Self Motivation - Step by Step

Motivation always comes from within. There is no book, guide, coach etc. who can motivate you to do something. People, books, events can only "inspire" you to take action but the real motivation comes from within you.

Notice how plants and animals work. They react to external stimuli. A "touch-me-not" plant would close it leaves if you touch it. Your touching it is an external source of stimulation that fires up its action of "retracting its leaves". This is the motivation. Apparently, it is all about stimulation. To motivate yourself from the inside you need "external stimuli". You need a very strong reason that keeps you focused on what you are doing. This is the "stimulant" - your REASON for doing something.

One thing that doesn't stop surprising me is the number of people who keep searching for something that could fire them up to take action. The problem is that people don't actually try to search for this "stimulant". Rather, they sit there thinking it will come by itself. Wrong. Very wrong.

To actually do some self motivation, you need to find this stimulant yourself. The stimulant is your "Why?" for what you are doing. If you are a businessman, WHY are you doing it? Are you in it for just the profits? Or is serving the people? If you are a home-based internet marketer, why are you doing it? For the comfort of being able to work from home? For supporting your family?

Ask those questions to yourself and determine a stimulant for yourself. Once you have done that, you will notice a drive inside you that constantly tells you to work towards that "why" - the stimulant.

Well, BINGO! You can motivate yourself anytime of the day now because you know your "why".

Positive thinking - The over-taught trait of personality that everyone wants to have, that each and every motivational speaker tries to instill in you and something that seems to be the most hard thing to actually inculcate in your daily life.

Positive thinking is a very important ingredient when it comes to motivate yourself. To be able to motivate yourself from inside, you need to BELIEVE that good things will happen which of course is difficult to comprehend. Why? Simply because we have seen a lot of negativity since we were young and that negativity has found home in us in the form of fear, apprehensions, and negative thoughts.

It is said that to achieve something, you need to dream. Dreams are boundless. You can imagine yourself as the next king of England in a dream, or the next Briteny Spears, or the next "whatever" you want to be. Dreams are limitless - they are par logic.

Thinking, on the other hand, is again imagination BUT it is constrained by negativity - fear, apprehensions. When we only think, all our experience, logic and reasoning comes into play and limits our thinking. This makes what we think a bit "worldly".

To motivate yourself, it is important that you DREAM without giving a second thought as to if it is really possible. The most important problem with positive thinking is that negativity comes in the way and stops us from being positive. To be able to be positive, you need to keep your negativity aside and really believe that things will turn out to be good.

You need know a truth: Positive thinking and positive expectations make positive things happen.

One of the key advantages of Self-Motivation is focus or improved concentration on the work you do. In fact, self-motivation and focus are complementary to each other. When you motivate yourself, you improve your ability to focus on the work to achieve your purpose. In turn, when you focus well on a particular work, you do it better and achieve better results which further helps you motivate yourself.

This is a cycle that goes on and on until you have reached what you originally planned. Essentially, self motivation and focus are two sides of the same coin. One cannot go without the other.

However, it is easy to loose your motivation, that internal drive to keep on focusing. Someone once compared motivation to bathing. Paraphrasing - "Some people say that motivation doesn't last. Same is the case with bathing and that is why we recommend both to be taken everyday". Get an idea? You need to motivate yourself daily or at least on a regular basis just like you bath everyday (hopefully, lol).

Without the motivation drive, it is hard to focus on the work you have undertaken. However, focus is also hard to maintain when we don't see results. It is human nature to expect things - to expect a certain (usually positive) result from every activity.

Our brain is programmed to want to sub-consciously. You may or may not realize it. In times when we don't see results, the mind looses interest in the work you're doing, hence decreasing your focus and concentration on the work. This is bad for your self motivation.

In order to be able to continuously stay focussed and motivated, you must ensure that you don't let your expectations take control. It is good to expect results, it is even better to expect positive results but it is best to expect positive results and be prepared if things go otherwise.

The future, as unpredictable as it is, may or may not be according to your expectations but let it go to your head and you can wave goodbye to your focus and the self motivation you had been trying to build so hard.

Remember, they both are flip sides of the same coin. One goes, the other one goes with it.

I often see people asking question about how they can motivate themselves, what steps they should follow, what all things they need to consider and the like. Many people take self motivation to be a process with certain steps.

However, this is not true. It is correct that you need to take some measures in order to self motivated but there is not set procedure for it. Self motivation comes from inside and is essentially a feeling, a drive - an adrenaline burst which you get as a result of somethings that you do.

What things? What are the necessary ingredients of self motivation. The answer lies in the 3 Ps of motivation.

The first "P" stands for Purpose. The stimulant. The reason you are doing something. For all activities you perform, there is a certain purpose. When you work a job, for example, the salary is not a purpose. The purpose is meeting your daily needs, paying your bills and most importantly, letting your family live in good condition.

The second "P" stands for "Passion". Are you passionate about your purpose? Are you willing to give anything and do anything plausible (of course, not illegal) to achieve your purpose? There exists are difference between work, hobby and passion. Work is something you do for the sake of it but don't enjoy doing. Hobby is something you have fun doing but don't work too hard on it. Passion is something you work hard for AND enjoy at the same time. For a purpose to be achievable, you need to have a passion for it.

Finally, the 3rd P stands of "Persistence". Essentially, to achieve any end, you need to keep trying and trying and trying. Persistence is the key to all success. If you give up midway, you can never achieve your purpose.

These three P's work together to generate a common output - Self Motivation. This why I always state that self motivation comes from the inside. It is a result, an outcome.

So, to summarize, try to find your purpose (your "why"?), be passionate about it and keep trying until you achieve it and you will never have a lack of that important thing called self motivation.

In your pursuit for success, there will surely be times where you will experience a lack of motivation and feel down. These will be the most unproductive periods for you.

However, it is easy to get out of a state of such de-motivation using the following success mantras -

#1 Appreciate Yourself

A major source of self motivation is appreciation. Appreciate what you are now. Feel proud that you are taking action because you are way better than 99% of the people who want something but never take the pain to actually achieve it. The mind loves compliments. If you appreciate yourself and your work regularly, you will automatically let your subconscious register it as a compliment and give it that motivation drive that you need.

#2 Fight Your Fears

Fears can also be used as a source of motivation. Every person has one fear or the other. Overcoming your fears gives you a sense of accomplishment. Combined with your self motivation skills, this sense can easily trigger your motivation energy and help you "get back on your feet".

#3 Stay Determined

No matter how low you feel, you need to keep going on. Determination is an important asset of anyone's personality. A "side effect" of such low times is that we tend to give up whatever we are doing and try to cut ourselves off from the world. This is harmful for your success and self motivation. Use your motivational skills and self understanding to stay determined and carry on with your work. You can even use negative motivation to stay determined.