Sometimes money, awards, natural abilities and strong will are not enough to make you move forward.
1. Money is the main motivator
Money can certainly be a great motivator. But some people put too much emphasis on it, losing sight of other, equally important things. If you go to a job that pays well but has a lot of downsides — an office in the middle of nowhere, inconvenient hours, toxic colleagues — think about whether the game is worth the candle.
2. If you are smart, you are guaranteed success.
People often believe that to achieve greatness, it is enough to be simply smart. But scientists say that high intelligence does not necessarily guarantee great achievements. American psychologist Lewis Terman, who studied gifted children, found that most of them grew up to be completely ordinary people who were not famous for any outstanding deeds. You can be very smart, but without motivation and hard work, you will not see success.
3. To achieve a goal, you need to visualize it
Gurus of psychological trainings and other business coaches extol the “power of visualization.” They claim that simply imagining a picture of success will help you achieve your goals. Imagine yourself rich and famous every day – this way you will set yourself up for victory, and everything will come true. The main thing is positive thinking.
However, scientists disagree. Specialists from New York University conducted a study and came to the conclusion that visualizing success not only does not help you achieve it, but on the contrary, it reduces your chances. Positive fantasies about a bright future motivate you worse than thoughts about possible failure.
However, you can visualize your goals, but you need to do it right . Imagine not the result of your efforts, but the steps you need to take to achieve it – this motivates you much better. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, you do not need to imagine your future self as fit and slim – it is better to imagine yourself eating healthy food and exercising.
4. Increasing reward leads to increased motivation
If you want to motivate someone (including yourself) to do something, you might consider increasing the reward for their effort. However, researchers have found that sometimes over-rewarding can actually weaken motivation, contrary to expectations.
Rewards can inspire people to take action, but when you give them to someone who is already motivated, they won’t be more motivated. This is called the overjustification effect .
5. Fear is a good motivator
The threat of punishment, a fine or failure can certainly motivate and motivate anyone, but only for a short period of time. In the long run, negative motivation is definitely a bad choice. Constantly expecting loss and failure drains our energy and undermines our mental health . Therefore, try to use encouragement, not fear, to motivate yourself and others.
6. Just try it
Remember how you force yourself to do something you don’t want to do or are afraid to do? For example, you have to speak in front of a large audience, but you are shy. Finally, having made up your mind, you say to yourself: “Okay, just start, and the rest will go like clockwork,” and you rush off.
The idea of “I’ll just try it and have nothing to lose” is good for getting you to take action once, but it’s not a good long-term motivator.
Instead of always “trying,” take action. If you’re afraid of public speaking , create a plan with bullet points and stick to it. If you’re embarrassed to go to the gym, find a workout program in advance. That way, you’ll always know what to do, even in an unfamiliar situation. Choose specific tasks and set an achievable bar.
7. Everything depends on innate abilities
Columbia University psychology professor Carol Dweck argues in her book Mindset that focusing on your innate talents is a motivation killer—she calls it a fixed mindset . If you believe that all your abilities are natural and that trying to outdo yourself is pointless, you simply won’t have the incentive to do anything that doesn’t work the first time.
Focus not on your innate abilities, but on the effort required to achieve your goals. Praise yourself not for your existing talents, but for your willpower and perseverance. Cultivate these qualities in yourself. The belief that people are capable of changing and developing through discipline and hard work is much more motivating than the thought of “who has what”.
8. Willpower is all you need
People tend to believe that strong willpower is necessary to achieve goals. In fact, in the annual APA survey, most respondents cite lack of willpower as the only factor that prevents them from achieving greatness. However, this is not the only thing that can motivate you to act. And even the opposite: excessive willpower exerted over a long period of time leads to emotional burnout . And an obsessive desire for self-control will not allow you to motivate yourself effectively. So if you constantly have to strain your willpower, you are simply doing the wrong thing.
9. You need to wait for inspiration, then motivation will come
Sometimes you get lucky and the muse strikes at just the right moment. In a random burst of inspiration, you feel motivated like never before. You can write a couple of chapters of your new novel in one sitting, get all your chores done, or lift so much weight that your trainer whistles respectfully and asks what came over you. But then the mood fades and you continue to procrastinate, abandoning work, training, and chores.
10. Writing down goals is the key to success
Writing down your to-dos and putting check marks next to completed tasks can be a powerful motivational tool. However, simply recording goals without reinforcing them with action will obviously not produce results. Motivation gurus often like to repeat that writing goals is a kind of panacea, as in the case of “visualizing success.”
But that’s not true. It’s not enough to just write down what you want — you also need to make a plan for how you’ll achieve it. Let’s say your goal is to make a lot of money (a long-term and complex matter). Break it down into smaller subtasks that you can start doing right now. For example, sending your resume to an employer, going to an interview on a certain date , or making a clear business plan.