People who lack motivation hardly reach their professional and personal goals. Research shows that motivation drives achievement in all aspects of life, including academics.
While it is not uncommon to lose motivation once in a while, you really don’t want to live an uninspired life. As you already know, success requires hard work, something many of us dread by default. That’s where motivational facts come into the picture.
You must keep your fire burning to stay inspired and achieve your goals. And if you ever feel stuck or lose motivation along the way, you need a backup system to jolt you back into action.
If you find this proposition appealing, here are key motivational facts you need to understand and implement to attain success in whatever you do.
6 Motivational Facts to Help You Find Inspiration
1. Trying New Things Motivates You
Want to stay inspired? Challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone and do something different.
I understand what it means to be afraid of trying new things. But trust me when I say your fear will subside when you attempt what you think is way out of your league.
Trying new things builds confidence, especially if it’s something you’ve been told you can’t do all your life.
Remember, you don’t necessarily have to succeed on the first try. In fact, what you learn and who you become in the process of trying new things is more important than whatever you accomplish or not.
However, just because you shouldn’t aim for perfection on the first attempt doesn’t mean you should go at it half-heartedly.
Give it your best shot!
And by that, I mean learning as much as possible before trying something new. You’ll be proud of your efforts in the end.
2. Achievements Increase Motivation
The more things you achieve, the stronger your desire to achieve more. This, right here, is one of the most powerful motivational facts that can inspire and keep you going for life!
Why is that?
Setting goals, drawing up plans, following through, and achieving success creates a sense of accomplishment. It gives your life meaning ― a deep sense of purpose ― and that feeling is highly rewarding, which makes you want more of it.
In other words, to increase your motivation, cultivate the habit of setting and smashing goals, big or small.
3. Taking Action Is Motivating
Notice that when you feel lazy to take action, you generally lack motivation, making it even more difficult to take action. It’s a vicious cycle, a self-fulfilling prophecy of some sort.
How to break free from this endless loop?
Take action anyway, regardless of how you feel and no matter how little. You may not realize this, but action isn’t only an effect but a cause of motivation.
Don’t wait until you’re afraid of failing an exam (negative motivation) before you study (take action). Don’t wait until the deadline of a project is imminent before forcing yourself to work on it.
Take action even if you don’t feel like it. Before long, motivation will kick in, and you’ll find plenty of inspiration to complete the previously dreadful task.
If you’re not passionate about anything or struggle with taking action, here’s an article I recommend reading.
4. Helping Others Succeed Increases Your Motivation
Credible people don’t just stop at motivating themselves. They go further to help others succeed. While this is usually selfless, it is mutually beneficial for all involved.
Besides the fulfillment that comes from seeing someone you coached succeed at something, helping others drives you to give more of your time, effort, and skills. It’s like teaching a topic; the more you do it, the better you understand it.
Here’s another angle to consider.
Helping others succeed at anything shifts your focus from what you’re lacking to what you have, whether tangible or intangible.
By inspiring others, you’ll get more inspiration to keep the cycle on.
5. Following Through With Promises to Yourself Boosts Motivation
Creating and keeping your commitment to yourself is a powerful motivation booster. It doesn’t matter how big or small the commitment is; make sure to always follow through on your promises.
Keep in mind that what you tell yourself plays a huge role in your motivation level. And one of the best things you can do for your internal dialogue is to create reasons to have positive inner conversations.
Sticking to your promises helps keep your inner dialogue about your abilities more positive. Instead of things like, “I’m such a failure,” you are more likely to think, “I always come through, no matter what!”
6. Cultivating New Positive Habits Is Highly Motivating
Lastly, put in the effort to develop and maintain healthy habits. Whether it is sticking to a healthy eating pattern, following a regular exercise schedule, or creating a healthy work-life balance, good habits help you achieve your goals.
When you think about it, it’s really difficult to stay inspired if you have a bunch of unhelpful habits. Bad habits kill motivation!
For example, no matter how fired up you get about living a healthy lifestyle, it will be hard to achieve that goal if you can’t follow a good diet and exercise plan.
This is why many people start a diet plan or exercise regimen, lose motivation after a few weeks (or days, in some cases), and throw in the towel.
First, commit to developing the habits that can sustain your motivation. As you may have figured, this calls for a significant amount of self-discipline and self-control.
The good news is that you don’t have to do this alone. If you have a hard time cultivating and maintaining healthy habits, I strongly recommend enlisting the help of a trusted partner. They will help keep you accountable so that you can reach your goals.
Realistic Ways to Stay Inspired
Motivation is often misunderstood. It is common for people to assume that being fired up once is enough to keep them inspired for life.
Sadly, that’s not the case.
To stay inspired, you must continuously do the things that keep you fired up. Zig Ziglar puts it this way: “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
According to a Harvard University report, motivation starts from an early age, as the structures and neural circuits in our brains are shaped by the different experiences in our lives.
The good news is that you can take steps to stay inspired, regardless of whatever happened in your past.
Consider the following realistic ways for sustaining motivation in your daily life.
- Identify your three most important tasks of the day: Every evening before you hit the sack or morning before you head out, identify the top three things you need to do to feel accomplished for the day. Plan your day around these tasks. While you can write more than three tasks, you want to be realistic to avoid burnout from spreading yourself too thin. Also, keeping your list small means you are less likely to fail and beat yourself up for failing.
- Apply the 50/10 rule to accomplish your top tasks: Once you’ve identified exactly what your most important tasks for the day are, work on one task for 50 minutes straight, take a 10-minute breather, and get back to work until you complete the task. Repeat the same rule for other tasks. The more you complete tasks on time, the more you want to check off other tasks. Remember, achievements increase motivation.
- Review your day every day: You don’t want to live an unexamined life, not when you want to stay inspired. Take stock of your life every day, preferably before you retire for the day. Creating time for reflection allows you to self-evaluate and know what areas need improving as well as where you’re doing great.
- Be open to learning: Never stop learning, even if it seems you already know everything in your professional and personal life. There is no end to personal development, so make time to read good books, listen to podcasts, or research online. Two other effective ways to keep learning and staying motivated are joining interest groups (online or offline) and networking with like-minded people. There are tons of new things you can pick up from people you meet at such forums.
- Make time for self-care: Don’t forget to care for your mind, body, and soul. Staying motivated and finding inspiration in life is much easier when you are physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy. It also does wonders for your happiness and confidence. Want to know how well (or not) you’re doing in terms of self-care? Take this quiz now.
Final Thoughts
By combining the motivational facts and realistic tips above, you can stay motivated and find inspiration and positive energy in life.
Remember, quantum leaps are hardly sustainable. Taking giant steps is a common reason people lose motivation easily.
I strongly recommend taking baby steps when trying to make positive changes. Gradually increase your momentum as you get the hang of things, but not before.
