How to Motivate Yourself

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily. -Zig Ziglar

That's an interesting quote to think about. I found it on this website today, and I've been thinking about it off and on ever since. We often talk about needing to get motivated to do something, or we talk about what motivates us.

But so often people drift through their days, worrying or stressing about the things in their life they've left undone. They think, if they had something to motivate them, they could get things done that need to be done.

On this website
they talk about Seven Rules of Motivation. I found it interesting, that the main thrust of what they were saying was that things that do do that interest you are more likely to get done. Your interest in the subject keeps you motivated to keep working on a project, task and so on.

I particularly liked the idea of breaking a major task down into smaller goals. Achieving small goals can keep you on the path of achieving a major task. I have an ongoing issue with my family dining table. There are three of us in the family, and at the moment, we all have piles of papers on our side of the table.

Actually, I've just looked at the table - the only paper on my son's side of the table is money, and he knows how to deal with that, he's a teenager - he'll spend it!

Anyway, my husband and I are both guilty of storing papers on the table, to be looked at "later". When will "later" be? Well I hope for me, "later" will be tomorrow morning. I'd like to be able to clear lots of the papers away, action them and so on but...

I need motivation, today, tomorrow, and every day, if I am ever going to actually be able to see the dining table under the mess of papers. What could motivate me to do something about it?

I've looked at the Seven Rules of Motivation again - maybe the key to my issue here is breaking the thing down into smaller goals. The idea of clearing the whole table is so daunting, I avoid thinking about it. What I can do though, is make a goal of clearing away one thing, every time I walk past the table.

That doesn't seem difficult, just one little thing cleared away at a time. I think I've found the answer. I'm looking at the table right now, and I can see an item that I can put on the recycle pile right now!

There!! I've done it!!

The next time you have an issue with motivation, think about the seven rules, and don't expect to stay motivated without doing anything to keep yourself motivated - motivation is something you have to do every day, just like bathing, if you want to keep clean of problems