5 Reasons You Are Not Motivated

Do you ever find yourself thinking about how much you’re going to accomplish sometime in the future, but then when it’s time to actually put in the work you can’t find the motivation? It is so easy to think about our essay literature topics and how wonderful they are going to be, but if you can’t find a way to consistently work towards them it is easy to get frustrated and give up.
Here are some tips that I have used in order to keep myself moving forward, even if it is just a small amount at a time. One step forward is better than not making any progress at all. Motivation is a product of our own minds, and we can have as little or as much of it as we allow ourselves given the right mindset.

#1 You Make Too Many Excuses

You might not want to hear this, but a large majority of people who are having a hard time with motivation make themselves feel better by making up excuses. We have all heard people say, “I would like to start my own business but I don’t have the time”, “I work a full-time job and have kids, I don’t have the time to pursue my dreams”.
Almost always, people who say these things have the time to watch TV or to play Video Games. In the end it is about priorities, it’s not that you don’t have the time it’s that you aren’t putting your goals in the front of the line. If you want to take action and achieve your goals you have to start making the time for things that may be uncomfortable in the short-term, in order to reach your goals in the long-term. ‘
Stop with the excuses, everyone has some time to work on their business and pursue their goals. Even if it’s just 30 minutes a day, practicing the guitar for example is not something you are going to learn overnight. But if you make excuses instead of taking 15 minutes out of each day to practice you will literally never make it anywhere. Stop with the excuses and take action.

#2 You Don’t Force Yourself To Take Action

Starting a business or learning a difficult skill is not always fun. Learning to play the guitar by doing endless finger exercises or working on your next book can sometimes be the last thing you want to do when you get home from a long day at work, are hungry and tired, and have no energy. The difference between those that find success and those that fail is the internal motivation factor.
You must be your own driving force, you cannot rely on someone else to tell you to put your head down and get the work. You have to be willing to do this yourself, you must force yourself to take action. Be your own motivation and you will achieve your goals. Successful people motivate themselves, and this is how they are able to have wins over and over again in their lives. You must be willing to be uncomfortable and beat yourself into shape when you are feeling unmotivated. When you are tired, be hard on yourself and force action.

#3 You Don’t Have A Schedule

Most people, including myself have their heart in the right place but can be extremely unorganized. Setting up a schedule for yourself will not only hold yourself accountable for putting in the work on any given day, it will help you become more productive when you actually do decide to put in that work.
Take for example, starting an online blog. It is great that you devote around an hour a day to writing and working on your blog, but it doesn’t help if half of that time is spent tweaking the design of your site which will yield no real return on your time instead of writing content. You want to focus on what is important, especially if you don’t have a lot of time to spend in the first place. Set a game plan and write-up a schedule for yourself. Dedicate as much time to your goals as you can. It doesn’t matter if it’s working out, learning guitar or starting a business. If you set a smart calculated schedule for yourself, and check off each successful day you will be much more productive during the time you’re actually spend. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed at the results.

#4 You Forget The Why

How many times have you told yourself after you just ate a pint of ice cream that tomorrow you’re going to start that diet, and this time I’m sticking with it! But then come to find out, two weeks later you eat an entire pizza. More often than not, this is because you forgot the WHY. You lost the motivation because you have forgotten what you were working so hard for. It is so easy to fire yourself up in the moment and lose perspective a few days or weeks later and throw it all out the window. The important thing to keep reminding yourself over and over is why am I doing this? What is my long term goal?
It helps to have a whiteboard or a piece of poster board up on your wall somewhere that you can see it every day with a clear map of your goals and the end point you are hoping to achieve. If you can remind yourself each day of why you are sacrificing so much of your time, you are much more likely to keep your willpower and motivation because you can remember how important the goals you have set for yourself are to you. Don’t let yourself forget the WHY and eventually you will make it much further down the road to the WHERE you really want to be.

#5 You Try Too Much At Once

If you want to achieve a large goal you have to make small steps to get there. The biggest mistake people make over and over again is setting an ultra-high goal, getting super pumped up about it for the first few days, and then realizing how hard it is to actually work towards the goal they give up. This is a product of setting unrealistic goals and trying to get everything done all at once. Nothing great comes overnight, no matter how hard you work at it.
By setting your sights on achieving the steps it takes to reach the bigger goal, you can set yourself up for making milestones and small wins to reinvigorate your motivation. Try writing out a roadmap with checkpoints along the way, or just keep reminding yourself that making small consistent progress is better than burning yourself out by going balls to the wall and gassing your tank. Slow and steady wins the race. This sound cliché, but it is absolutely true when it comes to achieving your goals and staying truly motivated.

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