What do you do to keep your motivation up?

[k01234]

A lot of people here really emphasize self-improvement, so I want your opinions on an issue that i've had problems with my entire life.

There are many goals I have right now - getting good grades, working out and eating healthy, learning piano, learning how to dance, and last but not least, improving my game . Every once in a while, I get all fired up about all my goals, but I find it really hard in the long term to consistently work on everything.

How do you guys keep your motivation up? Do any of you have special methods/techniques that you use? What's the best way to keep on track, and fight off procrastinating/being lazy?

p.s. first post wooo

 

[trent81]

I don't masturbate.

 

[search1ng]

In regards to working out, it's easy to get 'bored,' when you're not seeing gains, etc. Just make sure you're doing all the 'main,' workouts and switch it up. Even do some extra sports you know will get you in the mood to lift seriously.

Education. Unfortunately education is one of the things you really want to do in order to succeed. In that regard as long as what you're doing is what you want to do, you'll be fine. REMEMBER, that success is NOT a measurement of yourself against everyone else, it is instead the PURSUIT of your ambition/goal.

Piano/music. I play piano and guitar, force yourself to try and learn a new song and master if within 1-2 months. Rinse and repeat. You'll be coming up with your own things in no time. In regards to something like this i think there are two kinds of approaches. One is to really enjoy it and play it for the love of playing. The second is to obviously have an interest, and then build upon that interest through SET GUIDELINES. Basically, the second one means to get off your ass and do it.

Woman/game/etc. In any given situation try and apply what you've learned. If the option between a social environment vs staying at home etc. comes up, do try and take the social setting. It'll be a hassle but the benefits out-weigh the negatives.

Be a man about things and you'll be fine.

 

[Masked_angel]

Read Napoleon Hill - Think and grow rich and George Leonard - Mastery

 

[AAAgent]

its hard to keep yourself motivated. Motivation just like any other source of energy can be burned up or depleted. Just replenish it and take some time. i've lost alot of motivation lately but i just keep on moving because i know i have to and because the things won't move themselves or get done by themselves unless i do it.

 

[speakeasy]

In regards to working out, it's easy to get 'bored,' when you're not seeing gains, etc.

I think this is a key point as to why people lose motivation. If you aren't seeing results from your efforts, motivation will be lost. When you are seeing results, motivation will be intensified. I think it's very much a feedback phenomenon.

When you think about how the brain works, it's actually quite natural and makes sense. Your body and brain are designed to be efficient and not waste excess time and resources on things that are not necessary. That's why if you stop working out, you'll lose muscle mass, because remaining big when you are not using muscles is a waste of the body's resources. I think mental processes are the same way. It takes mental energy to get up your motivation and to achieve some life goal. If your brain is not getting a reward for the energy spent, it may lower levels of motivation(whether motivation comes from some chemical or whether it's something more esoteric, I don't know). I think it's all a reaction to stimuli thing here and works the way your brain responds to any system of punishment or reward.

I've been working out and have recently been plateauing for some reason. I'm now feeling my motivation level drop quick. Yet when I was seeing gains, and feeling my shirts getting tighter prior to this, I almost couldn't wait to get into the gym on my scheduled workout days. I think my motivation drop is just my subconscious brains way of saying "WTF, putting out all this effort for no reward." It's just a theory anyway. Whether my theory is true or not, I think you still have to view motivation as a feedback loop where the better you're doing, the more you'll be motivated to do even more, and then you become unstoppable. That's why some people rise to the top in whatever they do. And the opposite is true, the worse you're doing in your goals, the less motivation you'll feel and you have to make a daily conscious effort to get where you want to be. I think that's why they say that guys who are still virgins past 30 will probably always be. Their motivation level has fallen so far from lack of results that getting to even normal is nearly out of reach for them.

Best thing to do I think is break down your goals into a series of small steps. Write them down on paper so that you can cross them off. Having a list of short term milestones to cross off along the way gives you a huge boost. I even love the feeling of crossing things off my shopping list and then feeling that glow of satisfaction when I have a page of fully crossed off items. There's also some pretty cool tools I've been playing with that are computer-based, like mind-mapping software which you can use to break out thoughts, goals and draw connections between things. This one is pretty cool and I've been using it: http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/vue/ .

 

[speakeasy]

This thread is a few weeks old, but I ran across this blog entry and think it's really good on this topic:

http://www.kinowear.com/blog/how-to-build-unstoppable-confidence/