Six Motivational Techniques that Work

Glen / 28 Comments / August 25th, 2008 / Subscribe via RSS

Motivation to do something is a need for all of us at one time or another. Our lack of motivation actually comes from the fact that as surviving creatures we need to conserve energy and therefore it’s easier to be lazy than it is to work hard at something.

With that in mind, I’ve put together this post on six motivational techniques that I’ve personally used and found to be very effective. You may like to try them all or you may find one that is perfect for you.

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Six Motivational Techniques

1. Write down your accomplishment feelings

This is a big one for me, and I mostly used it to encourage myself to go to the gym more often. Because my job is internet based work, it means I spend a lot of time in front of a computer and as you know that is not one of the healthiest ways to spend many hours. Therefore, I try and push myself in terms of physical activity in order to stay healthy and release energy in my body.

I found it difficult to actually start, and kept putting it off even though I knew going to the gym was a good thing. One day when I finally pushed myself to start going again, I felt absolutely awesome. I decided to write down those feelings such as:

• Feel healthier
• Seems like a more productive day
• Feel happier and know I’m pushing myself

Now, whenever I doubt going to the gym for whatever reason, I’ll simply look at this list and know all the good feelings I’m going to have when I complete the task.

2. Use a Visionboard

Visionboards have been proven to be successful in motivating people to do things; I personally use a form of them and find it very useful. Basically, a visionboard is a collection of images that inspire you to do the things you want to do. For example:

• If you want to build muscle, have an image of a muscular person
• If you want to build your business, have an image of money or staff meetings
• If you want to attract a partner, have a picture of someone you find sexy

These are all examples, and I’m sure you can come up with images that will help you focus on your goals and what you are hoping to achieve. I view a Visionboard as a motivation and a drive rather than the intention / manifestation side of the law of attraction.

There are 2 ways you can put together a visionboard:

1. Print out the pictures, stick them to a corkboard and put it on a wall

2. Group the images together with a software program and put them as your computer desktop

I work on a computer daily so that was the option for me, otherwise I recommend putting a corkboard on your bedroom wall.

3. Write down your reasons

Before you think I’ve covered this, read on. Whereas I wrote down my accomplishment feelings for going to the gym such as feeling happier and knowing I’m pushing myself, my reasons are different. My reasons are because I want to look better which will also help me feel more confident. I know this isn’t the best mindset and I’m moving away from anything ego based but right now in my life, I want to take a bit of pride in appearance and look healthier.

Other reasons include being stronger in-case I ever get in trouble or need to defend someone. If you don’t know the reasons why you want to do something, it can be so easy to give-up and lose your initial desires. If you are looking for reasons to eat healthier try:

• Living a life with less illness
• Feeling generally better and being more agile
• Eating healthier can save money
• Can recommend and share the experience with others

For anything that you want to do, make sure you have a clear list of reasons why you want to do it or why you should do it. If you can’t think of any, then you aren’t trying hard enough or maybe you shouldn’t be doing whatever it may be.

4. Have others hold you accountable

Having others hold you accountable basically means that you tell people what you are going to do, therefore if you don’t go ahead and do it you are letting people down. You can let them know by telling them in person, posting on a forum, blogging it, or even updating your Facebook status.

If you tell people you are going to do something, you are much more likely to push it and stick to your plans because you are not the only person that suffers. Again, this is probably not the best mindset to come from but this is six motivational techniques that work, and this one works.

5. Take a break

We rarely take breaks because we think they are going to slow us down further or we’ll just get distracted and do something else. However, it’s often one of the best things to do. On Saturday’s when I tend to write all my blog posts (I work during the week), I can only write about 2 full posts before I simply don’t have the energy to spend over 3 hours on the third.

When Sunday comes around I’m a lot more motivated to write another post because I’ve had a break. Your break needn’t be a whole day, it can simply be 30 minutes, spend your breaks doing things like:

• Going outside
• Taking a walk in the fresh air
• Simply taking a break by sitting down and chilling out
• Engage in some conversation with your friends

As soon as you push yourself back to the task (and it may be a push) you’ll often have a new found motivation and will be ready to carry on with your goal.

6. Set false time constraints

When you know you have a week to complete something that only takes a couple of hours, how likely is it that you won’t leave it till the last possible moment? I know for me, I tend to leave things to the last minute and that is not a good tendency to have. To solve this you can set yourself false deadlines.

Similarly, my last hour at work often tends to be the most productive because I need to get certain tasks finished before I go home and so I really focus on them. To take this model and use it to your advantage, give yourself false time constraints for tasks. For example, if you need to finish a powerpoint presentation in the next 5 days, give yourself 3 to do it, providing it is actually enough to get the task complete.

This simple but clever method has helped me out a lot recently since I first discovered it, just don’t let your mind start thinking you can put things off because you actually have time to spare.