It is one thing to get motivated to take a risk or to start something new. It is another to maintain that motivation.
It is an all too common story: you are excited to start something new. That excitement wanes, however, as you get into mundane — but necessary — tasks. It might even ebb so low that you forego the project altogether.
As it turns out, there are two different, yet equally important, steps. One is to work up the motivation necessary to begin. The other is to remain motivated, through all the ups and downs that may follow.
Building the initial excitement is not a trivial task. But let’s assume for a moment that you can work up the necessary enthusiasm. How do you keep motivated, or at the very least, keep working despite fading energy?
Do you continually remind yourself of the end goal you are trying to achieve? Or do you enlist the help of others that you hope will motivate you? Do you try and structure the project so there are a number of accomplishments along the way that you can use as little boosts of momentum? Or perhaps you announce things publicly and hope that outside expectations will provide the necessary motivation?
What keeps you motivated, particularly when that motivation starts to wane?
Related questions: What motivates you? How do other people motivate you? Where do you get your energy? When is it useful to fail?
Roughly two decades ago, I came up with four roles I fill in my life (i.e., husband, home economist, public policy advocate, and friend/colleague) in addition to four universal roles we all need to fill to live a healthy, balanced life (i.e., physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual capacities). For each role, I articulated the missions (which have stayed constant over the years) and intermediate and lifelong goals I seek to fulfill for each.
For example, here is my Physical Capacity mission:
Interact with the world. Challenge my body through the discipline of a consistent exercise program. Aspire to strength, subtlety, mobility, fluidity, and ease to live to an old age and age well. Provide my body with proper rest and nourishment to replenish and repair itself. Respect my body as it carries my brain and mind.
I have multiple goals I’d like to attain regarding this mission (e.g., reach and maintain a certain body weight).
Now, pertaining to today’s question: What keeps me motivated?
First, as stated in the context of the question, I mark and celebrate certain short-term wins to achieve my intermediate and lifelong goals. Most effective, however, is establishing habits that get named and tracked regularly.
For example, I write down and track something daily in my journal to form and keep a habit that will bring me to the weight I want to attain and maintain: “Eat wisely, work out, and count calories.”
While the action steps may sound too common and easily ignored, tracking everything I eat, counting the calories for each of those foods, and setting aside time to work out at least five times each week have resulted in weight loss or maintenance, depending on what the current situation requires.
Again, I have regular, habitual daily actions I take to reach each of my missions and goals. It takes discipline. But it works.
I once owned a T-shirt with the print
“Attitude is everything “.