Many of us experienced days when motivation felt out of reach, leading us to question: Is there some kind of secret to staying motivated?
Motivation is often viewed as the driving force behind personal growth, and many of us want to know how to sustain it. It’s tempting to believe that uncovering a secret to staying motivated will bring us endless motivation, with little effort required. But is that realistic?
In this article, we dive into the reality of motivation, uncover the true ‘secret’ to staying motivated, and share actionable tips to help you cultivate a deep, lasting motivation that will drive you toward your highest potential.
Accepting the truth
In order to create space for motivation, it’s beneficial to accept some ‘hard truths’ about life.
Life is a challenging experience, and, very often, it is neither easy nor comfortable.
Every person every day faces various internal challenges, and being unmotivated is just one of them. If we cannot accept challenges as a normal part of a human experience, we can never rise above them, and we will always be their victim.
When we complain about various difficulties of life, it shows that we haven’t yet accepted difficulty as the default rule of life. Once we accept this, we can learn how to navigate it and make progress more easily and quickly.
On the other hand, if we don’t learn and accept it, we may spend decades without achieving what we’ve set out to do. Every challenge we face will be so ‘unexpected’ and therefore more difficult to overcome.
We have the opportunity to rise above these limitations and gain a more evolved perspective. Once our perspective rises above complaining towards accepting, we can look down on challenges with peace, acceptance, and even excitement.
This shift is an important goal of the personal growth journey, as our perception of life shapes our experience. Even if we grow and develop, but we still view challenges as something we are victimized by rather than an inherent part of the process, can we truly say we have evolved?
Clearing out the distractions
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we cannot satisfy our higher needs (such as accomplishment) until we satisfy our primary needs. Our primary needs are physical necessities, including food, water, and shelter. In other words, the need to feel good in the body.
Lack of movement, unhealthy diet, lack of sleep, stress, and various addictions (e.g., social media) all make a huge impact on our ability to experience motivation.
Our brain is a machine and our body is a vessel, and they both need constant care. Taking constant and proper care of them is the precondition for motivation; therefore, we cannot expect to feel motivated if we do not first satisfy our physical needs.
Becoming aware
You’ve likely heard the saying, “The only person standing in your way is you.” To be more specific, the only thing standing in your way is your brain.
We might want to achieve a goal today, but our minds can convince us to rather take a break and do something useless. Why does this happen?
Ironically, our brain is not the most rational thing. It tends to prioritize comfort over progress; it might tell us to skip exercise, eat unhealthy food, or stay in a toxic situation, convincing us that these choices are acceptable.
More importantly, it is very good at making us feel like our thoughts are the absolute truth.
Becoming aware of our thoughts is a very beneficial process of gaining self-awareness and understanding what goes on in our mind. When we know exactly what is going through our mind, we can take care of negative aspects and reinforce the positive.
When our mind is without control—especially if it leans toward negative thinking—we live a life of procrastination, laziness, unfulfilled dreams, bad decisions, and addiction.
Once we learn to master our mind and make it follow us, we are open to a life of progress, learning, healthy decisions, and most importantly, awareness. There are various techniques for gaining awareness and reprogramming, some of which are mentioned in the chapter ‘Habits’.
Reprogramming your mind is not an easy task, and it’s crucial to approach the process with patience. Our mind still exists, and we are still only humans. You’ll make mistakes, face setbacks, and occasionally fail—and that’s okay.
Action over reaction
The need for motivation resets every day. If we want to be motivated to achieve things, we have to do something that makes us feel motivated.
This may seem counterintuitive, but motivation follows action, not the other way around. For example, we often feel a sense of excitement and energy after completing a workout. Therefore, we should not wait for motivation to happen but rather make the first step and it will follow.
At the same time, we have to make sure we don’t try to achieve too much at once, or we will achieve the opposite of what we intended and cause burnout.
When managing our brain, you can think of it like dealing with a toddler. You have to manipulate it in a smart way, but if it realizes you manipulate it, it will not collaborate anymore.
What drives you?
After creating the foundation of motivation, we have to understand what drives motivation for us.
What makes us passionate and inspired, and what makes us feel devoted?
As Friedrich Nietzsche famously said:
Those with a why can bear almost any ‘how’.
In other words, the reason why we want something can be a very powerful source of motivation.
Our ‘why’ in life represents our purpose. It is a testament to what type of person we want and need to be in order to live the life we dream of. Therefore, your purpose and the person you aim to be can be your most powerful sources of motivation.
Focus on your goal and keep that purpose or that vision of yourself in your mind, or in the shape of a vision board, and that alone can inspire you to get closer to our goal every day.
You can ask yourself (and write down your answers):
- Why do I want to achieve this?
- What life am I building towards by achieving this goal?
- What difference will I make for myself or others?
Habits that support motivation
These habits will promote your ‘mind mastery’ and help you become aware of your thoughts, therefore making you less of a victim of your mental state and more in charge.
- Exercise: Physical activity has endless benefits and is one of the preconditions for motivation. It regulates not only your body but also your mind, helping you stay healthy and reduce stress.
- Meditation: Meditation has many benefits for mental health. It trains our brain to observe thoughts rather than identify with them. This makes us more aware of thought patterns, which helps in managing and controlling thoughts and emotions.
- Journaling: Writing down your thoughts gives you mental clarity and perspective, allowing you to process emotions and take inventory of your mental state.
- Affirmations: When done correctly, positive affirmations can reprogram your brain. They induce new beliefs and thoughts into your brain, and your brain starts believing them, making you not only feel better but also live a better life.
- Gratitude: Practicing gratitude shifts your mindset toward abundance, giving you the power to focus on the many great things you already have.
The Secret to Staying Motivated
So, what is the secret to staying motivated? Based on everything we’ve discussed, the truth is that motivation isn’t a magical force that appears out of nowhere—it’s something we create.
The real secret lies in understanding that motivation is born from a combination of accepting life’s challenges, taking care of our body and mind, and mastering our thoughts. It’s about being aware of what drives us and acting on it.
Motivation is sustained through action and awareness. Each step we take—whether it’s physical exercise, meditation, journaling, or practicing gratitude—builds the foundation for long-term motivation. There’s no instant fix, but when we acknowledge that staying motivated is an ongoing process, we give ourselves the power to cultivate it daily.
Ultimately, the secret to staying motivated is no secret at all: it’s a practice.
