Are you lacking self-motivation at times? You are not alone!

By Lisa Seppala, True North Implementation

Lately, the topic of self-motivation has surfaced through discussions or simply my self-talk. Along with this topic come questions and statements such as:

• How do I inspire myself to stay the course and reach my goals?
• What if I just don’t want to do the task before me, but I know I need to deliver on promises to clients or myself?
• I know what I need to do; I just have trouble getting started.

We’ve probably all been there at one point or another. Sometimes we just need a short break to build up the energy, and other times we need prodding from either ourselves or someone else.

Wouldn’t it be nice to trigger the energy within ourselves and not have to rely on something outside of us to prod us into action? Like the flipping of an internal switch when we feel our motivation lagging.

Here’s my perspective, which I appreciate is by no means the answer for everyone, but it works for me when I need the inspiration to stay motivated.

First, once again, I turn to a quote from Dr. Csikszentmihalyi, one of the founders of the field of positive psychology. His quote below speaks to the power within ourselves, which is our power over attention.

Attention is like energy in that without it no work can be done, and in doing work it is dissipated. We create ourselves by how we invest this energy. Memories, thoughts, and feelings are all shaped by how we use it. And it is an energy under our control, to do with as we please; hence, attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience.

– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ph.D., Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Second, I remind myself daily of my vision of how I want to show up or ‘be’ in my life. This daily attention inspires me to act in ways that bring me closer to it. That power doesn’t come from anyone or anything except me.

• It inspires me to stay the course toward achieving my goals.
• It helps me deliver for clients, usually ahead of deadlines, and myself because I’m motivated to get things done.
• It gives me enough power to pull myself away from distractions and focus on the task in front of me.

Surprisingly for me, but maybe it would not have been for Dr. Csikszentmihalyi, I find myself enjoying those tasks that I had been putting off, the tasks that may be mundane but necessary to move forward.

I’m curious what you do that contributes to self-motivation?