How do you keep yourself motivated?

Shakil Ahmed
53 replies
Motivation or willpower is not an infinite resource. It's much like a muscle that can get tired. How do you recharge yourself in those situations?

Replies

Fritz Brumder
I have done a lot of research on this via my passion project www.magic-middle.com where I interview CEO's and sports coaches. There are many right answers, but my favorite is managing MOMENTUM. It goes up and down but there is always a little nugget of progress, you just need to call attention to it. For example, today we hit a snag with a key part of our product, but that also brought some clarity to the root cause of the issue we had been seeing for a week now. It was frustrating and felt like progress was not being made. With the team all on a video call, I brought a calming attitude and focused on re-iterating what I was hearing to make sense of a complex situation. Then I found another aspect of our company that made huge progress right at this same time. That was not only motivating, it brought energy and momentum to the frustrating thing we were working on.
Shakil Ahmed
@fritzly Magic in the middle looks interesting!
Mr Ethar Alali
@fritzly yeah, so this is a key point, for sure! The reality is that progress really happens when companies are learning. Positive feedback, by sales say. is the most obvious way we know that. However, the negatives are just as important. Since we learn a lot by something not working. As the quote says "I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways it that won't work". Those non-solutions are also part of the solution space we must look through to find the solution that work and people accept.
Fritz Brumder
@shakilahmed Thanks! It was a very fun project at a key transition period from startup #1 (brandlive.com) to startup #2 (zipcan.com).
Rahul Bansal
Yes I feel this pain all the time. My drive goes up and down.
Shakil Ahmed
@rahulbansal Previously I was not so mindful about it. Now, I understand that the lack of motivation is temporary and I will be back on track in no time.
Mutrics Official
@rahulbansal Come on! There are many things you are involved in.
Mutrics Official
Keep engaged with some positive things and people, you will get motivation from the feedback from them!
Shakil Ahmed
@mutrics_official Being in a community helps. I'm spending my free time on indie hackers :D
Gordian Overschmidt
Just get feedback from the people you are doing your work for. Take their smile, take the shared passion, and listen. Take it as compliment that they share, work, critic your ideas. That is where I get my motivation from, every day. And believe me, I already got a lot of days behind me :-) but more to come. It is not the understanding that shapes us; it is experience. Go for it!
Shakil Ahmed
@gordianoverschmidt Thanks for sharing. I will definitely keep it in mind.
Parisa Mosadegh
I usually listen to motivational playlists on Spotify when I'm down
Arseniy
Coffee/tea, music, craic (banter), exercise/stretching - typically in that order.
Shakil Ahmed
@arseniyw for me it's Coffee, movie/podcast
Harshil Sharma
I face this issue a lot. I still have no solution that works for me. I guess maintaining momentum helps here.
Shakil Ahmed
@harshilsharma63 I face this issue by acknowledging it's one of the experiences I will have as a human being. Sometimes listening to motivational audio, podcasts help. If nothing works, I just take a break :D
Tanya Volkova
I allow myself some rest - tell myself that I'll do absolutely nothing work-related today so that I have energy tomorrow. Sometimes the other way round - I'll work hard right now and will get the results needed so that I can read something not work-related in the evening. I recharge during the weekends and when I am active physically. So when I know there's yoga, dance class of vocal class I'll have to miss if I don't do something, it helps me get things done.
Shakil Ahmed
@tanya_volkova I take my entrepreneurial journey as a play, even then it gets overwhelming at times. When I feel less motivated than usual, I will just try to complete the logistical tasks that do not require much attention.
Eddie H.
As a bootstrapped founder, I look at my dwindling bank account as motivation. I also look at my family and remember that I'm doing this for them. For some reason, negativity is a great motivator for me personally.
Shakil Ahmed
@eddieaich some people do better under pressure, you are one of them.
Andy Leverenz
I find the best solution is to remove yourself from what you normally do. Escaping to exercise, meet up with someone, or do something creative are my outlets. I have recently taken to meditation and highly recommend it. All of these outlets give you a sense of grounding and have a recharging effect. When complete, I find myself ready to press forward.
Shakil Ahmed
@justalever I'll start meditating again.. been away from it for too long
Satish Gaire
Looking at stripe dashboard keeps me motivated.
Sreekanth PM
What I do to motivate myself every day? every day when I wake up, I will devote around 30 minutes to think about my goals. I will start thinking about who will be I and where I will be if I achieved my goals. I will compare myself to some real-world personalities which I can be if I achieved my goals. This fuels me every day. It really worked for me but I dont know if it will work for you. Excuse for my bad english.
Shakil Ahmed
@sreekanth850 this is really a good way to stay focused. Thank you for sharing
Jacqueline von Tesmar
I've been doing the thing where I have 1 main goal for each day. Makes things more manageable. And often I find that one goal turns into three goals, and they all get accomplished. I also am into reminding myself what I'm grateful for every morning. Even just one thing.
Shakil Ahmed
@jacqvon Defining a main goal is an interesting idea!
Katya Veremeichik
As for me, the key was to understand that being not on top of your productivity is okay. Let yourself be lazy is an important part of being productive. I just allow myself a day of easy ongoing zen work and it usually energizes me enough to start complicated tasks the next day. Of course, loving what you do is massively important, but that's a given.
Shakil Ahmed
@katyaveremeichik I agree on it totally! understanding that feeling a lack of motivation is temporary is a key part of dealing with it.
Giuliano Formilan
Running has helped! Whenever i find that I cannot solve a problem or I lose steam, I try to get a run in and that helps bring me back.
Shakil Ahmed
@justgiuls reminds me of Nietzsche's quote β€œAll truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”. In your case it's running :)
Giuliano Formilan
@shakilahmed wise words! I'm in need of a run today :)
Jason Herrera
Keep things on paper. Write down short-term goals for yourself, think about it everyday, slowly progress in the direction you want to everyday more and more. Don't worry about achieving something quickly and rushed, but do worry about progress everyday even if it comes slow. Having short term goals can be better in the sense of coming together and creating a bigger, long term goal in the end. Work on yourself everyday until you get where you want to be.
Shakil Ahmed
@jason_purplerosesupply I write my goals on paper, literally. It feels more tangible. You are right in saying that having a manageable chunk of goal helps with the consistency.
Katya Veremeichik
@jason_purplerosesupply yeah that actually was of much help for me. Taking a pen and writing goals down on paper triggers something in the brain, and it's super satisfying to cross things you've completed out:)
Ali Rajool
Being with my family recharges me
Shakil Ahmed
@rajool very true for most of us :)
Angelina rosas {Lina}
i am always in pain and i keep thinking of sad thoughts and also i am emotional abused
Shakil Ahmed
@angelina_rosas_lina_ I'm sorry to hear this. I hope someone with expertise in counselling can help
Sanaz Bidad
Write down my goals on paper and focus on them.πŸ“ƒπŸŽ― Before you sleep, visualize yourself achieving my goals.😴🌌 Start your day by doing the thing that is most important to me.πŸ‘©πŸ»β€πŸ’» Listen to motivational stories on Ted talks and other popular shows.πŸ§‘πŸ»β€πŸ’ΌπŸŽΌ
Akhila Satish
Motivation is tough! I recently did a "metacognitive reset" to keep my motivation high and my sense of stress low. My reset took three steps: 1) making an "opposite of gratitude" list of things that slowed me down and caused frustration 2) drawing "lines in the sand" to keep myself away from those things and 3) creating cognitive clutter by surrounding myself with things that spark inspiration, from books to my violin! I wrote about my experience on Medium (https://medium.com/@akhilasatish...) in more detail if it's helpful!
Shakil Ahmed
@akhilasatish Read the article, well articulated and a very useful piece of writing. Thank you!