How to Find Your Motivation When You Really Can’t Be Bothered

I think we all have days from time to time when we really can’t be bothered doing anything. Especially lately. There are things that need doing but it’s so hard to push yourself to do it, or even do anything at all some days. It’s hard when we know what we want, but we just can’t find that get up and go that we need.

How to Find Your Motivation

Find your why

Sometimes we do things without really wondering why we do them. Maybe it’s because it’s what someone else wants you to do, or maybe it’s because it’s the way we’ve always done it. Whatever your reasons, make sure your goals are about what you want. If your heart isn’t in it, then what’s the point? You will always find getting motivated incredibly difficult.

Set and regularly review your goals

How often do we make goals for ourselves, but forget to check back and see if we are on track? Looking back over your goals from time to time is a good habit to get in to. It helps keep your goals fresh in your mind, helps regain some perspective and you can make changes where necessary. Circumstances change and it doesn’t do good to hold onto goals from a long time ago that doesn’t interest or seem as important as it once did.

Keep at it and don’t give up

When something is new, it’s easy to become excited about it and ideas just swirl around in your mind. But after awhile, that excitement seems to lag a bit and you get bogged down in things that need doing and the parts that aren’t as interesting. That initial spark fizzes a bit, and it can become harder and harder to keep it moving. The question you need to figure out is, how important is it? If it’s what you really want then keep at it and don’t give up.

Ways to Keep Your Motivation on Track

Make a plan

It’s always easier when you have something to focus on. Write your goals and things that need to be done down somewhere where you will see it every day and try to stick to it as much as possible.

Don’t overthink things

It’s easy to become overwhelmed when we think about things too much. We find it harder to concentrate because it seems like there’s just too much going on, and we start thinking about things in different ways and things become more complicated than they have to be. Given the chance, your brain will start thinking of many, many excuses for why you shouldn’t do it and it will be much harder to find your motivation when you’re already talking yourself out of it. Anxiety can make finding motivation difficult. Don’t say to yourself, “I can’t.” Learn to say, “I can try.”

Stop making excuses

We’ve all done it at some point. Even if we know it’s something we have to do. If we don’t feel like it, we will find just about any opportunity to get out of it. Even making excuses to ourselves. You need to start being honest with yourself. Don’t let the excuses win.

Make yourself accountable

Share your goals. Put yourself out there. It’s easy to keep these things to yourself, because no one will know if you fail and they won’t constantly remind you of it. But when you keep it to yourself, it’s easy to forget about it, or not put as much effort in. When you’ve got someone keeping you on task, you are much more likely to try harder and succeed, because you have that drive.

When other people know what you want to achieve and why, they can be your cheer squad, cheering you on when you might feel like giving up on yourself. We all have bad days, and times when things just don’t seem to work out. Being accountable to your goals can help you through it.

But make sure the person you are expecting to keep you accountable is someone who will support you and be positive about your goals. Sometimes people don’t quite understand and can be quick to dismiss your wants and dreams, maybe because they think it is unattainable or they just don’t understand why someone would want to do it. Your support person needs to be the right person.You don’t want anyone sabotaging your efforts. You want someone who will lift you up, not someone who will drag you down.

Have a clear view of why you’re doing it

Without a clear focus, it’s easy to get off track, and harder to get back on again, especially when you come across some obstacles that get you further and further away from your goal.

Create a vision board

Create a vision board or something you can look at everyday to remind you of your goal and your reasons for wanting it. The more you have it in your sights on a daily basis, the more likely you are to keep at it. That daily reminder can give you a great boost.

Keep positive

There will be times when it seems like nothing is going right, so what’s the point of going on. It will get better. Negative thoughts have a way of coming true if you let them. Push them away and think of things more positively. Focus on the good things and give the negative thoughts a more positive twist. Maybe things won’t be exactly how you want, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be great. It could even turn out better.

Practise mindfulness

It will help to keep you focused and relaxed, and will help you keep things in perspective.

Get out of your comfort zone

Push yourself and do the things you thought you never could. Nothing good ever happens in your comfort zone. Don’t let it hold you back.

Accept that there will be days when you really can’t be bothered

We all have days when we don’t want to do anything, even things we need to do. Sometimes we have other things on that are taking our focus, or maybe we just need a break. Take the time you need, and come back to it. It will be easier to focus when your mind is set to the task at hand. One day off here and there shouldn’t stop you from achieving what you want. Looking after yourself is important too.

How to Keep Motivated When You Can’t be Bothered Quotes

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way. – Napolean Hill

It is never too late to be what you might have been. – George Eliot

Never let your memories be greater than your dreams. – Doug Ivester

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do. – Tim Ferriss

Believe you can and you’re halfway there. – Theodore Roosevelt

Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill

Goals help focus you on areas in both your personal and professional life that are important and meaningful, rather than being guided by what other people want you to be, do or accomplish. – Catherine Pulsifer

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. – Henry Ford

Perseverance is a great element of success; if you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate you are sure to wake up somebody. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right! – Henry Ford

By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands – your own. – Mark Victor Hansen

Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat. Concentrate on your strengths, instead of your weaknesses… on your powers instead of your problems. – Paul J. Meyer

You see things and say ‘why?’ but I dream things that never were and I say ‘why not?’ – George Bernard Shaw

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them. – George Bernard Shaw

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. – George Bernard Shaw

Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. – Steve Jobs

Keeping motivated and on track is important for all of us. But there will always be times in life when it’s hard to stay focused, or other things get in the way. No matter what your goal is, it requires patience and persistence. Be creative and keep the excitement going. Just remember, you can do anything!

What helps you to keep motivated when you really can’t be bothered?