13 Things to Remember When You Need More Motivation

Career Resilience Coach passionate about supporting others to grow and thrive in a complex world.

I am naturally an optimistic person and I like to think of myself as a motivated person – but not all of the time. There have been many times in my life where I have struggled with motivation. It takes a lot of energy to be motivated and some days, I just can’t be bothered. I just want to hide away and do nothing.

Having these feelings where you just want to do nothing is actually an okay thing to do because there are times when you need to rest and recover. The danger is when you let this occasional feeling of laziness and procrastination take over your life. When this happens and trust me, it can happen very quickly, you will find yourself making excuses as to why you can’t get off the couch and start exercising, or start the new project, or finish off the old project. This is a dangerous place to be and one to avoid at all costs.

So, when you are at the point of low energy and need motivation, consider using these 13 motivation tips to help you get your mojo and your life back on track.

1. Take Time to Quieten Down Your Mind

Having no motivation is energy-draining and one consequence of having low energy is that your mind starts to get very noisy and very cluttered.

Practising mindfulness on a regular basis is a great way to quieten down the noise in your mind. There are many mindfulness activities that you can choose – meditation, exercise, listening to classical music, going for long walks. Choose any activity that gives your mind breathing space and some peace.

2. Use Your Power of Choice

Your power of choice is the only thing that you have that enables you to control how you react to events and experiences in your life. You can choose to live your life languishing, or you can live a flourishing life.

Nobody else has that power over you and so if you want to become more motivated about life, then use your power of choice to make the change.

3. Remove Negative People from Your Life

Surrounding yourself with negative people drains your energy and with no energy, the chances of you living a motivated and active life is pretty close to zilch.

Choose instead to surround yourself with positive people and when you do, you will find that your energy for life starts to flow.

4. Choose to Take Small Steps First to Get Your Energy Flowing

Going from feeling low energy and no motivation to where you have lots of energy and motivation can seem impossible to achieve. In fact, so overwhelming we don’t know where to start and we end up giving up or not even starting.

The key to moving forward and achieving any goal that you set is to focus on taking one step at a time until you reach your goal.

Jenny Blake in her book Pivot – said that to change your life:

“The only move that matters is your next one.”

If you want to get your mojo back in your life, figure what the first few actions or steps are for you to start moving forward, and then stick to the plan – one step at a time.

5. Let Go of the Things in Your Life You Can’t Change

When we are feeling low in energy, we tend to dwell on the events in our life that have not gone so well for us. These difficult and challenging events belong in the past and we can’t change the outcome.

Focusing on these events drains our energy and therefore, makes it even harder to start taking action to change our lives. Focus on the events in life that went well for you, and use those positive feelings to help you move forward.

6. Practice Gratitude and Show Appreciation on a Daily Basis

Commit to showing gratitude and appreciation to strangers and people you know every day for a month. Once the month is up, don’t stop, keep going for the rest of your life.

Practicing gratitude and appreciation on a daily basis brings joy to your life and with joy comes hope and high energy – which is what leads you to live a motivated life.

Here’re 40 Simple Ways To Practice Gratitude.

7. Focus on Doing Activities That Bring You Joy

Eliminate the activities in life that drag you down. When we are feeling low, we tend to focus on the tasks that use a lot of negative energy.

To get motivation back into your life, focus on activities that are helping you to move forward not drag you down. Use your power of choice to help you decide those activities, which will support you to live a more motivated life.

8. Embrace Patience into Your Life

This may seem a bit of a strange action to consider if you want to live a more motivated life; however, embracing patience into your life is not about you “sitting back and waiting” – it is about you taking the time to consider and reflect on what you need to do to keep moving forward.

Changing your life does not happen overnight, it is a personal journey that takes time. Patience helps you keep on track and helps you to have a more positive perspective on your life.

Learn How to Be Patient and Take Charge of Your Life.

9. Take The Time to Figure Out Who You Are And What You Want

To change one’s life takes commitment and purpose. You need to know what it is you want and why you want it. These two things are important drivers for you wanting to change your life.

If you know what you want and why you want it, then you have a clear purpose to focus on. If you have no direction or vision as to how you want to live your life, then your journey of change can become directionless and the chances are very high that you will give up.

If you don’t know what living a motivated and positive life is like, then how will you know what to aim for?

Figure out what you truly want and regain motivation with this guide: How to Get Motivated Every Day When You Wake Up

10. Keep Learning

Highly motivated people love to learn new things. It is learning that brings energy into their lives. Learning opens up your mind and challenges you to think about different perspectives.

Take every opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and learn new things on a regular basis. Living a comfortable life with no challenges will only drain your energy and leave you very demotivated about your life.

Try these 10 Ways To Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone And Overcome Your Fear.

11. Help Others

Helping others, especially those in need is one of the best ways for you to bring energy and motivation into your life. The more you help people in need, the more joy you will find in your life.

An act of kindness is powerful and can change your life when you make a positive impact on someone else’s life.

12. Exercise Regularly

Staying active improves the energy levels in your body, soul and mind. Exercise maintains positivity, optimism and hope at levels where you experience high energy and motivation on a regular basis.

Regular exercise is key to you staying motivated and positive about your life – even in the tough times. Exercise helps to release the negative energy that builds up within you. When you are feeling really down, going for a walk in the bush, at the beach, in the park or even around your neighbourhood is the best medicine ever.

13. Work Hard at Maintaining a Positive and Hopeful Attitude

There is nothing worse than giving in to all the bad things that are happening in your life. If you focus on the negative things in your life, your energy and motivation will reduce dramatically.

Sure things in life can get very tough and there are times when you will make mistakes. However, the tough times are in the past.

Stop thinking about the negative and focus on the positives in your life such as what is going well? What is working well? What great things have you to look forward to? These are the questions that you should focus on – the ones that build up your belief, your positivity and hope for the future. From here comes the motivation and energy to live a joyful life.

Applying any one or all of these 13 practical tips will help you to live a more energetic and motivated life. Take a deep breath right now and choose one and start your journey now!