7 Steps to Getting Your Motivation Back

It’s hard to stay motivated. Whether staying productive throughout the whole day or sticking with a project to the end, experiencing these slumps in motivation seems common. I recently dealt with this in a pretty severe way. I've reached out to over 1000 people to join my Blue Shirt Community. I messaged 100s of people through LinkedIn to connect with them and was offered an opportunity to speak in front of an executive team for a multi-million dollar construction company. 

This combination of slow progress and a scary opportunity was very demotivating. I found myself climbing out of my car and hearing the voice in my head say, "You can't present in front of the construction team. They'll expose you. What do you have to offer such successful people?"

Then the voice said, "Look at all the outreach you've done. Nobody cares about your little Blue Shirt Business Community. What difference can YOU make?" This was just the walk from my car to the coffee shop door! After I sat with my mentor and explained my frustrations, he reminded me of two things that stuck with me. He said, "Kyle, you are making a difference. You are impacting a lot of people." The way he said it just about made me cry. I had utterly forgotten two areas of my life where I've been really impacting people. Sheesh!

The second thing he said was, "STOP IT." Stop this mindset nonsense, and be grateful. This seems a bit calloused (it wasn't). It worked. Together, we flipped my switch, and my attitude changed, and so did my motivation. Within the week, I was able to share my fee with the construction company, and someone reached out to me for coaching. Is that because of my mindset and new motivation? Maybe.

Regardless of what caused these opportunities to show up, I was in a much better place to accept them and motivated to believe I could make a difference. Yet, we head down the demotivation path far too often. But why is this? Why do we struggle to stay motivated? Perhaps if we answer this question, we can answer the more important question:

How can we stay motivated? First off let's answer this question.

Why do people struggle to stay motivated?

Let’s start by briefly looking at a few of the reasons why people struggle to stay motivated. A brief search online reveals a few problems.

1. You listen to the negative voices in your head too much.
2. You don't surround yourself with a good coach.
3. Your work isn’t challenging enough or is too repetitive.
4. Your work environment is unhealthy, and there isn’t any recognition for a job well done.
5. Your to-do list is unending, and the stress level is too much.
6. There aren’t clearly defined goals.
7. Personal issues interfere with work. 
8. And more...

This isn’t a complete list; perhaps the thing that gets in your way isn’t even listed. But now that we know some reasons why people struggle, let’s discuss a few things we can do to help ourselves stay motivated.  As a business owner, you want to ensure that you stay motivated, but you also want to ensure that your employees stay motivated. So what can you do?

How to Stay Motivated

1. Stay on top of your mindset. Make sure you have opportunities to reflect on your own attitude about how things are going. Check in on that voice in your head. Schedule this to happen, or make a habit of it in the evenings or mornings.
2. Surround yourself with good accountability. In my book, there is a process called the Accountability PASS. The mentor/coach step is one of the most important factors in the success of great leaders.
3. Be grateful and show gratitude. The conversation with my mentor stirred up some much healthier thoughts. When we focus on being grateful (mindset) and showing gratitude (actions), this goes a long way in helping us stay motivated.
4. Define your goals. Most people tend to be more motivated when they have just started something and then again at the end when they are just about to accomplish the goal. To take advantage of this, set smaller, easier-to-achieve goals. This will keep you motivated and help you make progress towards the larger goals that you have without it seeming quite so overwhelming.
5. Create a positive work environment. Celebrating accomplishments, supporting one another, and encouraging those around you will help keep the whole team more motivated. It's much easier to stay motivated when you know that others will appreciate your work and the overall morale is positive. 
6. Take breaks. Get up from your desk, go for a short walk, or have a non-work related conversation with a co-worker. Give yourself the freedom to stop what you’re doing and get a breath of fresh air. When you return to work, you will be in a better place and more productive. 
7. Stay Organized. It's much easier to stay motivated and avoid distractions when you know what needs to be done and have prioritized your tasks.

Some of these things might be easier than others for you to try. I’d love to hear what works or doesn’t work for you. Join our Blue Shirt Business Community to talk more about this.     

If you feel like you want to get deeper and need more accountability to help you stay motivated and rekindle your love for your business, we would love for you to join one of our mastermind groups.

These groups will start next month and provide an opportunity for you to join with several other business owners to talk about your struggles and accomplishments, your dreams and goals for your business, and the reasons you do what you do. There are a lot of benefits from being a part of a group like this, so check it out to learn more.