We all know the days, your to-do list is endless and by 11pm nothing is close to done. You needed to go to the gym, study for a test, clean your apartment and finish you dissertation, and all you did is lay in bed with your phone in one hand, donut in the other and on your laptop watching Netflix.
Especially on my gym days and during my dissertation period, I found it really hard to motivate myself. But at the end of the day, when I did not do what I had to do or got an ‘okay’ grade because I barely studied, I always wish I just had gotten my sh*t together, motivated myself and got things done.
These 12 tips will help you to focus on whatever goal you might have and motivate yourself to actually get up and do what you have to do.
#1 – Find study/gym/work buddies
They will give you energy, motivate you and you will learn from each others strategies, mistakes and experiences. Meet on set times and days, then you will have to get out of bed and get things done.
#2 -Focus on your goal not on the plan
Your plan is not your goal. So you can be flexible with your plan, as long as you keep your main goal in mind.
#3 – Control your mind
Be positive, negative thoughts will influence you. Let go of the negativity in your mind, you can make things happen if you let no room for negative thoughts.
#4 – Avoid negative people
Just like negative thoughts, negative people will influence you, will hold you back and will make you lose focus. Although it is hard to say, but they are a waste of time and you really do not need negativity in your already busy life.
#5 -You are responsible for the outcomes
Not your parents, friends, God or neighbour but you are responsible for the outcomes. Bad things, failure and negativity happens to all of us, but the way we respond to it is OUR choice. If you did not study because your neighbours were having a party, you parents made you go to your aunt’s birthday or because you asked God to pass the test and you failed, it was YOUR responsibility.
#6 – Take care of your body
Don’t skip meals and do eat healthy, never study, work or go to the gym on an empty stomach. Take care of your body, have enough sleep and exercise.
#7 – Keep focusing on your main goal
If at least 50% of your activities do not serve your goals, it is worthless. Reaching your goals needs dedication, passion and hard work, otherwise you are likely to give up quicker when times get hard or fail.
#8 – Expand your horizon
Try something new every day. You don’t have to stick to your routine but can experiment by trying different routines and plans. This way you will learn what suits you and get to know yourself a bit better every day.
#9 – Control perfectionism
Stop worrying about things being done perfectly, this will make you lose focus on your main goal.
#10 – Being passive will make you fail
Probably the biggest enemy of all, being passive always leads to failure.
#11 – Learn from your mistakes
Mistakes and failure will happen, but that is part of your journey. Even when you fail or make a mistake, stay positive, you can learn from every single part of your journey. Evaluate the situation, what happened, what went wrong, what could I have done better and how would I handle it the next time? are questions you could ask yourself. Learn from it and move on.
#12 – Formulate goals in a compelling way
Not ‘I may be able to’ or ‘I might do’ but ‘I will’ and ‘I must’. Don’t let room for consideration or insecurity, ‘you must get your to-do list done’ and ‘you will make things happen’.
#13 – Success is relative
Always stay ambitious and be surrounded by ambitious people.