Tips for Getting Motivated

December 9, 2020

It’s very easy and effortless to get motivated to do things that you like doing when you are feeling positive and everything looks rosy, so what about when times are challenging and you are not experiencing the resourcefulness that facilitate really great motivation, what then?

Well, during challenging and difficult times, some people find a different way to get motivated and maintain an ‘up’ state and others just stop because they no longer feel that they have the necessary internal resources to get motivated and take action.  Life grinds to a shuddering halt and everything feels really difficult or even impossible.  Understanding how you get motivated is the first step to maintaining motivation, even during the most challenging times in life.

You either move toward or away from engaging in certain events, behaviours and activities.  People who move toward things they want to do too strongly may never get around to doing the things that they perceive as being unpleasant or not worth their time and which are necessary.  People who move away from getting things done may never move until things get bad enough and they are forced to act by an external deadline which often carries with it an unpleasant penalty.  The key to motivation is to be able easily and effortlessly to do things that are unpleasant or continue to function during challenging times.  Most people do not need help in doing things that are pleasant.

You have internal strategy for getting motivated which you are not consciously aware of.  There are some general elements of really great motivation strategies that work:

Elements of an effective motivation strategy:

1. Your internal dialogue (the stories we tell ourselves) has good tonality, it sounds kind.

2. The internal dialogue uses language of possibility rather than necessity. I can, I want to.

3. Includes a representation of what is desirable about the task (the completion or consequences) rather than a representation of the process of doing the task.

4. The task is chunked appropriately.  Chunking is about breaking things down into manageable parts to avoind getting overwhelmed.

5. Toward strategies are more enjoyable and result in less stress than away from strategies.

6. Toward, away and mixed strategies work.  Mixed is the most general.

7. If mixed, think of negative first and then positive that it leads to.

8. Try to replace away with toward strategy.  Set frame that “if you do not learn a new strategy you will have to feel bad over and over again in the future” which uses your current strategy of moving away.

9. Good strategies work across all contexts.

10. It may be necessary to adjust the internal picture of the task being done in order to get a strongly motivated response.  The picture in your mind should be as compelling as possible.

Example of a Good Motivational Strategy:

Self-talk in a pleasant voice “It will be so good when it is done” leading to an internal picture of the completed task and the positive consequences, leading to a positive feeling which leads to beginning the task or planning to do the task as appropriate.

Typical problems in motivation strategies:

1. Begins with Overwhelm:  You begin with the feeling of overwhelm and you needs to chunk the task down into smaller elements.

2. You person only move away:  Either this is not enough to motivate you or you experience too much stress, anxiety and unpleasantness.

3. Uses Language of Necessity:  You use the language of necessity with harsh tonality resulting in bad feelings.  For example, I have to, I must, I’ve got to, I need to…

4. Caution:  There are some things that one should move away from.  Be careful about removing away strategies entirely.  It is better to design a strategy with both elements.

Something to try for yourself:

Give this a go, it’s a technique called The Motivation Builder.  

Think of something specific that you got motivated to do, really easily.  Now, when you think of that thing, do you have a picture?  Close your eyes and put that picture up on your mental screen.  Make it so that you are experiencing the picture, looking through your own eyes.  Make that picture as compelling as it can be for you.  You may need to adjust the colour, the focus, the size, the location, the sounds, just like when you adjust the picture on your TV.  When it’s the most compelling picture it can be, turn up the feeling of motivation as high as you can.  Imagine a dial from 1 to 10 and turn it right up to 10!  When you are totally happy with your picture, step out of it so you are looking at yourself in the picture.

Now, please take that picture and zoom it away from you.  Push it right up into the corner of the room that you are reading this in, far away, small and dark.  Notice what happens to the motivation, it disappears right?  Now, zoom the picture back towards you very fast, let it hit you and cover the whole of your body, making you part of the picture once more and feel the motivation.  Then, zoom it away again and have it come back at you fast, splat!  Feel the motivation.  Repeat the process once more and this time hold the motivational feeling.  Open your eyes and go and take action.

Did you notice how the feeling of motivation grew stronger each time you zoomed the picture back towards yourself?  You can build motivation in this way any time you need it.  Give it a go, we would love to hear how you get on.

March 26, 2024

Time Line Therapy® Explained

Read Blog
March 13, 2024

Problem Solving in 3 Dimensions

Read Blog
March 12, 2024

Heisenberg & The Mind

Read Blog
March 5, 2024

Shaking The Money Tree

Read Blog
February 28, 2024

Move The Mole Hill Not The Mountain

Read Blog
February 28, 2024

How Your Beliefs Create Your Reality

Read Blog
January 25, 2024

NLP & Investing In Yourself

Read Blog
January 25, 2024

Dissolving Your Negative Projections

Read Blog
January 19, 2024

Navigating The Field Of NLP

Read Blog
January 10, 2024

A Roadmap For Change

Read Blog
January 2, 2024

Ultimate Guide to 365 Success

Read Blog
December 6, 2023

Goal Setter and Goal Getter

Read Blog
November 29, 2023

Creating Comfort in Trauma

Read Blog
November 22, 2023

Truths & Misconceptions of NLP

Read Blog
November 15, 2023

Creating Success Amidst Crisis

Read Blog
November 7, 2023

Conscious Communication To Get Results

Read Blog
November 2, 2023

Re-Programme Your Food Cravings the Easy Way.

Read Blog
October 17, 2023

The Pathway To Prosperity

Read Blog
October 4, 2023

What Makes an Exceptional Leader?

Read Blog
September 20, 2023

Calming an Anxious Mind

Read Blog
September 6, 2023

Truths & Misconceptions about Hypnosis

Read Blog
August 30, 2023

Learning Creativity from Disney

Read Blog
August 17, 2023

The Sequences of Life

Read Blog
August 2, 2023

The 2-Minute Mind Changer

Read Blog
July 13, 2023

Reframing Failure as Feedback

Read Blog
July 5, 2023

Exploring Modern Day Mesmerism

Read Blog
June 21, 2023

Support v's Sabotage

Read Blog
June 9, 2023

Creating Confidence

Read Blog
May 24, 2023

Finding Your Voice

Read Blog
May 10, 2023

The 2% Mindset

Read Blog
April 26, 2023

How Handwriting Improves Your Intelligence

Read Blog
April 12, 2023

Energetic Connections in Relationships

Read Blog
March 29, 2023

Celebrating Unique Minds - Autism

Read Blog
February 28, 2023

Four Thinking Patterns for Resilience - Part 4

Read Blog
February 28, 2023

Four Thinking Patterns for Resilience - Part 3

Read Blog
February 20, 2023

Four Thinking Patterns for Resilience - Part 2

Read Blog
February 1, 2023

Four Thinking Patterns for Resilience - Part 1

Read Blog
January 18, 2023

Tips for Transforming Difficult Conversations

Read Blog
January 4, 2023

Transforming Those You Touch

Read Blog
November 30, 2022

Valuing Values

Read Blog
November 3, 2022

Stand Out & Get Noticed

Read Blog
October 31, 2022

Nature's Change Toolkit

Read Blog
October 19, 2022

Avoiding The Language of Lack

Read Blog
October 5, 2022

Rejecting the Memory of Old Emotions

Read Blog
September 16, 2022

Understanding NLP in Business

Read Blog
August 31, 2022

The Magic of Listening

Read Blog
August 17, 2022

Mindful Selling

Read Blog
August 3, 2022

Arguing for Your Limitations

Read Blog
July 6, 2022

A Story of Creating Health & Wellbeing

Read Blog
June 28, 2022

Carrot or Stick?

Read Blog
June 14, 2022

Powerful Coaching with NLP

Read Blog
June 1, 2022

Reclaiming Your Personal Power

Read Blog
May 18, 2022

It's All In Your Head

Read Blog
May 4, 2022

How to Get Out Of Your Own Way

Read Blog
April 11, 2022

From Lost to Found - A True Story

Read Blog
April 4, 2022

Dismantling a Problematic Past

Read Blog
March 23, 2022

Creating Alignment in Teams

Read Blog
March 4, 2022

When Is A Board Not A Board?

Read Blog
February 22, 2022

What Next? A Flexible Mind is Your Friend

Read Blog
January 21, 2022

Stories of Real People & Real Lives

Read Blog
December 31, 2021

Tips for Hitting Your Targets

Read Blog
December 8, 2021

Hearing Beyond The Silence

Read Blog
November 24, 2021

Stand Out As The Best Version Of You

Read Blog
November 17, 2021

Resolving Internal Conflict

Read Blog
November 3, 2021

The Magic of Symbolism & Metaphor

Read Blog
October 21, 2021

Healthy Mind and Healthy Body

Read Blog
October 7, 2021

Congruent Coaching - The Meeting of Minds

Read Blog
September 3, 2021

Your Mind is Like a Parachute...

Read Blog
September 1, 2021

Shifting Perspective on Difficult Relationships

Read Blog
September 1, 2021

From Darkness to Light

Read Blog
August 25, 2021

Handy Hints for Transforming Relationships

Read Blog
August 12, 2021

The Vitality of Self-Care

Read Blog
July 21, 2021

Awakening Your Independent Thinking

Read Blog
July 7, 2021

Fearful to Fearless

Read Blog
June 30, 2021

Uncertainty Principle

Read Blog
June 16, 2021

Perception is Projection

Read Blog
June 2, 2021

5 Minute Belief Change

Read Blog
May 26, 2021

Shedding The Labels of Life

Read Blog
May 12, 2021

Crack Into Your Potential

Read Blog
April 28, 2021

How to Use More of Your Powerful Mind

Read Blog
April 13, 2021

Connecting With Your 6th Sense

Read Blog
April 13, 2021

It's Time To Spring Clean...Your Mind

Read Blog
April 8, 2021

Flexible Thinking

Read Blog
March 23, 2021

Why Learn NLP?

Read Blog
March 11, 2021

A Leopard & Its Spots

Read Blog
March 10, 2021

The Five Minute Problem Solver

Read Blog
March 3, 2021

Tips for Dealing with Overwhelm

Read Blog
February 24, 2021

Happiness v's Success - Which is Winning?

Read Blog
February 17, 2021

The Domino Effect

Read Blog
February 10, 2021

Ideodynamic Health in Hypnosis

Read Blog
February 3, 2021

5 Ways to Help Your Child Learn

Read Blog
January 20, 2021

4 Tips for Increasing Your Influence

Read Blog
January 13, 2021

5 NLP Tips for Generating Business

Read Blog
January 7, 2021

The Secret of Self-Hypnosis

Read Blog
December 9, 2020

Tips for Getting Motivated

Read Blog
December 3, 2020

5 Daily Exercises for Great Mental Health

Read Blog
November 18, 2020

What is NLP...Really? Understand More

Read Blog
November 11, 2020

The Formula for Personal Empowerment

Read Blog
October 15, 2020

Every Word Counts  Dive Into Language

Read Blog
October 7, 2020

Modern Hypnosis Revealed

Read Blog
FREE NLP Training