Do you feel like you sometimes lack direction?

Do you find yourself procrastinating rather than taking action?

Perhaps a desire to have everything perfect is stopping you from making any progress at all? 

 Have you lost momentum: you have little spurts of action, but then you become stuck again?

If you’ve answered “yes” to any of the above, you may need a little help to get remotivated.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret: if you want to feel more motivated, you need to take action!  Now, this may feel somewhat like a catch-22 however, hear me out.  This is the thing -  if you take even the smallest step forwards, you will feel encouraged to make further progress.  You will also feel more confident the more action you take, so it’s a win-win. 

Here’s another thing: you won’t make progress unless you are prepared to fail; often.  Which can be an awkward and intimidating notion for some; especially perfectionists.  As a recovering perfectionist myself, I came up with the anagram: FAIL – Forever Ascending in Life, to remind myself to keep moving onwards and upwards, no matter what.  Perhaps it could help you, too.

Here are 5 further tips to help you to stay motivated, no matter what the circumstances:

 1.    Connect with Your “Why” and Define Your Purpose

 I define purpose as: Core Values + Mission + Vision = Purpose.  You need to do the work here to define these components and you will be thankful when you have.  When you have this right, you will be in total flow and are unlikely to feel demotivated again…

 When you are inspired, you are driven to work on this thing day and night/whenever you can; if you are not inspired, then your goal is either not big enough or is not aligned to your values/is not congruent to you. 

2.    Consider the Bigger Picture

 Ask yourself, “Who else benefits from me achieving my goals?”.  What are you ultimately looking to achieve?  Is it a brilliant lifestyle for you and your family?  Is it freedom?  Work/life balance?  Do you want more time with your children?  Do you want to travel the world?

When you think beyond the task in-hand and understand the end goal, suddenly it seems rather more worthwhile.

3.    Accountability

With the best will in the world, even the most self-motivated people will flag.  Talk to people, create a buzz around your idea, recruit an accountability partner or a coach.  You’ll soon find that, once you have committed to your goal out loud, you are then on for the ride! 

4.    Plan, Set Milestones and Factor-In Rewards

Create a plan and write it down; consider your end goal and then work backwards noting the major milestones that you need to reach in order to achieve it.  Then break it down further and define the next smallest step that you need to take, and just take that first step.  Repeat.

Celebrate major milestones – review how far you have come and reward your successes.  Often it is actually the journey that is more rewarding than reaching the goal, so enjoy the process!

 5.    And Finally, Some Quick-Fire Pointers:

• Develop an awareness of your avoidance tactics and develop strategies to counteract them

• Play to your strengths – you will build energy this way

• Acknowledge the need for rest and avoid burn-out

• Consider where your energy is being filled and where it is being drained

• Develop disciplined rituals. e.g. a fixed time for working/creating each day

• Do the thing that you have been putting off first

Above all, be kind to yourself (there’s nothing much more demotivating than berating self-talk) and enjoy the ride! 

Vicki Messenger is a Women’s Business Coach, empowering aspiring, early-stage, side-hustling and pivoting female founders to create extraordinary lives through businesses that they love.  You can find more of Vicki’s articles and complementary resources at www.vickimessenger.com.

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