Top tips on how to keep yourself motivated

Getting motivated is a relatively straightforward process, but keeping motivated is an entirely different beast! What follows are some top tips that should help to keep you motivated, whatever the goal. Goals can be business related, like increasing your business turnover by xx%, or personal, like completing one of our AAT or ICB complete packages.

• Remind yourself of your goals

Whenever you set yourself goals, you must remember to keep them realistic. That way you won’t be discouraged if you don’t reach them. This doesn’t mean you should set yourself goals that are too easy to reach; you must challenge yourself!

Reminding yourself of your goals and checking their progress can help keep you motivated throughout the day/week/month.

• Track your progress

To keep motivated, we all need to see how we are progressing with our goals.

If you see that you are on track or, better still, surpassing your targets, you will be happy of the progress that you are making and will remain motivated. Conversely, if you see that you are slipping, it will give you the motivation to get you back on track.

• Make sure you reward yourself

Every time a goal is reached, you deserve a reward. After all, these goals aren’t (or, shouldn’t be) easy to attain! Rewards could be something as simple as buying something a little indulgent or as lavish as a weekend away. HOWEVER, the reward should reflect the goal (be realistic in your rewards!)

• Take a break

Even the most strong-minded, resolute people get overwhelmed from time to time. Without realising it, you might be burning yourself out, meaning that a much-needed break is in order. Try not to do all of your work in one long sitting; rather, stretch it out over the course of the day, or even the week (if possible). Advanced planning with your work schedule will help.

• Don’t be too hard on yourself

Everyone fails to achieve their goals from time to time. If you fail to meet your goals, learn from it. Did you set unrealistic time frames? Was your work too dependent on other people? Etc.….

You’ll not learn anything from beating yourself up over a missed goal. Accept that you will fail from time to time, and learn from those times to make sure that you don’t repeat your failures.

• Watch and read motivational stories or speeches

Some people can get a real motivational kick by watching or reading motivational stories. YouTube is always a rich source of information when looking for good motivational speeches.