Do you often find yourself putting things off? You know that you should do them but you end up leaving them until the last minute, making the task even worse for yourself? If you procrastinate like this then you are not alone. Luckily when you learn to understand how your mind works as I am going to show you, it is easy to motivate yourself! (Even if the task is one of your ‘pet hates’ that you would previously rather claw your own eyes out then do.)
The following techniques make use of various types of self persuasion and motivational techniques including NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and visualization.
Focus on the outcome rather than the process that are going to have to go through in order to get it. For example if you are trying to lose weight don’t undermine your success before you have even started by focusing on all the nice meals dining out with your friends you are going to have to miss or going over how hard it is going to be to get up early to go to the gym – instead focus on how good you are going to feel when you finally fit into those clothes that haven’t fit you since high-school.
Motivational Techniques: The Stick vs. the Carrot:
Psychology tell us that there are in fact only 2 ways to motivate someone to do anything. We are either moving towards pleasure or away from pain. This is where the analogy of a donkey being motivated by either the threat of being hit with a stick or by being rewarded with a carrot comes in.
Some people are more motivated by the avoidance of pain, whereas some find pleasure to be the better motivator. In order to be able to easily motivate yourself the key is for you to find out which one works the best for you.
You can do this easily by doing the following exercises. Whichever one you respond to the most is going to be the best way to motivate yourself.
To start get a piece of paper and a pen and think of a task that you have been putting off.
It will help you to track your improvement if you give yourself a number out of 10 of how much you currently want to complete that task, 10 being you can’t wait to get started and 1 being you don’t want to do the task at all. For these exercises it is best to pick something of about a 5 out of 10 to start with until you get the technique down and then you can move onto doing the big stuff.
Make sure you have chosen a number before you read past this point.
Write your number down on a piece of paper.
Now ask yourself a question – why didn’t you rate it lower?
Notice as you ask yourself this you suddenly start to want to do it more!
Now ask yourself how much you want to do the task now a give it a score out of 10? Most people notice that their scores have risen significantly.
Another Fantastic Technique For Self Motivation
Simply write down the following questions and then answer them:
“What will happen if I don’t do X?”
Then make a big horrible picture in your mind of the absolute worst outcome for you if you don’t complete the task.
Then ask yourself
“What will happen if I do X”?
Then make a list of all the good things that will happen if you do complete the task, then visualize them happening to you in your mind’s eye.
Notice that now you are suddenly more motivated to do that task then you were before!
Once mastered properly these techniques can be very powerful in improving your life, simply because there are so many things you can achieve once you are properly motivated.
In fact motivation is arguably the most important aspect to success in life.
Just think about it – you can have all the natural ability and skills in the world but without the motivation to pursue your goals you won’t get anywhere at all.
That is why it is so useful to practice these techniques for motivating yourself.
If you are just getting started on your journey of self improvement then learning how to motivate yourself effectively is one of the most powerful things you can do.
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