How to Fuel Your Motivation and Accomplish Anything

When turning what was once a goal in our minds into a success that blasts past all expectations, the work we put in is only one piece of the equation. A mindset driven by sheer motivation makes all the difference, because our actions come from a place of ‘want’. We have the motivation to dive into the work required and earn our rewards.

When the scope of a task or fear of failure becomes overwhelming, motivation can be fleeting. We make up stories. Excuses ricochet through our mind. It’s a human problem, and everyone feels this way at one point or another. The cold, hard truth is, in order to achieve any goal and reap the rewards of success, we have to put in the work, no matter how grueling or extensive. To do this, motivation is a must.

Of course, motivation is easier said than felt. There are times when it may not come naturally to us, and it will take a few tips and tricks to spark up that fire.  Keep reading as we list out our top 10 ways to fuel your motivation and accomplish what you desire in life.

1) Put Some Serious Faith in Yourself

You’re always with yourself, even when you are most alone. With all the self-talk that occurs in our mind, we are presented with a fantastic opportunity to cheer ourselves on. You have to be your biggest fan, as family and friends won’t always be there to fulfill this role. In order to be your biggest supporter, it’s important to believe in your heart that you already have what is required to accomplish your goal. The only thing left is to get down to work.

It can be difficult maintaining consistent belief in ourselves. This is where affirmations become our best tool. By pepping yourself up on a regular basis, you’ll push the message into your mind that you absolutely are capable. With this, you can get down to business. Give yourself some padding room for bumps and difficulties along the road, as we aren’t perfect. Understand failures as learning experiences and celebrate even the smallest of accomplishments. Your journey will be a rocky road, but with faith in your own ability, you can push yourself to move forward.

2) More Than Reward, There’s a Reason

If you approach any difficult task without a reason to do it, you won’t get very far. Every goal has a reward, something simple to understand what you are working toward. But a reason is different. A reason is more complex and speaks to us at a more profound level. There should always be a reason why you strive to accomplish something great, as the journey is pointless without one. Never let this reason become unclear or murky; you should develop a solid understanding of the big ‘WHY’ behind your efforts.

For example, the reward for a job promotion may be a larger paycheck and more flexible hours, but the reason to work for it may be to better support your family financially and to be able to spend more time with them. For any goal you work toward, always remind yourself of the reason behind it, and truly understand it. When the path gets difficult, you can always call back to this reason as a source of motivation.

3) Partner Up!

Don’t let your journey to success be a lonely road. Find a partner to hold you accountable for achieving what you’ve set out to do. They don’t need to be working with you, but simply provide you a daily dose of pep-rally motivation and a check-up on the progress you are making. A great partner will help you get through the toughest times of self-doubt and circumstantial struggle. Your partner is not only a coach that keeps you on track, but a lifeline.

Typically, having an accountability partner is a two-way street. You cheer each other on and help each other accomplish personal goals so that everyone is a winner. However, if this is not doable for whatever reason, you still have options. Ask a loved one or another person close to you to check in regularly on your progress. Request their support in pumping you up once a week. Of course, do what you can to express appreciation and return the favor if possible.

4) Lock Yourself into a Commitment Device

To give up quietly is the easiest way to fail. For any success, you want failure as difficult of an option as possible. For this, we can utilize the concept of a commitment device to force ourselves into accomplishing a goal through self-imposed pressure, whether social, physical, or financial.

An example of a social commitment device would be openly telling a wide range of friends and family member what your goal is and when it will be reached. You are forced to live up what you’ve said or face heaps of embarrassment at your failure. An example of a physical commitment device would be tossing out all the unhealthy food from your pantry and immediately restocking with healthy alternatives. You are forced to make due with what you have in your kitchen or risk going hungry! An example of a financial commitment device would be purchasing an expensive fitness class membership. You are forced to attend the classes and work out, or lose the money you’ve invested.

5) Redefine Your Personal Scope of Success

When starting a large project or even a business, it’s likely that you have the end in mind, and you may define your success upon the achievement of it. Hopefully you’ve come prepared with the skills, strategies, and other requirements necessary to succeed in this regard. Still, when working to accomplish great things, there is always a degree of probability in play. We don’t know how our circumstances may change or how the world may affect our progress. We have no control over these factors.

If we define success based on reaching the reward at the end of the journey, difficulties along the way can seriously eat at our motivation. It’s important to not only value, but truly celebrate each step. As opposed to thinking of success as the end result, consider every good decision and best effort a success in of itself.

6) Give Your Goal More Reasons

The more reasons your goal has, the more likely you will prioritize and value achieving it. Take some time to brainstorm as many reasons as you can possibly think of for why achieving this goal is worth your time and effort. Ask yourself questions, such as what benefits will it bring to your life and the lives of your loved ones. What intangible rewards are there to gain? What will be the resonating effects of success?

All the reasons you list should be clearly stated and have an adequately high enough value connected to them. Frame them in a way that is in line with your personal values in life. These reasons may not even be the result of the end success – they could be benefits to reap at each step in the journey. You can create more reasons by breaking down your goal into small, specific steps that are incredibly easy to complete. Give a reason for each of these goals so that every phase is a reward in its own right.

7) Defend Your Attention

Distractions come at us from all angles. In today’s society, the hooks for our attention can be relentless. This is the most significant issue experienced by those striving to achieve long-term goals, because our attention spans are usually very weak. With the rise of services such as Amazon and Netflix, we’ve become accustomed to getting what we want right away, on-demand. But the same cannot be said of our personal achievements in life, as sustained effort is required over a long period of time. This requires dedicated focus and patience.

Success can take a while. To defend your attention and keep your eye on the prize, be careful not to take on too many things at a time. If you set yourself multiple goals, try combining them into a single project with significant milestones along the way. This way you can see everything you do as part of one grand plan, and retain your focus on a single journey. Not only is this easier for your mind to digest, but it can make your goals seem considerably more meaningful in the grand scheme of things.

8) Stubbornness Will Get You Everything

Though it may come with a negative connotation, stubbornness doesn’t get enough credit for the successes it creates. When a stubborn person wants something, they will find a way to get it. It may seem slightly ironic, but stubbornness goes hand-in-hand with flexibility and creativity. You are set on a path and will figure out the best ways to bypass obstacles. Your dreams are more important than anything that stands in the way.

A positive mindset is one thing, but a stubborn frame of mind is unwilling to accept defeat, or anything less than what they have set out to do. This should be a positive trait, without implying any negative behavior. If you want something in life, you have to be persistent and smart about it. By itself, being stubborn about achieving your dreams will let you push past seemingly impossible situations.

9) Let a Passionate Environment Drive You

The passion of those around you can have a profound effect on your own levels of motivation. Just as negativity can breed more of the same, positivity and passion emitted from others in your environment can create a motivating  culture. With similar mindsets in place, we can help raise each other up to new heights.

A great team or a co-working space can do the trick. Hard-working, loving family members or a similar friend group will work as well. You must use the resources available to you to your advantage. Ultimately, it is entirely up to you to position yourself in an environment that lifts you up, instead up dragging you down. Aligning ourselves with the right crowd can create a very powerful influence in our lives.

10) Your ‘WHY’ is Your Goal

During your journey, take time to reflect on the specific goals you’ve written down and reevaluate whether they still align with your big ‘WHY’. Sometimes it may feel like your motivation is fading; this is likely due to a misalignment between your goal and your ‘WHY’. As we move through life, our values, priorities, and knowledge of the world evolve and grow. It’s reasonable to assume that our goals must be continually updated to account for this. If we no longer have a reason in our heart to accomplish a specific goal other than to finish what we started, true motivation will be in low supply.

Mince your goals and rearrange the pieces if necessary. Some may be discarded. New ones may be introduced. As long as our goals continue to have meaning to us, we can continue working at them with the passion and strength that motivation produces. Have a clear idea of your ‘WHY’, as it is the most important factor in everything you do, and will be the soul behind the accomplishment of any great task in life.

Motivation is Power

Your goals are attainable, no matter the scope. Believe this. You are ready for them, and they are ready for you. There’s no waiting period in place, and you don’t need anyone’s support or approval to begin. There’s no better time than the present to get started on something that is meaningful to your life. You are ready as you are. Without a doubt, you can achieve any goal.

More important than ability and knowledge, motivation is the fuel that can help you move mountains. It’s the blazing fire that keeps you moving from beginning to end. It makes the work and time put in just as rewarding as the end result. Feed your motivation in any way you can. It’s time to get out there and achieve what you desire.

Robert Moment is a personal branding strategist , executive leadership coach, and motivational speaker who teach CEOs, Executives ,Professionals and Entrepreneurs how to unlock their potential to achieve success and be the Go-to Leader in their industry. Robert is the author of several books including, Always Believe in Yourself: How to Get Motivated to Do Anything. Visit www.WhatMakesYouStandOut.com and download FREE Chapters of the upcoming book, Principles of Leadership Development.