9 Tips To Supercharge Your Motivation
Motivation is the driving force behind life-enhancing change. It comes from knowing exactly what you want to do and having an insatiable, burning desire to do what’s necessary to get it. It keeps your dream on track as it is the power of motivation that keeps you going when the going gets tough.
Here’s 9 top tips to help you supercharge your motivation:
1. Create a Picture Board
and fill it with images of your desired goals. A Graduation cap, the car you want to own, the house you want to live in, the area where you want to live yes, they’re the obvious ones. Others could be pictures of holiday destinations, trophies, first-class travel tickets, clothes you want to buy, fine restaurants you want to frequent – whatever you can think of that gets your pulse racing.
2. Change your Mindset
If you want to change your life for the better then you may have to change your mindset. Get angry about where you’re at now. Having a blasé attitude towards change isn’t what’s needed and it won’t create a strong desire within you. So ask: “Why do I want to change?” or “Why do I need my GED?” Is it because you’re FED UP with debts? Does your boss or job DRIVE YOU CRAZY? Is your life DULL AND PREDICTABLE? Are you SICK AND TIRED of doing the same thing week in week out? Are you BORED BEYOND BELIEF by the dull, uninspiring, unhappy people you associate with? THEN GET ANGRY ABOUT IT. And I mean REAL ANGRY. Write it all down, all of the frustrating, unrewarding, miserable lot of it that makes every day a dull slog until your final days. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT? Do you want CHANGE? Then you must be the GENESIS of that CHANGE!
3. Respect Your Time
Speaking of your final days, start to appreciate the value of time. Time is one of the most precious resources you have and it is also a NON RENEWABLE resource. You can either use it fully or squander it. If you want to create change you’re going to have to invest a lot of time to make it happen. Start to reduce the time you waste on irrelevancies: Television, newspapers, lie-ins, weekends spent shopping, partying, dining out, visiting an endless line of relatives and friends – these won’t help you get what you want and all of them will rob time from you. Use this new found time for STUDYING and VISUALIZING your GOALS becoming TRUE. Valuable time that you can use much more effectively by investing it in YOU. Remember this: You have a finite amount of time here on Earth. You don’t know how much time you have – no one does. But it’s how you use the time you have that counts. So make your time count and that means starting from right NOW.
4. Focus on the Things you can Control
Focusing on what we can’t control often takes our energy and attention away from what we can control.
And that’s the problem for many of us. Focusing on what we can’t control makes us less effective and potentially leads to the outcomes we fear the most. The more time and energy we’re spending on the things we can’t control, the less time and energy we’re spending on the ways in which we can make a difference.
Focusing on what we can control TAKES DISCIPLINE!
It’s a practice, rather than a “done once, done for life” scenario. It’s also the difference between massive action and passive action. Floundering around worrying about all the variables and outcomes beyond our control keeps us in a state of helpless passivity. Sometimes it takes discipline to keep moving forward step by step, even when we feel vulnerable and uncertain.
When we focus on what we can control, we don’t worry as much about what we can’t
This was an unexpected benefit of focusing solely on where I could make a difference. Once I knew I was doing as much as I reasonably could to create a healthy happy space for my little resident, the more at peace I felt about all the variables outside my control. Again, this didn’t mean I was free from nerves or anxiety, but that input and effort gave me deeper self-trust. By focusing on the things we can control ,this allows us to CELEBRATE the small wins. Lastly, FOCUSING on things we can control allows the ability to BREAK our GOALS into smaller chunks, one test at a time until completion.
5. Fear your fear.
FEAR is the force THAT IS DETERMINED TO STOP YOU IN YOUR TRACKS AND ROB YOUR DREAMS FROM YOU.
But it can only do this if you let it. Are you going to let a failed test, steal your happiness and crush your spirit? Just Imagine this thought haunting your final days: “I didn’t do the things I wanted because I was too frightened to live”. And by then, it’ll be far too late to conquer fear. Refuse to let fear spoil your life and start taking action – NOW!
6. Visualize Your Goals
By visualizing a compelling vision for your future goals, you bring the future into the present. As you visualize your graduation, your future prospects, what you will be able to do with the increase of income, etc., you’ll feel your present motivation skyrocketing and the obstacles you’re facing will melt into the background.
To effectively visualize you have to see what will be happening, hear what you would be saying to yourself ( affirmations/declarations) and others, and how you will feel when you are walking across the stage to accept your diploma and living the life you want. Before you begin, remove all distractions, get comfortable and relax. The BEST TIME to VIUALIZE is first thing in the morning while your brain is still in creative mode and in the evening just before you go to bed because your neurons continue to fire and wire while you sleep.
7. Write it ~ Read it ~ Say it ~ Believe it
Once you have visualized, take time to write down your goals, read them and say them out loud along with your affirmations or declarations. Next you have to believe it! By writing down your goals, studies have shown that you’re more than 40% more likely to accomplish them. This may take time because you are changing the neurons in your brain, which takes time and is often a challenge. the more you Visualize, write it, read it, and say it, the sooner you will really begin to believe that it is possible to achieve the goals you want.
Even if, at first, the practice seems silly, give it some time. It’s been said that when we repeatedly think certain thoughts (such as affirmations), our subconscious mind starts to believe them, which ends up manifesting in our reality. So, if you want to become your best self and stay motivated, start working on your personal growth and mental development right now.
8. Focus on the Positive People in your Life
If you don’t feel like you have enough positive people in your life, find some new ones. Only share your goals with those that are most supportive of you. And while you’re at it, let go of toxic relationships (or at the very least, distance yourself from negative types who bring you down).
For example, I had a student several years ago and she was doing very well in my class. One day, I was visited by her grandmother. Not expecting a visitor, I approached cautiously, for good reason. As I approached, I said “Good After…” and before I could finish, she interrupted me and said, “Who do you think you are!” I was flabbergasted and at a lost for words. She then proceeded to say ,”Why are you filling my granddaughter’s head with all these thoughts of grandeur. Her mom wasn’t !@#$ and she ain’t gonna be S!@#.” I was so glad to see her leave and I immediately texted my student with a short text that read “Keep your head up! What GOD has planned for you no one can stop accept you!”
This young lady proceeded to remove this negativity from her life by moving to her aunt’s home. Her aunt was a registered nurse. By changing her environment to a supportive environment filled with encouragement, it allowed for growth. Her aunt inspired her to become more than anyone in her family expected. Does it matter who it is, if your friends or family don’t support you, why are they in your life? Take an inventory of the people in your circle. My student’s circle changed, her aspirations changed and SUCCESS changed her life, she is now a REGISTERED NURSE at a local hospital. Like-minded people will help you stay inspired and motivated. The truth is that your chance of actually achieving your goals is greatly increased when you share it.”
9. Act immediately
Once you’ve set a new goal, take action immediately! Your first task might be as simple as creating a STUDY SCHEDULE. If you don’t take immediate action, you risk falling into “analysis paralysis mode”, which is a state where there’s a lot of thinking going on, but nothing is actually happening.
More often than not, motivation will come after action. Making a little bit of progress can be the inspiration behind additional progress. The key is to do something as soon as you’ve decided what you want to accomplish.
Similar to the Newton’s law of motion, “every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force.” Essentially, this means that inertia happens if no action is taken. Well, the same is true with your life. If you don’t take action, nothing happens.
“I hope these nine strategies lead to a better you, starting with obtaining your GED.”
Jeremy F. Tinsley, M.Ed.
