“How do you motivate yourself and keep it up?”
This was posted to me when Howell Mabalot interviewed me after my speech to over 1500 people in the recent Philippines HR Congress 2019.
Honestly, there are times where I don’t feel exactly highly motivated, but my response to it is extremely important.
This is not a cheerleading rant but my actual strategies that I use to keep myself stay motivated.
My 7 ways that will help you stay motivated in life and excited about what you do:
1. Work with your strengths, not weaknesses.
You are highly unlikely to be motivated if you are always working on your weaknesses. You need to form teams that can leverage off your strengths and compensate for your weakness.
2. Understand your purpose in life.
I derive tremendous joy in working with people, teams and organisations in achieving their best. I can do this over and over again, and even on the weekends. If you do things that are aligned, you tend to be motivated.
3. Plan small goals consistently.
This is contrary to what most people say which is to plan big goals.
Big goals is useful for highly motivated people but most people are not going to achieve it like them. Most people plan big goals but don’t achieve anything. How is this motivational? Why do you set yourself up for failure?
Instead, plan goals that you can reach and when you hit it, then increase the level of difficulty. This creates a rhythm of winning and is motivational.
4. Focus on getting better.
Highly successful individuals don’t focus on being perfect, they focus on getting better.
If you are a person who constantly thinks so much and eventually decides not to do anything, you might want to reconsider if this is serving you. Successful and motivated individuals take clear steps ahead to be better each time. They know that if they consistently TAKE ACTION, things happen and success is a by-product of it.
5. Do things that will help you feel motivated.
But this only happens when you are self-aware of what keeps you in that state. For me, it can be watching inspirational movies, read empowering specific articles or books, talking to people whom I respect and many more. You could also ask yourself when was a time you were highly motivated, ask what was exactly different about that time and what could you do to repeat more of those times?
6. Reflect on what went well.
You tend to get motivated when you know that there are areas you do well. These can be extrapolated into other areas of your life and work. You can start examining what did you do exactly to create good results for yourself and what was different about that time? This will give you clues to replicate future success for yourself.
7. Scale progress.
In my program, Small Steps To Big Changes, we teach our participants to always scale their progress. This is highly motivational since you will start noticing what’s better and what could be done to move one level up the scale. On a scale of 1 to 10, scale where are you on the topic that you want to be better in? Ask yourself what needs to happen to move one level higher within the next month? After one month, ask where you are on the scale and over some time, you will start noticing that you are progressing and know what needs to happen to move to another level.
Most people plan big goals but don’t achieve anything. How is this motivational? Why do you set yourself up for failure?
– Kenneth Kwan
