Ways to get motivated to reach your goals

We are halfway through the year. How are you going with the goals you set in January? Many people’s goals get forgotten about by now or if they’re still in mind, there might be a lack of dedication. Motivation isn’t always easy to come by, so sometimes it comes down to discipline. How do you get back into the groove halfway through the year?

If you’re reading this blog, your intentions are in the right place! Here are some tips to help you get back on track to achieve your goals.

Re-focus

If you haven’t achieved your goal/s, re-focus and remind yourself why you set your goal/s in the first place! It’s important to remember your ‘why’ because without this, you don’t have a purpose and will just be doing something for the sake of doing something. If you can’t connect with your ‘why’ anymore, maybe a different goal can fit into place, or you can modify it. If your ‘why’ is still highly important, then re-prioritise your time and energy to achieve your goal.

Acknowledge what you’ve achieved so far

Don’t give yourself a hard time for slacking on your goals. Slow progress is still progress. By acknowledging your achievements so far, this will remind you that you are completely capable and that you can persevere. It’s important to remind yourself of how far you’ve come, especially when you feel like you have a long way to go.

Re-evaluate, reframe

Think about what your challenges have been so far. How do you get around them? What kind of plans can you put in place to jump over hurdles and weave around obstacles? Sometimes your goals will need to be re-adjusted based on anything from mentioned challenges to different priorities or uncontrollable life changes. You can even change your goals entirely if need be. But make sure to create some plans around any changed or new goals.  

Find some inspiration

Are there certain people who inspire you to do great things? It could be someone famous or it could be someone close to you. It doesn’t matter what your source of inspiration is; it could be a book, a story, a company or a person. Spend some time learning from your inspirations; watch inspirational speeches, read a developmental book or have a quality discussion with those closest to you. When you give yourself time to be inspired by the things around you, naturally you will become more motivated to achieve your goals.

Choose the right environments/schedule/activities

This is a very important topic. Let’s say your goal is to improve your public speaking, but all you do every day is work alone and avoid socializing. It seems counterproductive doesn’t it? Every day try to put yourself in a setting where it’s almost impossible not to think about your goal/s. Surround yourself with like-minded people who strive to improve, or people who can help you in achieving your goal. Avoid situations that hold you back or steer you down the wrong path. By setting this rule for yourself you’ll be able to be proactive in your approach. In choosing the right environments, day-by-day you’ll create new habits which will naturally lead to results.

Set yourself a deadline

So you’ve identified your goal and what you need to do to achieve it. The next thing you should do is set yourself a timeframe. This will help you to focus on what needs to be done and the actions you should take to achieve them. If you don’t set yourself a deadline, you run the risk of getting stagnant and putting your goals on hold. 

Don’t listen to your own excuses

There will be times where genuine roadblocks might get in the way of achieving your goal, and that’s okay, it happens to everyone.  However, it’s important to be able to identify between a legitimate reason and an excuse. If you realise that you’re making an excuse - ignore it! Sometimes it can be a challenge to complete a task and sometimes it’s even harder to start a task, but once you ignore your excuses and get the job done, you will feel a satisfactory sense of achievement. A good example of this is exercising. There are plenty of excuses we come up with, but at the end of it all, if we just push through and get in a workout, we always feel better for it!