Self Motivation – Overcome Hurdles and Motivate Yourself

Are you an upcoming singer and want to make it big in the world of music, but not making enough progress? Or you are one of those aspiring artist/painters who are dreaming of the big exhibition that draws rave reviews by critics but find that path full of hurdles.

For example take my own case, when I started out as a freelance writer, completing article writing projects on time seemed too overwhelming. Being a non-quitter and writing being my passion I took it upon myself to learn the nuances of writing “quickly” but “effectively.” Needless to say, I did get rid of the hurdles to self motivation and developed habits that make you focused and motivated.

What is motivation?

Motivation is a strong desire to achieve something and a willingness to work towards achieving that goal.

For all of us, motivators can be basic things like the will to survive, to live in society, to provide for the self and loved one’s needs. For those of us who look beyond the mundane, the focus of life and happiness may lie in reaching beyond and realizing our dreams or just greater fulfilment of life. Reaching our aspirational goals calls for a self starter disposition and a high degree of self motivation.

Hurdles to self motivation

There are three primary hurdles to lack of self motivation:

1. Lack of confidence

Our past experiences always colour our perception of the present. A negative experience in the past creates anxiety, doubt, and negative feelings in our thoughts. We focus on what we lack instead of on what we have.

2. Lack of focus

We are often confused about what we really want. Our choices are influenced by our fears about others’ perceptions and opinions, by fear of failure and by a lack of faith in the worth of our chosen goal.

3. Lack of direction

Even after we are sure about our goal, we are confused about how best to go about working towards achieving the goal. We complicate matters by losing focus of the goal and lose sight of the strategy we need to adopt to achieve the goal.

Steps to develop self motivation

Self motivation is a simple process—that of getting started and secondly, of never stopping. While the first part is simple, persisting towards the goal despite failures, a slow pace, and depression is a constant struggle.

1. Maintain self confidence

We lose confidence due to our investment in negativity. The antidote to this is to invest in positive thought. We need to cultivate an attitude of gratitude to all that we have: our strengths, past successes, and current advantages.

By reminding ourselves of how far we have come along, we energize ourselves to go further.

2. Getting tangible focus

The sole remedy to lack of focus is to translate any intangible goals into tangible, structured steps. By focusing on what needs to be done instead on our fears about possible failure, we in fact decide on what is important and how best to achieve what is important to us.

A quote attributed to Dale Carnegie aptly sums up the importance of getting focus. “Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.”

3. Persistence

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. ~ Albert Einstein. (Tweet this)

Every person who has found success has floundered, stumbled and fallen along the path. Success came within his reach only after he picked himself up and continued along his chosen path. Each time you fail, you learn one more pitfall to avoid.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson. (Tweet this)

4. Overcoming procrastination

Putting off doing things can hinder your progress at any project you would have taken up. The critical step to develop momentum is to overcome procrastination. To achieve this, you should visualize the end result more often and set realistic goals that are smaller and easier to achieve.