Learn how to inspire yourself and make your dreams come true today!
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Given up on a no-spend month? Taken a 2-week ‘break’ from your exercise plans? Picked up a new book before finishing the last one?
Personal resolutions can be a pain to complete. So, if you’re feeling unmotivated, here are 8 ways to inspire yourself to pick up where you left off.
1. Occupy yourself with something else
Ever get strange epiphanies while doing the most random of things? Perhaps while you’re in the shower, or taking a bath?
Strangely enough, occupying yourself with random tasks such as cleaning or doing laundry can inspire you and lead to random epiphanies. Because tasks like this require little to no brain work, your mind is free to wander as it pleases.
Instead of stubbornly trying to continue down the same train of thought, you might end up considering different alternatives to solving the same problem. Alternatives that may never have come to you if you’d been so single-mindedly focused on trying to solve it.
2. Try something new
It can be very unmotivating to feel like your life has fallen into a bit of a rut. If you feel uninspired to do anything because everything feels just a bit bleak, you’re not alone. We all crave something fresh and exciting in our lives once in a while, especially if we’ve stuck to the same routine for quite some time.
Taking up a new hobby is a great way to shake up your life a little bit without doing anything too drastic. Not only do you get that exhilarating experience of doing something different, but you also get to learn something new in the process. What is life about if not to learn something new every day?
Instead of bingeing a new TV series, consider trying out a new sport, or learning a new instrument. The process of learning something new will naturally motivate you into continuous learning and re-inspire you to pursue your goals.
RELATED: 10 of the Best Me-Time Hobbies for Introverts
3. Start off on a good note
Whether this is the start of the day or the start of the week, make sure that you do something productive to set the tone for the rest of the day or week.
Have you ever noticed that sleeping in can have a drastic effect on your productivity levels? Even waking up sluggish can make it difficult to kick-start your day. Whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, starting the day off right is so important in bringing that motivation in and carrying it through the rest of the day.
There is a whole host of productive habits you can take up to encourage motivation throughout your day. From waking up just that little bit earlier to setting aside time to journal or read before bed, these habits can have lasting positive impacts on your life, inspiring you to do more, achieve more.
4. Take a step back
If you focus for too long on the smaller details, it can be easy to lose sight of your end goal. Only by taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture can you recall what drove your motivation in the beginning.
It’s so important to take frequent breaks to make sure that you’re aware of exactly why you’re working so hard on whatever it is you are doing. Recognising your sense of purpose is vital in helping you find inspiration to remain motivated.
It is essential that you never lose sight of the bigger picture. Knowing exactly what you’re working towards will get you through any challenge that comes your way.
5. Find your purpose
Whether you’re trying to finish an assignment, write the next chapter of your book or work on your side hustle, having a sense of purpose is the one thing that will get you through any obstacle thrown your way.
Even if it’s the simplest of tasks that you’re trying to complete, there should still be a purpose in doing it. Study for the sake of learning more and getting good grades so that you can one day land your dream job. Work on those boring tasks that come with your side hustle so that one day you can make it your full-time job.
Motivation may be difficult to come by if you look too hard for it. But inspiration will always await you if you have a clear purpose in your mind and heart. As long as you have a goal to work towards, it won’t be too difficult to inspire yourself.
6. Review your plan
If you’ve made a plan to tackle your goals, or even just wrote down a to-do list, you’re already well on your way to achieving your goals. Having a plan of action is a great way to record things that need to be done and keep you on track towards completion.
If you find yourself losing motivation, a possible explanation for it is that your plan is no longer working for you. You may need to make adjustments to your timeline or rewrite your to-do list to get yourself back on track.
Consider breaking down larger tasks into smaller ones so that they’re more doable and easier to achieve. Completing each task from smallest to largest will help you gain momentum with each task that you complete. This is effectively the snowball effect and before long, you’ll have each and every task on your to-do list ticked off.
7. Flip through your notes/brain dump journal
Ever had those moments of frantically trying to recall an idea you once had, but no matter how hard you try, that memory is just out of reach?
If you’re in the habit of jotting down random thoughts whenever they come to mind, you might just find your next source of inspiration hidden within those pages. Otherwise, getting into the habit of writing down ideas when they come to mind could save you a lot of trouble in the future. Especially if your best ideas come to you in the most random of places, e.g., the toilet or in bed.
A brain dump journal is, in essence, a collection of your thoughts and ideas. It’s a visualisation of your thought processes, a map of every train of thought. It contains within it, the ideas that you once thought were too wild, too unimaginable, too out of reach. But what if one of those ‘wild ideas’ is your next big thing?
Did you have business plans written up for an Etsy shop? Video ideas for a YouTube channel? Article ideas for a blog?
Maybe you thought they were preposterous at the time, but remember that in the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.
Take a leap of faith. Be inspired. Say yes to opportunities that are offered to you and create opportunities for yourself when there are none. If you’ve been thinking about starting a blog for a while, here’s your chance – The Comprehensive Guide to Starting a Blog. Remember, life’s all about new experiences.
RELATED: How to Declutter an Overactive Mind
8. Step into nature
Do you ever feel a bit disconnected from reality? Especially in a world dominated by technology?
Spending hours and hours staring at a screen can easily make anyone feel a bit detached. Putting down your devices and stepping into nature can bring you out of the online world and into the real world.
If you’ve been trying to convince yourself to get stuff done without much progress, you might think that taking a break feels like you’re wasting your time. Despite not getting anything done, at least sitting at your desk feels like you’re just about to start cranking out work, right?
Frankly, trying too hard to come up with ideas and forcing yourself to go, go, go can do more harm than good. Trapped in an endless cycle of thinking that you’ll be productive, and then not being productive.
In events such as these, it might actually be more beneficial to go outside and take a walk. There’s no doubt that being outside has many more benefits than being cooped up at your desk all day. It might even serve as the push you need to inspire yourself.
Losing motivation is common. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t inspire yourself to be more productive again. All you need is some good downtime to unwind and a few great tips to help you pick up where you left off!
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