7 Simple Tried and True Ways to Regain Your Motivation

Have you been struggling with your motivation lately? If so, you’re in the right place! Keep reading for tried and true ways to regain your motivation.

It doesn’t matter what your station in life is, whether you’re a stay at home mom, a college student or an entrepreneur, maintaining the motivation to accomplish all that you have going on can be tough.

For starters, it’s so easy to let the day get away from us. We feel like we were busy all day and yet didn’t accomplish a whole lot.

What’s the deal?

When we’re busy and yet accomplish nothing, our motivation naturally disappears.

However, a key to regaining your motivation is realizing that we’re not getting things done because we’re lacking motivation. Actually, we’re lacking motivation because we’re not getting things done.  In other words, when we get things done we gain motivation.

It sounds a bit like a catch 22, but more often than not we fail to complete our tasks because we’re not exactly sure what we should be working on. Unfortunately, this leads to procrastination and eventually giving up altogether.

But, rest assured there are simple tried and true ways to regain your motivation, take action, and get things done!

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1. Set Small Goals

We have a hard time maintaining our motivation when we’re not sure what we should be focusing on. This usually happens when we have a big goal or project because we see it as one large task. However, every goal or project is really made up of a lot of small parts. By breaking it down into smaller pieces it’s easier to get things done.

Smaller bite-size goals and tasks give us quick little wins. It’s these quick little wins that will help you regain your motivation.

For example, if you have a goal to declutter your entire home, it is going to be easy to lose motivation when you look around and still see tons of clutter.

But if you make a smaller goal to declutter one drawer or a closet, you make your goal short and simple. It’s overwhelming to declutter your entire house, but it’s not at all overwhelming to declutter a drawer or other small area.

When you accomplish that little goal and declutter a single drawer you give yourself a win. With each win, you feel productive and motivated to continue decluttering other areas of your home.

Each time you accomplish the smaller goal you set, add a new goal, and build on your momentum. Eventually, you regain your motivation and will accomplish your ultimate goal.

2. Focus On Your Why

Knowing why we want to do accomplish the goals we set is crucial to keeping motivated. Let’s go back to the decluttering goal example, you want to ask your self “why do I want to go to all the work and effort to declutter my house?”

Well, perhaps, you want your house to be easier to clean so that you have more time in your day for things that matter to you. Decluttering your home will help simplify your life, it will give you less stress and more peace. Decluttering your home will increase your finances. You know that decluttering your home will help you to have these things. If you want these things in your life, this is a great motivation to do the work.

Whatever your ultimate goal is, by focusing on the why, the reason you have set that goal, you will regain your motivation to keep going. It is also very helpful to write your why down. Once you have written it down, keep it in a place you will see it every day.

On days that you find your motivation waning, this visual reminder may be just what you need to reclaim your motivation.

3. Surround Yourself with Positivity

Discouragement happens when we are struggling to accomplish our goals. One thing is for sure, nothing will stop your motivation quicker than discouragement.

When you find yourself facing discouragement stop and surround yourself with positivity. Call a friend who has the gift of encouragement. Find and print out some inspiring quotes. Read success stories.

James Clear, the author of the best seller “Atomic Habits”,  writes in an article on positive thinking:

“Research is beginning to reveal that positive thinking is about much more than just being happy or displaying an upbeat attitude. Positive thoughts can actually create real value in your life and help you build skills that last much longer than a smile.”

Positivity is the clear antidote to discouragement. By surrounding yourself with positivity you will believe in yourself and see that your goals are possible to accomplish. Our motivation naturally returns when we truly believe it is possible to reach our goal.

4. Write it Down

One of the things that hinder our motivation is not having a clear plan of action. Writing down your goals and breaking them up into specific steps will have you taking action. Writing down your top three priorities each week, with a list of what you need to do each week keeps you focused.

Personally, I love having something that I can physically look at to remind me of what I want I should be working on. When I’m feeling overwhelmed, scattered, or unsure of what I should focus on, I look at my planner and everything is written right there.

There’s no need to use anything fancy, I offer my newsletter subscribers a free downloadable planner (you can sign up by clicking the image above).

However, I also use a planner that is designed for helping you accomplish your goals. It’s  The Living Well Planner.

The Living Well Planner makes it simple to set and keep track of your goals.  Each month has a specific page for writing out your top goals followed by pages designed to help you break them down into actionable steps.  This planner helped me become so much more focused.

Either way, by making simple lists of what you’re hoping to accomplish, you’ll have a clear structure to follow. Having this clear structure keeps you motivated to continue moving forward.

A written list also has the added benefit of giving a visual of what you are actually accomplishing. In doing this, when you complete one of your small goals, you can cross the item off of your list. As you continue to cross small items off of your list, you will instantly feel a sense of accomplishment which ensures you’ll regain your motivation and keep moving forward!

5. Regain Your Motivation By Focusing on Your Progress

You have a choice, you can focus on what needs to be done and the obstacles you need to overcome or you can focus on the progress you have made. An article from the Mayoclinic confirms that focusing on the progress you are making motivates you to keep going.

Even if it is only a small step to achieving your ultimate goal, those little things can really add up and create a snowball effect.  As you focus on the progress you are making, you are going to want to keep going.

6. Give Yourself a Break

No matter how productive you normally are, no matter how well you manage your time, or how many items you get crossed off your to-do list, at some point you will drop a ball or two. Here is what you do when that happens; realize it’s okay.

We are great at showing grace and kindness to others, all the while withholding it from ourselves. When we do this, we start to feel defeated and we lose our motivation. We need to give ourselves permission to drop balls every now and again, pick ourselves up and keep going.

When we realize a small setback is just that, we show ourselves the same grace we would readily offer to someone else. This is often just what we need to regain our motivation to keep going and pursuing our goals.

7. Simplify

Your environment actually has a big impact on your motivation. It is very hard to stay motivated to work on certain tasks when you are sitting in a room that is in disarray and filled with clutter. On the other hand, if you are working in a room that is neat and clutter-free you will actually be able to focus more clearly.

By simplifying your surroundings and removing excess clutter, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you will regain your motivation. Take some time to simplify your surroundings by removing excess clutter.  If you need some help with getting started on decluttering, then make sure to check out this post.

We all lose motivation from time to time, use these simple steps to reclaim yours.