“Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit.
You are what you repeatedly do.”
There are many ways that you can build up your motivational habits. And, like most things, it works best if you work on it on a daily basis. Habits can be difficult to create, but once you begin working hard to meet them they will become natural for you. There are many things you can do to create habits that are motivating and positive.
Visual Motivators
Visual motivators are extremely important because your surroundings contribute to your attitude every day. If you are in a negative atmosphere, it will be difficult to feel motivated to do much. One thing you can do is use visual motivators to create a positive atmosphere and help you stay focused on a daily basis.
Visual motivators are things that usually include positive quotes for you to read and focus on. It might include a change you hope to make in your life. There are many posters you can choose from to post on your walls at work, inside your cubicle, screen savers for your computer or in your home. This way you can read them and focus on the positivity.
If you don’t want to paste something on your walls, you might want to consider a motivational calendar. Everyday the calendar will give you a new quote to focus on for the day. Some people like to use cartoons or jokes to help them maintain a good attitude.
There are a number of things you might consider to be visual motivators. These things can include anything that makes you feel really good and positive. Remember that visual motivators are to be used to motivate you on a daily basis because you will place them somewhere you will see them regularly.
Keep Positive Friends
Friends are people you get along with well and who care about you. These people will always build you up and make you feel good. If you have a friend that shoots you down or makes you feel negative much of the time, then you shouldn’t maintain them as a friend very long. Always spend time with people who make you feel good about life and good about yourself. The more time you spend around people who make you feel good, generally the better you will feel.
It is very true that you become the people you hang out with. If the people you hang out with only put you down and don’t support the things that are important to you, it will be difficult for you to become the motivated person you wish to be. You need to have a support group that is positive.
If you decide to start cutting people out of your life who are not positive or helpful, you may find this a difficult transition for you. You can choose either to gradually stop communicating with them or you can consider trying to speak with them about their negativity. If their friendship means a lot to you, you can point out the negativity and see how they respond. Some people don’t realize they are being so negative until someone points it out to them. This conversation may save a friendship and if you’re fortunate, you could have a partner to begin the quest for motivation with.
Read and Listen
Reading and listening are two habits that you must maintain for your motivational daily routine. Reading is the best thing you can do to strengthen your mind and build confidence. It is commonly said that “leaders are readers.”
In order to become the person you strive to be you must read about how to be that person. You need to begin to associate with more people you admire and want to be like. As stated above, you become a mixture of the people you associate with because of the habits you pick up from each other.
Self Talk
Positive self talk is a very important daily habit you need to build into your regimen. There will always be circumstances that you will need to walk through by yourself and positive self talk will help you make it through these tough times. Self talk can help you in many ways. It can help you feel good about yourself, about how you look and how you are going to perform in certain situations.
Perhaps you have a meeting and you’re feeling nervous about it. Or, perhaps it’s a presentation that you have looming before you. Positive self talk can help you with encouraging yourself to do a good job. It is not crazy to talk yourself through situations.
Just as you feed off positive reinforcements from others, you can stroke these feelings for yourself as well. When you wake up in the morning and you need to give yourself a little encouragement there is nothing wrong with talking to yourself about making it through the events of the day! Create the positive circumstances in your head and then go out and make them happen. When you talk to yourself positively you will begin to believe the positive and act more positively.
Maintain a Positive Attitude
You must remain positive. Life is tough and there’s no getting around it. As soon as you stop focusing on life being so difficult, you will find that it suddenly becomes much easier. Don’t spend all of your time focusing on how difficult life is. Deal with the difficulties of life and move on.
A positive attitude is vital to making it through your days and to remain motivated. When you are positive about the situations and circumstances that you often deem tough, you will make it through the obstacles much more easily.
The most important thing you need to remember about your attitude is that you can change your attitude, even when you can’t control your circumstances. You have total control over your attitude! You can maintain a positive attitude!
Breaks
Remember that you need to slow down every now and then and take a break. Give your self the time to reload your energy and recharge your batteries. Taking a break means giving yourself a moment to relax. This does not mean that you go overboard and end up in the realm of procrastination. If you have a bad habit of getting drawn into a television show for instance, then do not take a break in front of the TV. The same applies for the computer. Be sure the break you take is for a short time, but that it doesn’t lead into another problem. If you have a large family and the house is often chaotic this “me” time is very important. Chances are good that you’ll have to wait until everyone is asleep or rise early in the morning before they all wake up. If you have to schedule this time for yourself, then you should. You will be surprised at how just a little bit of time to yourself each day will help you feel much more motivated.
Sometimes it may be helpful to use a timer to help pull you away from distracting activities.
Share with Others
Once you have become motivated you can begin to share your motivation help with others. When you share motivation it will become contagious and so will your passion. As you share your passion, you will find that you are also driven to new heights of goals and accomplishments. Be sure to share your motivation on a daily basis. This part of your daily regiment of motivation may not be something you can do right away because you need to work on you first.
We are often motivated by others, both in good and bad ways. An important part of getting and staying motivated is what you bring to the table yourself. Without self motivation, the rest is significantly less effective.
Find out what motivates and moves you. Do that and keep doing it!
What additions would you make to this list?
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kkimpel/2272175542/sizes/z/in/photostream/
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