How to get my motivation back

[seeker5]

Lately, I haven't felt motivated much to take actions. Back in the summer, I felt very motivated, and did a number of things, such as successfully do four 30 day trial involving waking up at 5am, walking 30 minutes a day, abstaining from tv and online news, and listening to audio books everyday. I was quite productive, accomplished a lot. Now, since for the past month and a half or so, I haven't felt that motivated, and have receded into old bad habits. I'm concerned that this pathway will put me back into the really bad state of being I once was in and spent years in.

I loved that feeling of being driven, of taking action effortlessly and going forward in my life. I loved the feeling of living at a higher level of consciousness. How can I get my motivation back?

[Groundless]

set a meaningful goal with a deadline.

Have a 30 day plan or a 60 day initiative.

Or, float along in the moment and enjoy every possible experience you have in every moment. It can be a beautiful thing.....

but, if that isn't where you are now, set some goals that mean something, then do something immediately toward your goal, right now.

It is highly likely you will feel better, if you want to feel better that is.

[Johnny5]

Hi there,

In order to motivate yourself, you should sit down and do some analyzing the situation and refocus your mind.

Focus on the excitement and the pleasure of accomplishment.

For example like exercise, if you focus on the activity of exercising itself is very painful and drudging activities, you will feel like it is a burden to do some exercise; however, if you focus your mind on the pleasure of feeling with full energy, powerful, healthy, wonderful appearance that will be very attractive to the opposite sex, you will be very motivate into doing the exercise.

So you should focus your mind on the pleasure of end results of whatever activities,

and don't focus on the pain and drudgery of the activities.

Feed the pleasure to your mind and don't feed the pain.....you will be motivated....

Best Regards;

Johnny

[Danyelle]

I'm sorry you're feeling this setback.
Is there something coming up that you can use as a goal?

Maybe just sit down and make a list of things you want to do big and small and how you'll feel when each is completed, perhaps if you get a small one done you'll build a lil momentum to do more things and bigger things and be motivated to continue...

I hope you get the spark you need to motivate once again.

[seeker5]

Thanks for the feedback Groundless, Johnny5, & Danyelle.

I seem to have gone off-track on what my purpose is and what I want out of life and out of my career. Right now I have a job, but I and my boss knows that it's only temporarily as before I was hired a few months ago, I indicated I was going to leave to go to graduate school by next August. However, I haven't made much progress in applying in the past three months. On reflection, that has bothered me a lot because I don't want to stay at my job by default. My boss and my coworkers are trying to convince me to stay in the business, and even though I like my job right now, it isn't fulfilling in term of my purpose or what I'm capable and passionate about.

So I'm going to refocus myself on applying to graduate school. I'm setting a goal so that by Nov 1st, I'll have my application, letters of references, essays ready for the first school I'm applying to. After that, I'll be using the material, and modifying it as necessarily to apply to other schools.

I have other things I want to improve in my life - health, relationships, friendships, emotions, but I think by focusing on what's the absolute most important now will be better then focusing on lesser important stuff.

I'm feeling much better then I have in several weeks, and I'm feeling more motivated right now.

Thanks

[ZHereford]

Originally Posted by seeker5

I loved that feeling of being driven, of taking action effortlessly and going forward in my life. I loved the feeling of living at a higher level of consciousness. How can I get my motivation back?

Hi seeker5,

A few months ago I wrote an article on motivating yourself. If we are motivated by external criteria, more often than not, we falter so we must find ways to motivate ourselves for the inherent value of what we want to accomplish. Good luck!

[CaptainStubbs]

seeker5,

Motivation is one of my challenges as well. I have talent and the capability to be successful in business, yet I always find other things to do instead.

I often think of my mind as the battle of two wills that play tug of war against each other. Sometimes my "wise" brain takes dominance and I am motivated, do what is right for me, etc... Often times my "pleasure seeking" brain takes over for long stretches at a time, making me procrastinate, and thwarting my best laid plans.

Its a constant struggle to develop my mind to be able to take charge to hit my goals.

I have no answers for you, but I recently started using joesgoals.com to track my progress of good/bad behaviors, check it out.

[z1freeride]

Originally Posted by ZHereford

Hi seeker5,

A few months ago I wrote an article on motivating yourself. If we are motivated by external criteria, more often than not, we falter so we must find ways to motivate ourselves for the inherent value of what we want to accomplish. Good luck!

Yes, I agree with that as well! External motivation (desperation and inspiration motivation) are lesser forms of motivation. Inspirational motivation never lasts. Purpose Motivation is the highest level of motivation. This occurs when your goals and desires constantly consume your thinking processes. In other words, when you are on auto-pilot, you naturally tend to strive for those goals. Your goals become a part of you. This site explains what I mean a little better: http://www.HowToBeMotivated.com/index.php.

[seeker5]

z1freeride, CaptainStubbs, ZHereford, thanks for the advice These past two days I've really enjoyed having reconnected to my main goal (getting into grad school). My mood has been lifting up, and I'm feeling myself getting back into my productive self.

[Anagha]

Hi Seeker5,

I really appreciate your gesture. You have considered all the advices by others.

I should say you are really great person and I am motivated by you.

[Tayrak]

Hi Seeker5 lots of great advice and I'm going to add my bit as well. Sometimes we take on too much and over burden ourselves. We want to fix everything at once and find ourselves overwhelmed and then we quit everything. At times like that we need to step back and take a rest, I mean actually resting as sleeping, and taking some time out to relax. It's like when you start a diet and stick in a cheat meal or snack. It's okay to do that once in awhile with no bad side effects and it does a world of good. Maybe you need to start by focusing on only one or two things, then when they are nicely settled add in one or two more. And don't get discouraged if you slide a bit, it's allowed, just tellyourself tomorrow I get back to it. Also take it slow, you can't start running a marathon tomorrow if you've been a couch potato for two years-it simply makes sense to start off with a brisk walk and work up from there. The same with all the other things you want to accomplish, give yourself some time and a break too.