Self Motivation Skills

I'll admit, I sometimes try and fail when I attempt to motivate myself. There is no 100% success trick that will allow you to be motivated 24/7. This is the kind of thing that will often make the "newly motivated" (those who have recently become more conscious) discouraged and cause them to slip back into old habits. This is especially true when you look at those who seem to have an endless supply of motivation that dwarfs your own. Like writing, acting, dancing, or cooking, motivating yourself is a muscle that needs to be trained up with certain skills. Here are some self motivation skills that can improve your productivity.

1. Stepping Back

This is one of the most important self motivation skills. Stepping back means developing the ability to stop what you're doing, thinking, and feeling and taking a look at a situation as if you had a bird's eye view. The completely unconscious among us (those who rarely think or act for themselves) have a hard time doing this. Like a mouse or a horse they will act on emotion and instinct and nothing else. Stepping back is like hitting a big pause button on life and watching the scene unfold. This is especially useful if you are doing something unproductive or unhealthy (playing on the computer, having a long pointless conversation, eating an entire package of cookies). If you can step back from the situation mentally (and physically if needed) you can stop the poor choice of activity or emotion and figure out a new course of action.

2. Asking for Help

If this is self motivation, why would involving someone else be so important? There are times when stepping back is not enough and we realize that it will not take us long to fall back into the bad habit that is getting in our way. If you can find a contact (whether it be a significant other, a friend, a co-worker, or a family member) who is positive and a good influence, you can get yourself out of a self motivation rut. On days when I have to work late, I will often lose my motivation around the 6 PM mark. It is at this time that I know I can call my girlfriend help re-instill my self motivation skills. Sometimes just having someone to tell you "You're doing good" and "I think you can do it" is enough to get you back on track. Don't take this as an opportunity to have a long conversation that gets you off track and off schedule. Be upfront about why you're calling, texting, or e-mailing, "I'm a little down (unmotivated) can you give me a quick pep talk so I can get back in the swing of things?" This is not often something that will work with a negative, sarcastic, or unhappy associate.

3. Creating A Life Purpose

While I could talk about setting goals here, this is the most important fire to light as far as self motivation skills go. What I mean by a life purpose is your opinion of why you were put on this earth right now. This can change from year to year or stay the same throughout a lifetime. Currently, my life purpose is to help people improve themselves and to give people opportunities to succeed with their passions. Whenever I'm feeling low or that what I'm doing isn't making much of an impact, I reassert my life purpose. Having a big grandiose purpose is fine, even encouraged, because remembering that I genuinely want to achieve something great and exciting reminds me that life is both difficult and rewarding. This can help me push through a self motivational block and may provide some extra will power for a couple of hours. This purpose can be broad or specific ("healing the world" or "ensuring that children have clean water throughout the world"), simple or complex, new or old. What is important is that its positive and that you identify with it strongly.


Take these three self motivation skills and run with them to improve your ability to work throughout the day. It will take some time to make sure these are a part of your life, but once they are, the amount of time and happiness they will save has an unlimited possibility.