5 ways to stay motivated when you lack motivation

I get it. You’ve set your goals and you have certain things you want to achieve, you start and everything feels great. You’re excited to work and to get things done, and you really put all your energy into it because you feel so motivated. Then days go by, then weeks, then maybe even months, and all of a sudden you feel like you’ve lost motivation and it gets harder to work towards your goals. Today I want to share with you a few tips to help you stay motivated in every season.

 

What motivation means

 

Before we dive into the meat of the blog post, let’s start by talking about what motivation means. I love this super simple and straightforward definition from the Cambridge dictionary, where motivation can be defined as “ [the] enthusiasm for doing something”.

 

It’s really as simple as that, and the word enthusiasm is really what gives it so much meaning. It’s the energy I was talking about earlier on, it’s that driving force that will push you to continue working hard towards your goals because you know they’re worth it and you’re passionate about them.

 

 

What causes a lack of motivation?

 

Sadly, we won’t always feel motivated to work towards our goals, to run our business, and to work hard. Let’s look at a few of the reasons that cause a lack of motivation.

 

• We’re human. Before we talk about anything else, let’s just acknowledge that we’re human and this is normal. I feel like sometimes we’re afraid of saying we don’t feel motivated because we always have to act like robots and always feel 100%, but please remember that it’s okay to not always “feel like it”.

 

• It’s taking longer to get results. This is another reason that I think is quite important to mention. Usually, we’re very motivated at the beginning of a journey because we’ve just begun, but staying motivated no matter what is actually harder than we think. Results won’t often come right away, especially if we’ve just started our business or are still in the beginning stage.

 

• We’re comparing ourselves. Another thing that causes a lack of motivation is comparison. When we focus too much on what other people are doing (especially if they’re ahead of us even though we have NO idea what their journey was like), and we’re still waiting to achieve our own results, it’s easy to get discouraged and lose motivation.

Why motivation is important in business

 

I believe that especially as an entrepreneur, it’s very important to stay motivated. Motivation is important in business because we’re the ones running the show. If you’re the founder/CEO/however you want to define yourself, you are the one who holds the vision, the one from whom everything depends. If you’re not motivated for your own business and if you don’t keep pushing and working hard, no one else will do it for you.

 

Even if you have a team, they’ll only be as motivated as their leader is, so even though we can and should feel our feelings and accept certain “low” seasons (I’m the first one to do this), it’s important that we still try and get that motivation back. 

 

I’ll be sharing with you in a minute how you can find this motivation again, but before then let’s see how motivation will affect your performance.

 

How motivation affects performance

 

When you don’t feel motivated, you probably don’t feel like working. Because you have to work anyway, you’re likely not going to put the same passion into it as you’d do if you were motivated. So what happens then? You probably won’t deliver a great quality of work.

 

It’s as simple as that; when your heart is not fully into something, it will be very evident from the outside, and also you’ll just feel very drained even though you might just have to do a simple task or something that’s like routine for you.

 

Learn how to stay motivated when you really lack motivation

 

Now it’s time to talk about how to go from unmotivated to motivated and how to motivate yourself every single day. I thought I’d share 5 simple tips with you (I really love a good list, don’t I?!)

 

1. Remember your why

   I feel like this is probably the most important thing to talk about because it’s really where everything began. Your why can’t just be some wishy-washy reason, it has to be something practical that really gets you out of bed every morning. It could be your family, or a specific situation that’s very close to your heart, or whatever you want it to be. You could even make it visual if possible and put it somewhere where you’ll constantly see it. 

 

I personally keep a picture of my why in my planner which I use every day, and I keep a post-it note on the wall at my desk, so that it’s always right in front of my eyes.

 

If you want to know more about your why you should check out this post where I share some questions to ask yourself when you want to start a business. 

 

2. Become more self-disciplined

This is another huge thing that will contribute to your success, and help you gain your motivation again. You see, motivation goes in seasons, that’s just how it is, but when you’re self-disciplined, you take your character to a whole other level and you’re able to accomplish things even if you’re not 100% feeling it. I love this quote:

 

“When motivation fails discipline prevails”

 

It’s a reminder and a lesson that you can’t rely on motivation alone to achieve your goals, but in fact, you need to develop self-discipline in order to still achieve your goals and eventually find your motivation again. For more on self-discipline, read this post that shares aaaall about it.

 

 

 

3. Develop better habits

I’m really giving you some gold nuggets today. Habits kind of go hand in hand with self-discipline, because they’re the little steps you take every day to accomplish your goals and become the best version of yourself. I wholeheartedly believe that the habits we adopt as individuals in our personal lives have a HUGE impact on our business, our performance and our motivation.

 

So if you’ve been struggling to stay motivated and you’re wondering how to fix this, just try to implement better habits in your life. And also, it’s important to remove certain bad habits in order to continue to grow and use our full potential. Read this post to know which habits you should stop today.

 

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”

Jim Ryun

4. Find accountability

Accountability is essential in any part of our life, but especially when we’re running a business, especially if it’s all on our shoulders in the beginning, accountability can be game-changing. If you don’t have anyone in your immediate circle, that’s okay, what truly matters is that there’s someone, somehow, in your life.

 

One thing I love about social media is that it really allows you to find people in any corner of the world who are in the same journey as you who will be able to support you and keep you accountable. Chances are, they also don’t feel motivated every day, but by supporting each other in whatever way you choose to do so, you can boost your motivation and stay on track with your goals.

 

5. Break down your goals

Another tip that can help you stay motivated every day, is to have small goals set. Instead of having one huge goal that you need to accomplish in X amount of months, try and break that down into small things that you can accomplish and track every week. That way, you’re actually going to get that energy boost that you need to continue working hard because you’ll have something to look forward to every single week.

 

Related articles

• How to boost productivity working at home

• How to stay consistent with your goals

 

 

Final thoughts on 5 tips to stay motivated when you lack motivation

 

I know I’ve just shared A LOT of information with you, but I really invite you to process this information and try it out for yourself. You’ve got this, you’re capable of doing great things, and it’s okay to be human and not always “feel it”. But I really hope that my tips will help you to find your motivation again and keep yourself motivated every single day!