As an entrepreneur, freelancer, or small business owner, you already know that there are things that you’ll need to do because they need to be done. You’ll do them because you’re a professional; not because they bring any kind of enjoyment. However, this being said I will add that owning your own business can be the vehicle that moves you closer to the lifestyle you have always wanted to create and design. Motivation and habits will move you closer to your goals.
Even though you know all of this, there will still be times when you struggle to get motivated. Your head will tell you that you should do one thing, but your heart will stubbornly refuse to cooperate.
How can you motivate yourself when you feel like that?
Self-motivation is a complicated subject. There are many reasons why your motivation may wane. One of them is rooted in your expectations. For instance, what did you expect your results would be when you started? Were you just trying to earn a living or to become wealthy? Did you expect to reach your financial goals in a month, a year or five years?
Motivation can be lost when you fail to realize your expectations. And that’s really where you need to start because to re-motivate yourself, you need to first understand how you got demotivated in the first place. There was a time when you were all fired-up, but now you can barely face your desk. Why? You have to find out.
One reason could be that you feel you have no real life purpose. There’s no particular reason why you’re pursuing this work instead of some other. It could be that when you first started out, you had what you felt was a very strong reason, but now that you’ve been doing it for a little while, that reason doesn’t seem so important after all. This is a big reason why some would-be entrepreneurs become demotivated.
Another one is that you haven’t seen much progress. It could be that you thought you’d be a lot further along now than you are, or that you’ve had to spend more money than you thought you would. Whatever it is, what you expected hasn’t materialized, and now you’re beginning to wonder if it’s even worth it. You’re probably disappointed or discouraged. Despite doing your best work, you just can’t seem to make any real headway.
How can you motivate yourself?
That really depends on the cause. It could be something as simple as improving your work area. Maybe you need more light. If you live in a part of the world where the days are short, especially in the winter, then that could have a profound effect on how you feel. It could be that you need to do some particular task, and you’ve been avoiding it because it frightens you. The thing is that it’s quite likely that that is the very thing that you need to do. Those who have successful enterprises are willing to do what the wannabes won’t do.
It could also be that the reward you get from doing your work is insufficient to make you want to do it. In that case, you have to discover what reward will motivate you, and then structure your work in such a way that you can get it. Are your habits serving you each day as you seek more meaningful motivation?
Maybe you just need a vacation, or even a staycation where you stay home but do some things you love to do but don’t make time for much any more. Officially, a staycation, or holistay, is a period in which an individual or family stays home and participates in leisure activities within day trip distance of their home and does not require overnight accommodation. Any time you find yourself demotivated, think about what has changed since the last time you were away from work and your regular activities.
Motivation Leads to Habits
Author and entrepreneur Scott H. Young sums it up well in his article that attempts to answer the question, Why Is It So Hard to Create Permanent Habits?
Motivation works well in the short-term. If you set a new goal, you can probably summon up the motivation to pursue it earnestly for a week or two. If the goal is tremendously important, that motivation may even carry you uninterrupted for a month.
But motivation wanes. If your goal takes more than a month or two, you’re going to need more than just motivation. You’re going to need habits.
Habit-building methods are great because they translate that short-term motivation into something more durable. If you invest in consistent routines, with triggers, rewards and punishments, you can stabilize that motivation into systematic output.
Motivation and habits are intertwined. Please give this post and the ideas I’ve shared with you here some thought. Then, reach out to me or leave a comment to share your perspective with me and the readers.
I’m Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author, an independent publisher, and serial entrepreneur Connie Ragen Green and would love to connect with you. If you’re new to the world of online entrepreneurship please check out my training on how to make your first income online at 3 Day eBiz (Use Code MAKEITHAPPEN for a Discount) and learn how to gain an unfair advantage when it comes to building a lucrative online business.
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