Do you remember when you were little and your parents would bribe you with an allowance if you kept up on your chores? The thought of having a dollar or two to spend on candy gave you just the right motivation to do the dishes and clean your room. Even though you aren’t a child now, all humans need motivation to help them push themselves to do better. Many employers implement a rewards system into their employees pay. But what do you do if your boss isn’t helping you stay motivated and you find yourself in a rut? All you need to do is create your own methods of motivation. Here are 5 self-motivation tips and trips so you can continue to push yourself to do greater and better things:
- Set your own goals. If your employer doesn’t have goals already in place for you, make up your own. If they do have goals for you, create your own set on the side that push you harder than what they have given you. Your goals can be daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly. However, the smaller the time frame for each goal, the more likely you are to do it.
- Reward yourself. After you have made up your own goals, set a reward for yourself. If you do ‘X’ amount of work during the week, you get to go to dinner at your favorite restaurant over the weekend. If you make a certain amount of money, you can take your family on vacation to Disneyland. Make sure your reward is something you are desperately wanting, otherwise your motivation will waver quickly.
- Be accountable to others. Many times we lack the motivation to reach our goals because we know that no one else is looking. This is a big mistake! Get your friends/family/coworkers involved and ask them to keep tabs on you and see how your goal is going. Knowing that someone is going to ask you to account for your work can induce a very strong sense of motivation.
- Get a buddy. If you have a hard time fulfilling your goals, get someone else to do it with you. They don’t need to help you with your actual work, but they can set their own goals and you can both work towards them together. Just like a horse that speeds up when it sees another horse in it’s peripheral vision, you too can feel spurred on by seeing the progress of others alongside you.
- Review your goals often. The point of reviewing your goals often is two-fold. First, it makes you aware of your progress so you know if you need to speed up or slow down to a steadier pace. Second, it will ensure that you haven’t set your goals at an unachievable level. If your goals are far too high, you will lose motivation quickly. By reviewing often, you will be able to adjust your goals or feel the motivation to go just a bit harder.