Before I begin, I would like to quote from the movie, ‘The Theory of Everything’- “However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.” And to keep our faith alive in hope, and be optimistic, we must stay self-motivated even in the direst situations. Everyone knows that self-motivation is the launch pad where your life takes off to the highest yet it’s very difficult to learn, imbibe and practice self-motivation. How to motivate ourselves; is a very simple but an arduous question to answer. The theories and quotations on motivation seem worthless when we face difficult situations in life so let’s work on the real practices to cultivate self-motivation in LIFE.
Cultivating Self-Motivation is Different for Everyone
When
the term, ‘SELF’ is associated with an individual; it’s apparent that it will
be different for every individual and the same is with Self-Motivation. There
will be no rule like ‘one-size-fits-all’ for self motivation. Everyone feels
motivated in different situations or with different catalysts so just sit down,
think and reflect what motivates you the most and what demotivates you, who
motivates and who demotivates you. Answer these questions before you start on
your journey of attaining a high level of self-motivation. Your answers will be
based on your experiences and choices; try to recall any incident of your work
or family life when you felt highly motivated and what was the reason of that
motivation. What were the factors that motivated you in that particular moment?
When you find your answers, just try to reconnect yourself with those factors
and boost your morale.
Faith and Intellect
Faith
and intellect go hand in hand and faith gives soul to your intellect; it gives
an immeasurable power to your mind that it can keep its morale high even in the
worst situations. Faith and intellect can mitigate the anxiety of accepting
loss and work as two wings to help you accelerate and rise with your
self-motivation. Without wisdom, faith is blind and without faith your
intellect is meaningless, so keep Strong faith in yourself to stay motivated.
What Helps You Bounce Back in Life?
Let’s
discuss the next question i. e. what helps you bounce back in LIFE? For many
the answer could be family, friends or role models but the reality is the
individuals themselves so always remember you fight back and you rise after every
fall not because of others but because you want to. Self-motivation helps you
build realistic goals and keep you away from impetuous vision of transforming
yourself over night. It propels you to take baby steps, gradually and steadily and
helps you realize, how dedicatedly you complete small tasks, how quickly you
adapt to the new circumstances and bounce back from the days that disenchanted
you. When you start small, with an open mind you soon become equanimous and
resilient to change and eventually learn to set realistic expectations for yourself.
Why Self-Motivation is Important?
To
understand this concept better, let’s observe and analyze the levels of
motivation of two Women who go to gym; one who only goes to gym when her
friends force her to go or her doctor is strongly recommending her to exercise
to get healthier. The other woman who likes to do workout because this way of
life makes her happy and feel good about herself, is actually self-motivated
because she doesn’t require any encouragement or external force to schedule her
time for gym. In both the cases, the outcomes are clear and we can understand that when the driving force comes from within, it always yields desired results but
when you are motivated to achieve the standards set by someone else; you can't expect your goals to be achieved and must be ready to accept that you are not self-motivated.
The
concept of waiting for auspicious days for new beginnings just like birthdays
or New Year is hardwired into our psyche. Even if we ardently desire some
change we have a tendency to hold ourselves back and keep waiting for good
time. Self-Motivation helps us evade such outlook and propels us to start
immediately. Self-motivation makes you
competent and equips you with self-efficacy which ultimately helps you set your
personal standards and evaluate your ongoing performance.
The conclusion is, you know all the answers of this ubiquitous question: "How to keep yourself motivated during tough times?" But the only thing you lack is to ask yourself the right questions at the right time and that’s the crux of all the theories of motivation. Most often, it’s easy to conquer the world but very difficult to conquer our SELF and the same theory is applied when you try to motivate others; always remember a true leader and motivator always leads by example and not by quotes. So Practice What You Preach and demonstrate before you dictate and stay always motivated from within if you wish others should get motivated from you and to set it right that self-motivation is the launch pad for a successful life.
