet that will get you creative and productive again. The truth, as you've learned: It’s a useful strategy for dealing with only some types of demotivation. Pinpoint your unique form of demotivation, and start to tackle it in a specific way.

This article originally appeared on ProductiveFlourishing.com

Read next: When You Have to Do Stuff—But Don't Feel Like Doing Anything

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Get Off Your Butt: 16 Ways to Get Motivated When You're in a Slump

By Leo Babauta

Even the most motivated of us — you, me, Tony Robbins — can feel unmotivated at times. In fact, sometimes we get into such a slump that even thinking about making positive changes seems too difficult.

But it’s not hopeless: with some small steps, baby ones in fact, you can get started down the road to positive change.

Yes, I know, it seems impossible at times. You don’t feel like doing anything. I’ve been there, and in fact I still feel that way from time to time. You’re not alone. But I’ve learned a few ways to break out of a slump, and we’ll take a look at those today.

This post was inspired by reader Roy C. Carlson, who asked:

“I was wondering if you could do a piece on why it can be hard for someone to change direction and start taking control of their life. I have to say I’m in this boat and advice on getting out of my slump would be great.”

Roy is just one of many with a slump like that. Again, I feel that way sometimes myself, and in fact sometimes I struggle to motivate myself to exercise — and I’ll use that as an example of how to break out of the slump.

When I fall out of exercise, due to illness or injury or disruption from things going on in my life, it’s hard to get started again. I don’t even feel like thinking about it, sometimes. But I’ve always found a way to break out of that slump, and here are some things I’ve learned that have helped:

One Goal. Whenever I’ve been in a slump, I’ve discovered that it’s often because I have too much going on in my life. I’m trying to do too much. And it saps my energy and motivation. It’s probably the most common mistake that people make: they try to take on too much, try to accomplish too many goals at once. You cannot maintain energy and focus (the two most important things in accomplishing a goal) if you are trying to do two or more goals at once. It’s not possible — I’ve tried it many times. You have to choose one goal, for now, and focus on it completely. I know, that’s hard. Still, I speak from experience. You can always do your other goals when you’ve accomplished your One Goal.
Find inspiration. Inspiration, for me, comes from others who have achieved what I want to achieve, or who are currently doing it. I read other blogs, books, magazines. I Google my goal, and read success stories. Zen Habits is just one place for inspiration, not only from me but from many readers who have achieved amazing things.
Get excited. This sounds obvious, but most people don’t think about it much: if you want to break out of a slump, get yourself excited about a goal. But how can you do that when you don’t feel motivated? Well, it starts with inspiration from others (see above), but you have to take that excitement and build on it. For me, I’ve learned that by talking to my wife about it, and to others, and reading as much about it as possible, and visualizing what it would be like to be successful (seeing the benefits of the goal in my head), I get excited about a goal. Once I’ve done that, it’s just a matter of carrying that energy forward and keeping it going.
Build anticipation. This will sound hard, and many people will skip this tip. But it really works. It helped me quit smoking after many failed attempts. If you find inspiration and want to do a goal, don’t start right away. Many of us will get excited and want to start today. That’s a mistake. Set a date in the future — a week or two, or even a month — and make that your Start Date. Mark it on the calendar. Get excited about that date. Make it the most important date in your life. In the meantime, start writing out a plan. And do some of the steps below. Because by delaying your start, you are building anticipation, and increasing your focus and energy for your goal.
Post your goal. Print out your goal in big words. Make your goal just a few words long, like a mantra (“Exercise 15 mins. Daily”), and post it up on your wall or refrigerator. Post it at home and work. Put it on your computer desktop. You want to have big reminders about your goal, to keep your focus and keep your excitement going. A picture of your goal (like a model with sexy abs, for example) also helps.
Commit publicly. None of us likes to look bad in front of others. We will go the extra mile to do something we’ve said publicly. For example, when I wanted to run my first marathon, I started writing a column about it in my local daily newspaper. The entire island of Guam (pop. 160K) knew about my goal. I couldn’t back down, and even though my motivation came and went, I stuck with it and completed it. Now, you don’t have to commit to your goal in your daily newspaper, but you can do it with friends and family and co-workers, and you can do it on your blog if you have one. And hold yourself accountable — don’t just commit once, but commit to giving progress updates to everyone every week or so.
Think about it daily. If you think about your goal every day, it is much more likely to become true. To this end, posting the goal on your wall or computer desktop (as mentioned above) helps a lot. Sending yourself daily reminders also helps. And if you can commit to doing one small thing to further your goal (even just 5 minutes) every single day, your goal will almost certainly come true.
Get support. It’s hard to accomplish something alone. When I decided to run my marathon, I had the help of friends and family, and I had a great running community on Guam who encouraged me at 5K races and did long runs with me. When I decided to quit smoking, I joined an online forum and that helped tremendously. And of course, my wife Eva helped every step of the way. I couldn’t have done these goals without her, or without the others who supported me. Find your support network, either in the real world or online, or both.
Realize that there’s an ebb and flow. Motivation is not a constant thing that is always there for you. It comes and goes, and comes and goes again, like the tide. But realize that while it may go away, it doesn’t do so permanently. It will come back. Just stick it out and wait for that motivation to come back. In the meantime, read about your goal (see below), ask for help (see below), and do some of the other things listed here until your motivation comes back.
Stick with it. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Even if you aren’t feeling any motivation today, or this week, don’t give up. Again, that motivation will come back. Think of your goal as a long journey, and your slump is just a little bump in the road. You can’t give up with every little bump. Stay with it for the long term, ride out the ebbs and surf on the flows, and you’ll get there.
Start small. Really small. If you are having a hard time getting started, it may be because you’re thinking too big. If you want to exercise, for example, you may be thinking that you have to do these intense workouts 5 days a week. No — instead, do small, tiny, baby steps. Just do 2 minutes of exercise. I know, that sounds wimpy. But it works. Commit to 2 minutes of exercise for one week. You may want to do more, but just stick to 2 minutes. It’s so easy, you can’t fail. Do it at the same time, every day. Just some crunches, 2 pushups, and some jogging in place. Once you’ve done 2 minutes a day for a week, increase it to 5, and stick with that for a week. In a month, you’ll be doing 15-20. Want to wake up early? Don’t think about waking at 5 a.m. Instead, think about waking 10 minutes earlier for a week. That’s all. Once you’ve done that, wake 10 minutes earlier than that. Baby steps.
Build on small successes. Again, if you start small for a week, you’re going to be successful. You can’t fail if you start with something ridiculously easy. Who can’t exercise for 2 minutes? (If that’s you, I apologize.) And you’ll feel successful, and good about yourself. Take that successful feeling and build on it, with another baby step. Add 2-3 minutes to your exercise routine, for example. With each step (and each step should last about a week), you will feel even more successful. Make each step really, really small, and you won’t fail. After a couple of months, your tiny steps will add up to a lot of progress and a lot of success.
Read about it daily. When I lose motivation, I just read a book or blog about my goal. It inspires me and reinvigorates me. For some reason, reading helps motivate and focus you on whatever you’re reading about. So read about your goal every day, if you can, especially when you’re not feeling motivated.
Call for help when your motivation ebbs. Having trouble? Ask for help. Email me. Join an online forum. Get a partner to join you. Call your mom. It doesn’t matter who, just tell them your problems, and talking about it will help. Ask them for advice. Ask them to help you overcome your slump. It works.
Think about the benefits, not the difficulties. One common problem is that we think about how hard something is. Exercise sounds so hard! Just thinking about it makes you tired. But instead of thinking about how hard something is, think about what you will get out of it. For example, instead of thinking about how tiring exercise can be, focus on how good you’ll feel when you’re done, and how you’ll be healthier and slimmer over the long run. The benefits of something will help energize you.
Squash negative thoughts; replace them with positive ones. Along those lines, it’s important to start monitoring your thoughts. Recognize negative self-talk, which is really what’s causing your slump. Just spend a few days becoming aware of every negative thought. Then, after a few days, try squashing those negative thoughts like a bug, and then replacing them with a corresponding positive thought. Squash, “This is too hard!” and replace it with, “I can do this! If that wimp Leo can do it, so can I!” It sounds corny, but it works. Really.

Tell me who you are again?

I’m Leo Babauta, founder of Zen Habits. I transformed my life about 15 years ago, and have helped thousands of people change theirs through habit change and mindfulness training. I’m a vegan dad, a husband, and we’re now living in San Diego. Read about my mission to change the world through uncertainty training.

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20 reasons not to give up on the way to your goal, even in the most difficult moments

June 27, 2015Motivation

There is only one true reason why people do not succeed. They give up early. Difficulties, failures are all temporary troubles. But if a person stops trying, then he does not even have a chance of success. In this article, we have collected 20 reasons and inspiring examples that will not let you give up even in the most difficult moments.

There are periods in our lives when it seems that the world has turned its back on us: work is not going well, opportunities slip out of our hands, one trouble is replaced by another, and a desire is brewing to leave everything, go away and never come back.

I've compiled a list of 20 reasons that I hope will motivate and inspire you to keep moving forward despite the odds. After all, it often happens that people stop fighting and give up, being just one step away from their cherished goal.

1. Remember: while you are alive, everything is possible

There is only one good reason to stop fighting for your goals and dreams - death. As long as you are alive, healthy and free, you have every opportunity to continue moving towards your goals. And do this until you reach them.

2. Be realistic

The chance of mastering something the first time is negligible. It takes time (sometimes a lot of time) to learn something, acquire the right skills and understand how to apply them correctly.

Allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from your mistakes.

3. Be persistent like Michael Jordan

Michael is perhaps the best athlete in the history of basketball. He himself says that his path to the pinnacle of glory lay through constant failure. And his whole secret was that he never gave up and never gave up. He didn’t give up even when he realized that he had missed more than 300 shots, and many times he failed the last decisive shot that he was entrusted with making. Whenever Michael fell, he found the strength to get up again.

4. Learn the will to live from Lance Armstrong

Cyclist Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer by doctors, and the disease gradually killed him. Nevertheless, Lance found the strength and faith in himself to defeat her. Moreover, after his recovery, he became the only athlete who finished first in the overall standings of the Tour de France six times in a row.

5. Remember the story of the man whose act formed the idea of the marathon

In ancient times, when the Persians landed on the coast of Greece, an envoy was sent to Sparta to ask for help in the fight against the Persians. All hope was placed on this envoy, because there were simply no other means of communication and assistance.

Legend has it that this man traveled 240 kilometers on his own feet in just two days. A little later, he ran another 40 kilometers to announce the victory of the Greeks over the Persians. However, he later died on the spot.

When the trials that have fallen to your lot seem too difficult and you want to give up, remember this story and think about what superhuman efforts this first marathon runner had to make to cover such a distance in such a short time. Do not try to repeat his act, but use this story for inspiration.

6. Get yourself out of the water like Chris Gardner

Have you seen The Pursuit of Happyness? It is based on real events from the life of Chris Gardner. This is a man who was able to pull himself out from the very bottom of a beggarly life, when there was no work, no housing, no food. Nevertheless, Chris found the strength not to give up where many other people would retreat, and to achieve his goal. He became a millionaire.

If thoughts of quitting are creeping into your head, I recommend watching the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith.

7. Stand like Kanye West

You must have heard of this famous rap artist. Read his biography, I'm sure it will inspire you. This is a story about how to survive, having the bare minimum of existence, and become one of the most famous and respected people in the world.

8. Stay true to your principles like Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela is one of South Africa's most prominent human rights activists. His life story is impressive in that he spent 27 years in prison for his political views, which he chose not to give up even in exchange for freedom.

9. Know that you are strong

You are stronger than you think. One small obstacle cannot and should not stop you from achieving your goals, just like the next 10, 20 or even 100 obstacles.

10. Prove to yourself that you can

It is unlikely that you want to be remembered as a person who is weak and unable to realize himself. Go prove to yourself and the whole world that you can, that you are worthy and will definitely achieve your goals no matter what. The only way for you to lose is to give up yourself.

11. Have you done this before?

If someone has already done what you have in mind before you, then you can do it too. Even if there is only one person in the world who could do it, this is already strong evidence that you can do it too.

12. Believe in the dream

Don't sell yourself cheap! There will be many more people in life who want to keep you where you are now. They will convince you that you have conceived the impossible and you need to face the truth. My advice to you: don't let anyone ruin your dream.

13. Family and friends need you

Let the people you love and those close to you become a source of inspiration and motivation for you to push yourself to move on. Try and don't give up for them unless you find a reason to do it for yourself.

14. Don't give up because I'm asking you to.

I'm not a guru or any authority for you, and yet, if you're thinking about dropping everything and going astray, don't do it. At least because I asked you to.

15. There are people in a worse situation

There are many people right now who are in a much worse situation than you. So when you wake up thinking about canceling your morning run, remember how many people in the world can't even walk and how much they're willing to give up to be able to run every morning.

So take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to live life to the fullest that you have.

16. "Get rich or die"

This phrase belongs to Curtis Jackson (50 Cent). 50 Cent is rich and self-made. And the fact that he was shot nine times did not stop him. Face your fears and don't take the easy path, which usually means only one thing - to give up.

17. Let your enemies hate you

There will always be those who will hate you. There will always be many naysayers and people who will try to drag you down with them. Ignore them and don't take what they say to heart. Let the skeptics doubt, but you continue to believe in yourself.

18. You deserve happiness

Never let anyone tell you otherwise. You deserve to be happy and successful. Stick to this position and never doubt it until you reach your cherished goal.

19. Inspire others

Become an example for others, like a person who never, under any circumstances, gives up. Who knows what someone else can achieve just by looking at you one day and also deciding to never give up.

20. You never know how close you are to success.

A lot of people gave up, not even knowing that they were only one step away from success. No one knows for sure when success will come. Perhaps it will happen tomorrow, or maybe in a year or two. But if you stop, stop trying, and give up, you won't reach it in 10 years, or even at the end of your life.

The next time you feel like quitting, think about it, because it's very possible that success is waiting for you around the next corner.

All that is required of you is not to give up!

How to increase motivation and where to find it for work and other areas of life: an article with tips

Listen to yourself, set a clear goal and divide it into stages.

Motivation is an internal force that makes you act. There are biological, social and emotional motivation.

✈️ Types of motivations

Biological motivation - hunger, thirst, sexual desire. It is formed on the basis of biological needs. For example, a person wants to eat. The level of nutrients in the blood decreases → chemoreceptors (sensitive cells) are excited → information enters the lateral nuclei of the hypothalamus (hunger center). This sequence is triggered every time a person is hungry, thirsty, or sexually aroused.

Social motivation is a motivation that is imposed by society. Everyone seems to be successful in social networks - you need to match; everyone seems beautiful in the photographs - we urgently need to go to the salon; everyone buys the latest smartphones - you have to work harder to buy too.

Emotional motivation comes from true, deep desires. It is the most long-term, because a person turns to his own conscious motives, and not to desires imposed from outside. For example, he chooses a profession for himself, where he will satisfy the need for creativity. His motivation will be almost limitless, because it is based on an internal, conscious desire.

Biological motivation is the fastest: I wanted to eat - I got food and ate. Social long-term: the influence of society on a person is strong. The emotional one is the most durable, because it is based on her own conscious desires

✈️ Examples of motivation

For example, Masha has seen enough of beautiful models, eats oatmeal once a day to lose weight. He loses weight, buys things of the smallest size, but gradually feels that he does not receive satisfaction from the undertaking. The point is her motivation: the model figure is imposed by society, and therefore the state of “moving mountains” quickly ends.

But there are benefits to social motivation. If a person finds himself in favorable conditions, for example, in a group of excellent students at a university or a strong team at work, then he himself gradually adjusts to the level of classmates or colleagues. He studies harder, takes additional courses, strives to know more. Such social motivation helps a person to become better.

Emotional motivation is another matter. For example, Vanya has lawyers in his family, and he is predicted to become a lawyer. Social motivation pushes him to go to law school to continue the family business, and emotional tells him to go to art, because he sincerely likes it.

Vanya may succumb to social motivation and choose the profession of a lawyer, and then burn out and hate a job that he did not actually choose. Or he can listen to a deep desire and become an artist, enjoy what he loves.

✈️ Why uncomfortable conditions work better

Comfort or familiar surroundings can deprive a person of motivation to change or achieve something. The brain feels good in a heated native apartment: on a soft sofa with a laptop and tea, it spends almost no energy. This is more profitable than straining and stressing in new conditions.

As long as the brain is in its comfort zone, it has no reason to generate ideas. But in an unusual environment, it will work differently: it will create new neural connections, process unfamiliar information more efficiently. Therefore, to prolong motivation, try to change comfort for something new. For example, learn a skill, find a hobby.

✈️ Why some people study to the end, while others quit halfway through

Imagine a situation. The girl wants to learn the profession of data analyst. Asks himself: "Why?" Answers: "Well, to increase income or change jobs." It seems that the goal is clear, but not specific enough - because of this, motivation can quickly evaporate.

And here's the opposite. The girl wants to master the profession of a data analyst in order to complete an internship in an international company, get a position as a junior analyst, and raise her income to $2,000 per month. Such a goal is specific and divided into stages - it is clear how to follow it. And it fuels motivation.

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