Have you ever “lost steam” in the process of achieving a goal?
Maybe you wanted to lose 10 pounds in two weeks, but after a week of jogging for 30 minutes a day, you found you still haven't lost a single pound.
Or maybe you've worked so hard to build goodwill with your co-workers, only to ruin it all with an outburst of anger at someone's flippant, flippant remark over lunch.
Maybe your "special project" on the side is only 25% complete, and it's already been three weeks since you promised yourself to do it within the month.
Whatever your case, one thing is for sure:feeling unmotivated sucks, especially when you're in the middle of a company.
Somehow, you have to get that motivation back – which, thankfully, isn't as hard as it sounds.
All you have to do is this:Tell as many people as possible about your goal.
It's so simple.
Of course, you have to choose these people carefully. Ideally, they meet most or all of the following criteria:
– Close to you
– Communicate with you frequently
– Trustworthy
– Take care of yourself enough to call you out when you do something wrong
– Have opinions that are important to you
– Are ready to give helpful advice when you ask
It works for one simple reason:it's harder to take it out on others than on yourself.
For example, I'm a freelance writer who aims to create at least one post a day. If I kept this goal to myself, chances are I won't be able to stick to it consistently or for long, because I only have my flaky self to respond to. I can always say, “Who cares if you don’t write anything today, Issa? It's just you. You can always postpone your work tomorrow and the next day. "
It's not a good habit to have, if you know how freelancing works.
On the other hand, if I share my goals with caring, understanding people like my family, friends, fellow freelance writers, and mentors, I'm more likely to commit to what I need to do. I certainly don't want these people to use adjectives like 'irresponsible', 'flaky' and 'scattered' to refer to me.
By the way, that's exactly how I got over my month-long writing crisis. Although I managed to write a few articles during that month, it wasn't until I spoke to a seasoned freelance writer-slash-mentor about my goals that I fully regained a taste for writing every day for the following month.
Of course, inner motivation remains the best type of motivation. Leaning on fickle others to boost your confidence to 100% is a bad idea, and it helps keep an inner fire that no one can take away from you. But if all else fails, there's nothing wrong with asking for help once in a while.
Photo credit :Chris Florence
