Motivation Techniques

Empowering Motivational Memories

Many people can trace their dreams back to a single moment in their lives: one experience that put them on their current path. Well, maybe you took a trip that shifted your perspective on the world. A number of young doctors, for example, were inspired to pursue medicine after seeing the suffering of people in other countries. That experience ignited a newfound passion in their hearts. But like any fire, their motivation will run out of fuel sooner or later. The unfortunate truth is that motivation fades over time. There's just no stopping it.

Eventually, you start to forget where your dreams come from as you face new challenges and you grow as a person. Those empowering memories will sink further into the back of your mind. Even the most vivid aspirations might feel foggy and forgettable. If your motivation is dwindling, it may be time to refresh your memory. Rediscover your passion by recreating the experience that inspired you in the first place. Now, going back to our example, one of those doctors might take another trip overseas. Not only are they getting inspired, but they're also bringing those old memories back to the surface. They'll have a crystal clear image of what they're fighting for, which gives them a huge boost in motivation.

Environmental Immersion

Not everyone can recreate their motivational memories, especially not every time they're feeling lazy. Motivation can disappear quickly and unexpectedly, so you can't travel across the world each time you're slacking off. Instead, you need some way to build your motivation on a daily basis. Just try injecting small bursts of motivation into your life. Give yourself miniature reminders of what you're working toward.

The easiest way to accomplish this is by infusing your goal into your environment. You could put motivational pictures up on your walls. That way, you wake up to the people and the places that inspire you. Or you could reread journal entries that you wrote during your trip. Hearing your own words will bring back old memories and inspire you to keep going. But these reminders only work if you use them consistently. So put those reminders somewhere that you'll see every single morning, or you can find a way to work them into your daily routine. If you're consistent, you won't have to worry about your motivation starting to slip because you're adding a little more fuel to the fire every single day.

Macro Goal-Setting Theory

A pair of psychologists named Locke and Latham published a theory back in 2006 that changed the way people design their goals. People have long been wondering what goals motivate us the most, and for years we've heard the same answer: make your goals small and realistic. Smaller goals feel more attainable. When something looks like it's within your reach, you're more likely to reach out and grab it. You'll feel more motivated to accomplish those goals because you really believe that you can.

But Locke and Latham pioneered a completely different approach. Their theory focuses on distant, challenging goals. These goals feel nearly impossible, but that's the point. In other words, aim for the whole cake instead of settling for a little piece. But there's one important thing to remember about Locke and Latham's goal theory: your long-term goals shouldn't just be challenging, they should also be as specific as possible. Envision your future down to the smallest details. That way, you can work step by step to make that specific dream a reality.

Why does Locke and Latham's goal theory work any better than its predecessors? The answer is called self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is how much you believe in yourself. It's how much you think you can accomplish in your life. Most people set goals that match their level of self-efficacy. If they don't believe in themselves, they might set low, easily attainable goals. But Locke and Latham's theory forces you to have faith in yourself. Those difficult long-term goals raise your potential. You're basically convincing yourself that you're capable of anything. As you can imagine, that encouragement works wonders for your confidence, your performance, and of course, your motivation.

Affirmative Mantras

The word mantra has gained a mystical meaning over the years, but the truth is that anyone can use a mantra for self-improvement. In the simplest terms, a mantra is any verbal statement that reinforces some aspect of your personality. You might use it to increase your confidence or get rid of a bad habit, but one of the most effective uses of a mantra is to stay motivated.

You need to create a mantra that reflects the journey that you want to take. Start by thinking about the where's and the why's. Where does your motivation come from? Why are you having so much trouble staying motivated? These questions hone in on the source of your problems. Next, you need to create a statement that revolves around that specific obstacle. You need to repeat that mantra at the same time every single day. It could be first thing in the morning or right before you go to sleep. That part's totally up to you, but you need to use your mantra as consistently as possible. That way, you really internalize your message and learn to genuinely believe the things that you're telling yourself.

Increment Splicing

Are you having trouble staying motivated through long, frustrating jobs? Do you end up quitting so often that you never get anything done? If this sounds like you, try a technique called increment splicing. It's a lot easier than it sounds. To start off, think of two tasks that you're having trouble finishing. Let's call them job A and job B. You're going to split each job into bite-sized pieces, or increments, which should take between 10 and 30 minutes to finish.

Now here comes the twist: you're going to tackle those increments one at a time, but as soon as you're done with one, you're going to switch jobs. In other words, if you just worked on job A, move on to an increment from job B, and then go back to job A, and then back to B again. Got it? If you keep doing this over and over, you'll end up finishing both jobs without ever losing motivation.

Increment splicing works for two big reasons. Number one, it keeps you fresh by constantly giving you something new and interesting to work on. Number two, it stops you from feeling intimidated by the prospect of hours and hours of work. So do your motivation a favor by splitting up your projects.

Manufacture Competition

If you're a competitive person, you can use that natural drive to your advantage. People lose motivation when they get complacent. They don't feel like there's any real reason to put out the extra effort, so they just take it easy. They stop pushing. But competition gives you a reason to fight harder. It motivates you to concentrate and excel simply because you're dead set on winning.

Sometimes a little competition is all you need to remember why you chose the path that you chose. So try creating competition in your own life. Set deadlines to race against the clock, start some friendly competition with a co-worker, or just compete against yourself by tracking your past performance. Each one of these tricks can hasten your workflow and improve your productivity.

But competition isn't for everyone. Some people fold under pressure, while others perform significantly worse in competitive settings. So unless you're naturally competitive, you might want to try something else.

Motivation Contagion

Ambition and motivation spread like wildfire. When you see someone else giving it their all, you become inspired to follow in their footsteps. Psychologists have nicknamed this phenomenon the motivation contagion. It explains why it's so important to surround yourself with motivated people. Their ambition becomes your ambition, and their lofty goals encourage you to set lofty goals of your own.

Whether you like it or not, your friends and partners have a huge impact on the way you work. So make sure you're spending your time with the right crowd.

Fresh Starts

What do New Year's Eve, your birthday, and the end of a decade have in common? Well, they're all popular times for a fresh start. Fresh starts are moments when people think it's time to make a big change. They have some sort of ceremonial power that pushes people to take giant leaps forward. But the truth is, these big moments are no different than any other day.

So don't wait. If you're ready for a change in your life, pick any date and make that your turning point. It could be tomorrow, it could be next week. It really doesn't matter as long as you promise yourself to follow through.

Constructive Feedback

Negativity isn't always demoralizing. In fact, constructive criticism can push you in a new direction. Feedback from others shows you areas where you can improve. It opens your eyes to new areas you can explore while reinforcing all the improvements that you've made over the years.

The word criticism sounds entirely negative, but with every criticism comes a compliment. When someone points out your failures, they're also showing you the places where you succeeded. So don't be afraid to ask for feedback. But if you do, make sure you're not fishing for compliments. The point of feedback is to help you improve, not to stroke your ego.

Motivate Someone Else

If you're stuck in a rut, try taking the spotlight off your own accomplishments and shining it on someone else's. Motivating others actually has a major impact on your own motivation. The biggest problem with motivation isn't a lack of knowledge; it's putting everything you know into practice. You know exactly what you should be doing, but execution is a whole different story.

So try using your knowledge to encourage someone else. Help them make progress toward their goals, and you'll realize just how accessible they really are. By watching someone else succeed with your knowledge, you'll feel motivated to take your own advice.

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