Powerful Ways to Keep You Motivated

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As I’m writing this, it is January 22. It has been three weeks since New Year’s. At this point in your new year’s goals, you’ve probably given up some goals, and you’re restarting, or “editing” other goals. Maybe (hopefully!) you’ve made it through the hardest three weeks of accomplishing one or possibly two goals. This post is near and dear to my heart because this year is the year that I’m focusing a lot (well, practically all) of my time on changing myself into a better person. Right now, three weeks into it, I need some motivation to keep me going. I’m assuming you could use some motivation too. Here are some ways to keep you motivated on your journey!

Keep Yourself Motivated: One Step at a Time

Rome wasn’t built in a day. You can’t change a bad habit into a good habit in a day either. You are Rome. Now you need to build it. Your goals, accomplished the right way, will never be reached overnight. It takes constant, consistent “no’s” to what you’d rather do and “yes” to what you should do. Equally, you have to strive to do one tiny thing every day that brings you closer to your goals. It’s not easy. There are times you are going to fail. But focusing on one day at a time, one step at a time consistently and constantly keeps you in the right mindset.

An Example:

You can keep your mind on the here and now by breaking your goal down into steps. One of my goals for 2022 was to learn how to write calligraphy. I was so excited. I bought new pens, ink, and paper on Amazon, I followed some influencers on Instagram, and I was set. Two days later, I was ready to throw in the towel and forget the whole stinking thing. It was hard! I was awful. Honestly, I was embarrassed and I no longer wanted to do it.

There were a few things that kept me from giving up completely. Really, there was only one—I spent $50 on my “hobby”. I didn’t want to have $50 go to waste. It’s kind of sad by how much I’m motivated by money, but I’m a stay at home mom who’s only source of income is her husband risking his life (literally!) in order for me to eat. I get really focused on money. More on that later, though.

But, deciding in my heart that I cannot give up on this, I focused on taking it one step at a time, one day at a time. I decided I would dedicate 10-20 minutes a day practicing. I didn’t notice changes overnight or even over a couple of years. Eventually, though, I became more confident in my writing and started to share that with friends and family.

Even now, I’m nowhere near where I want to be with calligraphy. However, the mindset of taking it one step at a time has helped me stay focused on my goals with it. Especially in the first few months, using smaller tasks (like writing every day for 10 minutes) helped to start a habit that I continue to this day.

Keep Yourself Motivated: Visualize Your End Goal

I’ll be honest, the best way that this works for me is when it comes to fitness. Seven years ago I was 6 months away from saying “I do” to the love of my life. I knew that the pictures I was going to be in were going to come with me everywhere for the rest of my life. I desperately wanted to look the absolute best on my wedding day. At the time, I was working at Dairy Queen 10 hour days to try to pay for the wedding. I was constantly staring at ice cream, crushed Oreos, whipped cream, hot fudge, any type of sweet you can think of, all day long.

To top it all off, once break time hit, I could literally go make myself a giant greasy cheeseburger, eat some fried cheese curds and wash it all down with a giant soda. What stopped me? I had a vision of myself at the dress shop trying on dresses. I would visualize myself walking down the aisle, my hair is perfect, my dress fit perfect, and my about-to-be husband had tears in his eyes (he did).

Now…

Fast forward to present day. I’ve had three children; I have cravings I’ve never had before; and I’m desperate to get back to the weight I was in my first years of marriage. Part of me for the longest time believed I’d never get back to the way I used to be.

Yes, I do realize my body will never be the same. I can still picture how I’m going to look if I don’t give up. If I say no to the cravings and make an effort to be at the gym consistently, I’m going to get there. Like above, it has to be a one step at a time, one task at a time type of consistency. The best way I can stay motivated during that one step at a time mindset is by visualizing my end goal.

This works for goals that don’t have to do with fitness. Bert, right now, is focusing on coming up with secondary streams of income and passive income on the side. He visualizes being able to afford things like nice vacations and dinner out whenever we want to (I know, doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but to us it is). He even visualizes himself making the cold calls, getting the “yes” clients, and working on his digital marketing campaign. If it helps you, make a Pinterest board or online vision board of what it looks like once you get to where you want to be.

Don’t Compare Yourself

The only person you have to blame for your failures is yourself. In the same token, when you accomplish what you’ve worked so long and hard for, you get to thank yourself. Don’t play the comparison game. You can get discouraged because you for whatever reason aren’t as good as so and so. Likewise, you let your guard down because you think “Well, I may not be the best at this, but at least I’m not as bad as ____”.

Either way causes problems. God has given you the talents and abilities you have for a reason. In the same manner, we are all fallen creatures who have weaknesses, failures, and sins that manifest in different ways. Some ways are more obvious than others, but we all struggle. Keep your head down, ignore the noise around you, and continue to focus on yourself and only yourself.

Perfect example of this in my life? Thinking I’ll never be as good of a violin player as “her”. I have myself to blame, I’m the one who gave up on the violin in high school (you can read about that story here). But every now and then, when I play it in church next to the girl who’s been playing for years, the negative thoughts pour in. You’re never going to be as good as her. I don’t know why you even try. Put your violin away and quit wasting your time.

I honestly think it’s the devil talking. He doesn’t want you to enjoy any good thing, he wants you to think that you’re useless and will never amount to anything. When those negative thoughts come, and they will, stop comparing yourself to others. Focus on being the best at “the violin” that you can be, and leave the rest alone.

Take Control of Your Thoughts

“…and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

2 corinthians 10:5b

This goes along with what was stated above. The Bible even warns us about negative thoughts and emotions. It tells us to keep every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), and to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). Our heart is the seat of our mind, it controls our emotions, and it is deceiving (Jeremiah 17:9). When you allow negative thoughts to enter your mind (thoughts like you’ll never be good enough, you’re never going to accomplish this), you’re not only setting yourself up for failure, you’re also going against God’s word! How important it is to take our thoughts captive and to not dwell on past or present failures!

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

proverbs 4:23

Forget About the Past

Recently I read “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod. Something that stuck out to me was when Hal Elrod wrote about the past. (You can snag a copy of that here). We seem to let our past failures dictate our future way more than we realize. At least, that’s the case for me.

We say no to an idea because “I tried that before and it didn’t work”. This thinking reminds me of Jesus’ disciples fishing all night and not catching a thing. Jesus tells them to cast the net on the other side and his disciple’s response is (I’m paraphrasing, don’t come after me) “We’ve been doing this all night, Lord. We’ve tried that and it didn’t work.” Nevertheless, they cast their nets a final time and get a huge catch.

Sometimes we think “I could never do that” when we see someone else doing something we admire. The truth is, we’re basing that thought process on how we know we’ve been in the past and automatically think that our future will be the same. In essence, we’re letting the past dictate our future. Yes, I’ve tried to read through my Bible in a year and I’ve failed. Every single time, I’ve failed. But each time I try, I get just a tiny bit closer. This time, I’m going to change “x”, “y”, and “z” and I’m going to do it.

The Best Way to Keep You Motivated: Pray

I think Christians forget about this completely. It’s honestly sad. We think God is too big to worry about our goals, or that he simply doesn’t care enough about them. Some are even of the mindset that we’re so bad at living, God isn’t going to help us get better. Nothing could be further from the truth! The God of the universe cares about you and your future. He sent his only son to die on the cross for you so that you could live eternally with Him.

 It doesn’t stop there. God wants us to live full lives and be what He has made us to be. Psalms 37 tells us to delight in the Lord and he will give us the desires of our heart. Undoubtedly, I’m not trying to spin the gospel into if you love God, you will get everything you wanted. However, if God has laid it on your heart to want to do something or change a bad habit you have, or use a new talent to serve Him, then He is able to help you accomplish that goal too.

Spend time in prayer asking for diligence and discipline. Ask for forgiveness on days that you fail and ask that you would be able to put it behind you and start over again. Request that God would send you people that would encourage you to succeed. Pray that He would convict your heart over areas that you need to change and to change those areas. Read scripture that will motivate you to keep going.

Too often, we forget that God exists. It may be a reason we continually fail at goals we have set. Include God in your goals and dreams, and see how He works through your heart and in your life!