Zig Ziglar is a motivational mastermind, and reminded us that motivation fades. This means that in order to stay motivated, we need a daily boost.
Whether it’s a project at work, starting a new business, or something personal like losing weight, we all need to get motivated in order to complete the task. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.
If you’re going in a particular direction, inertia will keep you going that way unless you apply force. See if your body keeps going when you pull up to a stop sign in your car.
Inertia can be an ally, because once you get going, it’s easier to stay in motion. The hard part is to get things started in the first place, and that’s where motivation comes in.
Below are 3 ways to get motivated, inspired, and unstuck from a rut.
Choose your mantra — Choose a mantra, then use it daily to wipe away the negative and make room for good things to happen. In the traditional sense, a mantra is a sound or series of sounds that are repeated over and over again during meditation. But, they can be much more than that.
Guy Kawasaki says that instead of long mission statements, we should use mantras to tell the world what we’re all about. Short and to the point, mantras can evoke a sense of power, and put us in a state of calm strength whenever we need it.
If well chosen, mantras can also act as guiding principles for behavior. For example, Google’s “do no harm” philosophy is a mantra.
You can use them for meditation as well as a way to find calm confidence and deep strength when needed. Mantras should be short. A few words is plenty. You can choose any mantra you like, and you can choose several of them for use in various situations.
Get physical — As goes the mind, so goes the body. Here’s an exercise from Tony Robbins. Try being depressed for a moment. What happens? Your shoulders slump, your eyes immediately head toward the ground, and your head sinks down. Can you feel that? When we feel a certain way, our bodies reflect that.
Now, try using your body to your advantage. Stand up tall showing off your best posture. Put your head back and look up at the ceiling. Smile. Put your arms straight out at your sides. Lift one foot off the floor and hum out loud.
Try to be depressed in that pose. If you can be depressed while smiling in that silly pose then you’re really good. Now, ask yourself what you can do physically every day to get motivated. Maybe it’s a silly pose, maybe it’s a 2 mile run, or maybe it’s yoga. Whatever it is, do something physical every day and get motivated.
Travel through time — This exercise is an amazing eye opener and will get you motivated as fast as anything I know. Hindsight is 20/20. We all have choices. In each moment, we choose what we do. I hear people say that they have no choice. This is not true. You always have a choice. You can kill yourself if you want. You’ll find a way if that’s what you really want to do.
Sometimes we regret the choices we’ve made in the past. Often, we fool ourselves into thinking that we had no choice and won’t have a choice if similar circumstances arise again.
Try the following exercise. Pretend you’re in the future, and give some real thought to what things are like for you. Now, look back at the present moment that you’re in right now. If given the choice to relive this moment, what would you have done differently?
What can you do differently right now to make your ideal future a reality? Say it to yourself out loud. Write down your plan. Go do it now.
These are just a few of the exercises you can do on a regular basis to gain more control of your future and get yourself motivated. If you’ll just apply a few simple principles, there’s no limit to the ways you can come up with to achieve more.