How To Stay Motivated And Focused? [Four Strategies For Self Motivation]

How to stay motivated when a lack of momentum? Four strategies for self-motivation.

Self-motivation is difficult. In fact, I often compare it to a heroic act of the fictional German hero Baron Munchausen: trying to keep motivated while working on a task, project, or even the entire career, which sometimes feels like Pulling his hair, escaped from the swamp. We seem to naturally abhor continuous hard work, no matter how much caffeine we drink, or no matter how many inspirational posters we watch, it will not help.

But effective self-motivation is one of the main factors that distinguish high-achieving professionals from others. So how do you move forward, even if you don’t feel like you want to continue?

To some extent, the motivation is very personal. Something that can push you forward may not work for me. And some people seem to persevere better than others. However, after two decades of researching human motivation, my team and I have found several strategies that seem to work for most people, whether they want to lose weight, save for retirement, or implement difficult long-term action plans at work. If you have ever failed to reach an achievable goal due to delays or insufficient effort (who never did this?) I encourage you to read on. These four sets of tactics can help spur you forward.

How To Stay Motivated Everyday

Design goals, not chores

A lot of research confirms the importance of setting goals. For example, studies have shown that if salespeople set goals, they will complete more transactions, and if individuals make a commitment to exercise every day, they are more likely to improve their physical fitness levels. Abstract ambitions (such as "best-effort") are usually far less effective than a specific goal, such as bringing in ten new customers every month or walking 10,000 steps a day. Therefore, the first general rule is: Any goals you set or agree to achieve for yourself should be specific and clear.

Whenever possible, the goal should also trigger internal motivation, not external motivation. If an activity is seen as an end in itself, it will be internally motivated; if it is seen as meeting another purpose (for example, to win rewards or avoid being punished), the activity becomes subject to external factors excitation. My research shows that intrinsic motivation can predict achievement and success better than extrinsic motivation.

Take New Year's wishes as an example. We found that people often set their wishes in early January, and they are more likely to arrive than important but not-so-pleasant wishes that are more pleasant to do (such as going to a yoga class or not touching the phone on Saturdays) March is still continuing to do what I wish to do. New Year’s wishes are usually difficult to achieve, although this is an obvious fact, the aforementioned phenomenon still exists; if it is not difficult to achieve, there is no need to make a new year’s resolution to make a wish!

We may not all receive our favorite tasks. The trick is to focus on the elements of that job that you really like. Expand the scope and think about what satisfactory results might be brought about by completing the task, for example, giving you the opportunity to build important internal relationships.
Of course, if the external rewards are large enough, we will continue to do even the most unpleasant tasks. Receiving chemotherapy is an extreme example. In the context of work, many people stay at work for money, feeling like "slaves to wages." But in this case, they usually only achieve the goal with the minimum effort required. External incentives alone cannot help us truly excel.

In an ideal world, we would all look for a job role and environment in which we would enjoy ourselves, so we are highly committed to work. Unfortunately, people often fail to do this. For example, my research shows that when asked whether a positive relationship with colleagues or supervisors is important in their current position, most people will say "yes." But they don't remember that office morale was the key to success in the past, nor do they think it will be important to them in the future. Therefore, when choosing a job and executing a project, simply remembering to consider internal incentives is very helpful in maintaining success.

In the case of not being able to do this (because we may not all find a job that we like, and a task that we are assigned), the trick is to focus on the elements of that job that you really like. Expand the scope and think about the satisfactory results that accomplishing the task may bring, for example, giving you the opportunity to demonstrate skills in front of company leaders, establish important internal relationships, or create value for customers. Finally, try to offset the drudgery with activities that you feel are rewarding, for example, listening to music while dealing with a large number of accumulated emails in your inbox, or doing boring tasks with friends, family, or colleagues you like Chores.



Find effective rewards

Some tasks, and even career expansion, can be very burdensome; a helpful approach in this situation is to create external incentives for yourself in the short to medium term, especially if they complement the incentives provided by your organization. You may be able to promise yourself to go on vacation after completing a project or to buy a gift to reward yourself after losing weight. But be careful and avoid backfire incentives. If you really care about the quality of performance but reward yourself for the number or speed of tasks completed, this is the wrong approach. If an accountant comforts himself by completing the audit project quickly, he may be prone to errors. Sales staff focus on maximizing sales, rather than repetitive business, and it is inevitable that some customers will be dissatisfied.

Another common pitfall is that the incentive method you choose just destroys the goal you have achieved. If the reward for dieters who succeed in losing weight is to eat pizza and cakes, then some of the results of hard work may disappear, and bad habits will return. 

If the reward for outstanding work performance in one week is to allow yourself to be lazy and relax next week, then the positive impression you have established may be greatly reduced. Research on what psychologists call "balance" shows that achieving goals sometimes leads people to think that they can allow themselves to succumb to temptation, and as a result, they revert to their old habits.

What’s interesting is that it may be much more effective to provide suggestions instead of asking others to make them. It can overcome the problem of lack of motivation because it will increase confidence and stimulate action.
In addition, some external incentives are more effective than others.

 For example, in experiments, researchers found that most people work harder (putting more effort, time, and money) to get uncertain rewards (for example, 50% chance of getting 150 dollars or 50 dollars each), and the degree of effort Lower than working for a certain reward (for example, a 100% chance of getting $100), perhaps because the former is more challenging and exciting. It is difficult to set uncertain rewards at work, but it is not impossible. You can "gamify" a certain task by placing two envelopes on your desk. One of them has a higher reward value than the other. After the work is completed, only one envelope is randomly selected.

Finally, "loss aversion" can also be used to design powerful external incentives; the so-called loss aversion refers to people's preference for avoiding losses, rather than gaining benefits of the same value as that loss. In a 2016 study by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, people were asked to walk 7,000 steps a day for six months. 

For some participants, they can get $1.40 on the day they achieve their goals; other participants will lose $1.40 if they fail to achieve their goals on a certain day. As a result, the second group was 50% more likely to reach the daily goal. Online services such as StickK.com allow users to choose a goal, such as "I want to quit smoking," and then promise that if it is not achieved, they will lose a certain amount of money: for example, they must donate to an organization or political party they hate.

Maintain progress

When people work toward their goals, they are usually aggressive at first, then relax in the middle, when they are most likely to be interrupted. For example, one study observed that Jews were more likely to light candlesticks on the first and last nights of Hanukkah than on the other six nights, even though this religious tradition requires candles to be lit for eight consecutive days. In another experiment, people who participated in the paper-cutting work cut off more edges and corners in the middle of the work than they cut in the initial and final shapes of the work.

Fortunately, research has found several ways to combat this pattern. I call the first "short middle" (short middle). If you divide your goals into smaller sub-goals, such as setting weekly sales goals instead of quarterly goals, you will have less time to fall into that annoying lax state.

The second strategy is to change your perception of the progress that has been made. When we have made progress and the goal seems within reach, we tend to strengthen our efforts. For example, consumers who join a loyal customer program tend to spend more money when they are closer to receiving a reward. You can take advantage of this tendency by thinking of the starting point as a little earlier; perhaps the time the project was launched was not when you first took action, but when it was first proposed.

Another psychological technique is to focus on what you have already done at the midpoint of the task, and then turn your attention to the remaining things to do. My research found that changing perspectives like this can increase motivation. For example, in a frequent customer promotion, the emphasis on the steps that have been completed ("You need to buy ten times, you have bought twice") can prompt customers to increase their purchases at the beginning; and emphasize the missing steps ("buy twice, You have free rewards"), which can stimulate consumption when the buyer is close to the target.

This technique can be used for repetitive tasks (such as sending out forty thank-you letters) and more qualitative goals (becoming a skilled pianist). The person who writes the thank you letter can keep reminding himself how many letters have been sent before sending the twentieth letter so that he can be motivated; then he should count down how many letters are left to write. 

Similarly, those who are just starting to learn piano should focus on all the scales and techniques learned in the early stage of playing the piano; then as he gradually progresses, he should focus on the remaining technical challenges (arpeggios, vibrato, and Tremolo, etc.).

Harness the influence of others

Human beings are social creatures. We constantly look around to see what other people are doing, and their actions affect us. Even just sitting next to high-performing employees can increase your output. But in terms of incentives, the dynamic situation is more complicated. When we see a colleague quickly perform a task that frustrates us, we respond in two ways: be encouraged and try to imitate, or lose motivation to work, thinking that we can leave that task to a colleague. This is not completely irrational: the human species can thrive and develop because it relies on personal professional development, and everyone makes full use of their own relative advantages.

The problem is that we can't always delegate things to others, especially at work. But we can still make good use of social influence to benefit ourselves. One rule is that you should never just passively watch ambitious, efficient, and successful colleagues do things; there is a high risk that people lose their motivation to work. Instead, you should talk to these colleagues about what they are working so hard to achieve and why they would recommend it. 

My research shows that when a friend recommends and approves a certain product, people are more likely to buy it, and people are less likely to buy if they only learn that their friend bought that product. Listening to your model colleagues explain their goals can help you gain extra inspiration and improve your own vision.

What’s interesting is that it may be much more effective to provide suggestions instead of asking others to make them. It can overcome the problem of insufficient motivation because it will increase confidence and stimulate action. In a recent study, I found that people who struggle to achieve a certain goal, such as finding a job, think that they need experts to provide the know-how to succeed. 

In fact, if they provide smart advice to other job seekers, it will be more helpful to themselves, because in doing so, they will draw up specific plans that they are capable of following, and there is evidence that doing so can improve motivation and achievement.

The last way to use positive social influence is to recognize the people who can best motivate you to complete certain tasks, not necessarily those who do well. Conversely, the people who inspire you most are those who have the same overall goals as you: close friends and family, or mentors. Think about those people, we are eager to succeed for them, which helps to provide us with the strong inner motivation needed to achieve our goals. 

If a woman feels that work is boring and tiring, but doing this job is to set an example for her daughter, then she may find this job very rewarding; if a man thinks that routine fitness exercises can allow him to spend time with friends When he feels more energetic together, he may find it easier to persevere.

Make good use of internal and external motivational factors
In positive psychology, flow is defined as a mental state in which a person is completely immersed in an activity, feels energetic, and is very focused and happy in it. Unfortunately, that feeling in daily life may be fleeting or elusive. More commonly, we feel like Baron Monchosen in the swamp, working hard to pursue our goals. 

In these situations, what can help us is to make good use of the power of internal and external motivational factors, carefully set the motivation method, shift the focus of attention forward or backward depending on how close we are to the end, and use social influence. Self-motivation is one of the hardest skills to learn, but it is extremely important to your success.