Motivation doesn’t last forever, it comes and goes. There will be days when you feel it, and other days, you can’t seem like putting up the motivation to do anything at all. One thing for sure is that everyone wants to work hard, but sometimes, they seem unable to summon the motivation within them.
If you want to learn about building motivation and maintaining your momentum to work hard in achieving your goals, continue to read on. What you are about to discover are the 7 great ways how you can work hard and motivate yourself to take action.
On Quora, one of the largest question-and-answer sites, the question that often discussed by people is “how can I motivate myself to work harder?” And if you, too, are looking for the answer, don’t worry, below are the solutions.
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Adopt the mindset for learning
When people think of the word “work hard”, they feel the dread even before they begin the work because they already condition their mind to believe that the work is going to be hard.
If you want to work hard, the first thing you need to do is to adopt the right mindset. Working hard does not need to be hard at all. Think about it, unless you are working under the hot sun as a hard labor worker, then yes, what you did can be considered hard work. These days, most people sit comfortably in their office under the cooling air conditioner, facing their computer and working with their fingers. This is not really some kind of hard work.
Therefore, the first step is to transform your mindset. It is not hard work, but rather, you are just doing something to turn yourself into who you want to be. Once you have made the mindset shift, things will be different. Instead of thinking how hard or how difficult the tasks are going to be, think about how good it can make you feel once you completed the tasks.
So, change your thinking. If you are working on your goals, you are working on something exciting. If you are working in a job, you are creating values to others, be it in your company or to your company’s clients.
You can also watch carol dweck growth mindset video from youtube, which is totally awesome for getting the right mindset.
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Chunk down your goals into bite-sized tasks
Feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start? Try to chunk down your goals into bite-sized tasks where you can work on them one at a time. Most people are paralyzed by the big tasks and goals they set for themselves. Never allow this to happen.
You must understand that remarkable success may sound big, but it is actually the combination of small and consistent effort. How do you think you can eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Running a full marathon of 42km can seem like hard work, but how do you complete the run? You run with one step at a time. No matter how big the task, it can be completed by taking one action step at a time.
Therefore, if you want to work hard and get yourself motivated to take action, focus on doing the small steps. Will Smith once said, “You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built.’ You don’t start there. You say, ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall.”
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Divorce yourself from distractions
One of the keys to staying motivated and to do the work is to keep yourself from being distracted. People are able to work hard when they focused 100% on their work, but the problem is that most people are easily distracted.
In today’s world, it is even easier to get distracted. Studies have discovered that human’s attention span has fallen from 12 seconds in 2000, to just about 8 seconds after the mobile revolution began. Goldfish, on the other hand, has an attention span of 9 seconds, even much longer than us.
Hence, create a bunker and prevent yourself from all the distractions when you work. Switch off your phone when necessary. Put up a “Do not disturb” sign on your office door. Lock yourself in your room and work with 100% concentration.
One of the reasons Warren Buffett becomes the greatest investor in the world is because of his ability to divorce himself from what is going on around him. He simply sticks to his own portfolio and believes in himself even when the world is going crazy when the stock prices have fallen.
If you want to perform better, do great work, and to work hard, you must learn the art of staying focused. And it begins by disciplining yourself to stay away from distractions.
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Build the commitment and create the accountability
Most people find it difficult to come up with the motivation to work hard because they lack the commitment and the accountability. Think about it, when something is a must-do, will you procrastinate on it? If you need to send lunch to your daughter, will you say that you don’t have the motivation to do it?
It all depends on your level of commitment. When you are absolutely committed, you will do whatever it takes. When you are interested, you will do whatever that is convenient. So create the commitment.
Another key is to build up the accountability. For example, if you have no motivation to workout in the gym, invite a friend to workout together with you. When you have promised someone, you are more likely going to do it. This is why having an accountability partner is important.
Read the success stories of remarkable people like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, etc, all of them did not start out alone. They have partners and team members that push each other to do it.
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Use the time-blocking technique
If you want to work hard, use the time-blocking technique to force yourself to work. This technique is simple, yet, it can be extremely effective when you implement it correctly.
For instance, if you are in sales and your high-impact work is to make prospecting calls each day, what you can do is to time-block this activity. You can time-block 3 hours, from 9AM to 12PM, to do your prospecting calls. And during these 3 hours period, you will do nothing except calling your potential prospects.
The key is that you must commit to your time-block. Once you have time-blocked your tasks, you will do nothing else except for the tasks you have assigned. You may even want to lock yourself in your room to do so.
This technique may require discipline and commitment, but when it is implemented correctly, you can become a hard worker and produce outstanding success in life.
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Being good to yourself is not a bad thing
Another great way to motivate yourself to work hard is to set up a reward system. Whenever you have completed your tasks, reward yourself. Of course, the reward must be something exciting and something that you are looking forward to.
If the reward is something that you don’t really want, you will never be motivated by it. Thus, create a reward for yourself. For instance, once you have done all the work for this week, allow yourself to rest and have a movie night out.
You should associate bigger rewards to bigger accomplishments. Just like if you have reached your annual goal and target, pamper yourself by having a three-days-two-nights stay in the Four Seasons Hotel by the beach.
Your reward can be anything as long as it is something that you are looking forward to. Everyone’s desire is different and a reward that drives you does not mean that it will drive other people into taking action. Just be creative and celebrate your success, even if it is a small one.
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We all have a purpose in life
Finally, remind yourself of your purpose. Why do you want to do it in the first place? Your reasons are the backbones that support your dreams and goals. When you have no motivation to work hard, highly likely, it is because you have lost your direction and your purpose. We all have a purpose in life, and it is up to us to find it within each of us.
What you need to do then is to revisit them. Rediscover your purpose and reignite your passion. When you are absolutely clear about why you want to do something, you become unstoppable.
As what people often say, “Clarity is power”. Regardless of whether you are building a product you love or are working to put food on the table for your family, it is extremely vital that you remain connected with what inspires you.
When you read the biographies of successful people, you will often discover that they talk a lot about their vision, mission, and their ‘why’. Extraordinary companies are producing amazing results because they have a vision, in other words, their purpose to achieve great results.
You can drive yourself to work hard by doing the same thing, which is to constantly remind yourself of your purpose, of why you want to do things in the first place. Always remember, we all have a purpose in life.