You’ve taken the first step and fired your first shot to claim your dreams and reach out to success. However, what you thought were pieces falling into their place were challenges overflowing, a chunk of daunting tasks that fill your plate. You grit your teeth, prepare for the worst, but to no avail. Soon enough, you feel the shackles of demotivation and burnout crawling up your back.
Sadly, as pessimistic and miserable that sounds, the world is a cold and harsh place at times, and among the 1 in 10 success stories we hear, the other nine of failure go untold. Whether it’s starting as an entrepreneur, working on your career, or improving your fitness for the better — each one of these goals presents a steep hill that aims to stop us mid-way. However, it’s not the difficulty of the goal that exhausts us, but often because we weren’t hungry enough.
You Need To Create Motivation
By hungry, we don’t mean it literally; you’re going to need a full stomach to get through most of life’s challenges. Not being hungry enough refers to your drive, the burning desire that wells up inside you, yearning for the taste of success. And when the output of willpower is unable to meet the demands of your goal, you’re bound by fate to crash and fail.
However, just because initial motivation is not limitless doesn’t correlate with giving up before achieving anything substantial. Your goal is to stay hungry and to create your own motivation without having to rely on the spur of the moment to guide you through the long-term. Your determination must be sustainable if you ever want to experience the luxury of driving up to a Porsche auto shop.
Be Accountable
A simple and effective method of staying hungry is holding yourself accountable. Sure, there’s merit to not announcing every step and inch you make towards your goal, but asking for a little outside help never hurt anyone. In fact, it might be that one push you need to make your first milestone. There’s only so much one person can achieve alone, so imagine what two or more could do together?
- Choose An Accountability Partner: An accountability partner is someone who will stay updated on your progress and hold you accountable for all your actions. They will get up in your face when you make bad excuses and give you constructive criticism on what you did and the whys behind them. Try avoiding close friends and family as your accountability partners as they might go easy on you.
- Start An Accountability Group: Instead of one accountability partner, why not try joining an accountability group of multiple like-minded individuals. You can find plenty of groups working on similar goals and skills, and having the feedback of more than one person will keep everything engaging.
Overall, this external motivator runs off the concept of you not wanting to disappoint your accountability partner/s. Their feedback, critique, and approval will help propel your determination and keep you hungry for more.
Put Money Down
Money is a universal economic tool, but apart from the primary purpose of purchases, money can also be used as an effective external motivator to keep your hungry. When you put money down and introduce an element of risk towards your self-improvement, you’ll be more inclined to give your all and strive. Essentially, it plays off the concept that you want to make everything worthwhile.
- Your Risk Apettite: If it’s for fitness, choosing to work out in an expensive gym will work to your risk appetite and make you want to work harder, getting your money’s worth out of every session. The money you put down will help set aside self-doubt and anxiety, focusing your mind on the here and now. The same concept also applies to learning a new trade or starting a business; the more you invest, the more you will strive for success.
- Self-Bribery: It’s simple, place a monetary reward for every short-term goal you achieve. This will give you something to work towards and an actionable plan with clear benefits.
Always Remind Yourself
Besides external motivators, you also need to do a rain check with internal motivators, the willpower, and determination that comes from inside of you. So, on top of utilizing the tools available to you, always remind yourself and reflect on your burning desires and passions.
How Will This Impact Your Life?
People tend to forget their main reason behind working so hard half-way through. So, whenever you can, take a quick breather and ask yourself how your actions will change your life. Remind yourself why you started in the first place and what impact will this have on your current outlook of the future.
What Positive Emotions Will This Entertain?
It’s natural for doubt and negative emotions to cloud your thoughts when reaching for success, but remind yourself of the positive ones. Recalibrate your thinking to acknowledge and entertain the positive emotions you will reap from staying hungry, determined, and motivated — the feeling of satisfaction, the pride in giving your all, and the confidence it gives you.
Understand The Opportunity Cost
Overall, it all boils down to understanding the opportunity cost of your goals and dreams. Remember, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, so heed our advice, and we wish you good luck in staying motivated.
