As we scroll through our social media we see the quotes, the inspiring stories and even the inspirational leaders whose stories are shared. As much as this can be a form of motivation, being in business for 10 years I realised that this isn’t enough. In this article, I’m going to break down the real motivation and how you can naturally possess it without the fluffy social media content.
How to find progress in your day.
A) Focus on the small wins, this could be how you stood up for yourself in a meeting, the good you did to help someone or even being able to cook a meal for yourself. Small wins give us a feeling of achievement. We are all motivated by progress but most of the time we don’t even celebrate the small wins as we constantly seek the destination. Feeling the pressure of success and always wanting it isn’t healthy and can quickly lead to burnout.
B) Tracking your day including tasks or activities which you carried out. Note, I didn’t say completed. We can often fall into the trap of not feeling like we’ve done enough today so being aware of your activities can help you improve but also help you switch off as the list of what you’ve been doing grows on. This can be a great way of avoiding burnout.
C) We can get so sucked into our day to day that we forget to ask ourselves the most important question. How am I feeling today? Rather than suppressing you can understand your feelings and convince yourself that your activities suggest otherwise or it allows you to evaluate what you’re doing to improve how you feel.
D) We often get sucked into work so much that we forget about the goals and other areas of our lives that we neglect. Feeling like you’re moving forward with your fitness, relationship and even diet can help you stay motivated which will have a knock-on effect as to how you feel at work. You can simply, workout in the morning, make time for a good breakfast, send a message to someone you care about making them feel special. All feelings that contribute to progress.
The overall theme here is balance. Motivation doesn’t come from this idea of always working or the destination we desperately seek but the balanced life we have and how we come to seek progress in areas outside of our work. I’m not expecting anyone to implement these steps straight away and suddenly feel motivated again? Take one step and let it become a habit over the next few weeks.
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