Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION How to Find Motivation to Do Anything 01

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CHAPTER 1 Understanding Motivation and Personal Drive 02

CHAPTER 2 Why Do I Lack Motivation? 10

CHAPTER 3 What Does Lack of Motivation Mean? 14

CHAPTER 4 How Do I Find Motivation? 18

CHAPTER 5 How Do I Stay Motivated? 22

Get Motivated: How to Find Motivation to Do Anything

We’ve all been there before — a big deadline you’ve known about for weeks is approaching, and for some reason, you feel frozen. You know you need to get it done, but you can’t seem to muster the inspiration and enthusiasm you need to finish the task.

No, there’s nothing wrong with you, and yes, everyone around you has gone through this before. What you’re experiencing is a lack of motivation. And you can’t get motivated without first understanding what motivation is and where you can find it.

Without further ado, this is your comprehensive guide for when you start wondering how to find motivation. Through appreciating what motivation is, learning how to get motivated and knowing how to stay motivated, you’ll be crushing goals left and right. Never again will you dread a deadline looming on your monthly calendar!

In this guide, we will explore a handful of items, including:

What motivation is — and why it’s so great to have!How laziness and procrastination play a role in your lack of motivation.What a lack of motivation looks and feels like.How to find motivation in your life — and where to look.How to stay motivated for any length of time, whether it’s an hour of study, a day of work or for life! Finding motivation starts at the most basic level — understanding the what, why and how of it. Your first challenge in getting motivated begins now. Continue reading to learn how easy and beneficial it is to stay motivated in your life!

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Chapter 1 Understanding Motivation and Personal Drive

For this first lesson in understanding motivation, we’re going to examine why motivation is beneficial to our daily lives. Quite a few factors contribute to the process, and some key theories apply. Whether you need motivation for school, at work or in your daily routine, this understanding can be the perfect launching point to achieve a lifetime of inspiring goal-setting.

Why Is It Important to Understand Motivation? Understanding motivation is essential because it’s how we learn about people, based on what drives them every day. Both professionally and mor-ally, a person’s motivation can influence attitude, thoughts and actions. This identifier allows us to explain others’ behaviors and determine how well we connect with one another.

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Understanding your motivation is a challenge because there may be times when you can’t identify the specific reasons for a decision you make. For example, let’s say your family wants to organize a get-together for dinner. You surprise everyone by being a leader and not only deciding when and where to eat, but also personally reaching out to every member of your family to ensure they know the details.

Sounds fantastic, right? But what’s surprising to your family — and maybe yourself! — is that you normally never want to be the decision-maker. You prefer to offer comments and suggestions, but would much rather let your mom be the one to organize and execute the plan.

Your motivation for taking the lead might not be easy to spot right away, especially if this seems out of character for you. After some time, though, you’ll see your energy and determination was a result of wanting to impress your family and show you can step up and take responsibility.

Another reason it’s vital to understand motivation is that it can help you relate with and connect to other people. Not everyone’s motivational factors are the same — what motivates you might not inspire your best friend or sibling. Knowing this will allow your relationship to evolve naturally and pre-vent harsh judgments that arise from miscommunication and differing opinions.

Motivation is an essential characteristic in the workforce for employers to understand their employees. Everyone comes into a job with goals in mind — and personal motivators are the source of these goals. When an employ-er understands their employees’ motivators, the professional relationship strengthens.

In general, workers have three engagement levels that set the tone for work commitment and productivity. These engagement levels are:

- Engaged- Not engaged- Actively disengaged

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An engaged worker is someone who is passionate about the company they work for and the work they perform. Their excitement and enthusiasm are palpable to everyone around them. The organization benefits greatly from an engaged worker because they will always be moving forward and experi-encing positive growth.

Alternatively, a worker who is not engaged is passive about their work life. There is no excitement radiating from them, and their work is acceptable, though not outstanding. A worker who is not engaged doesn’t value pas-sion in their work — instead, they’re solely focused on putting time into the task at hand.

A more extreme level of engagement is the actively disengaged worker. We’ve all worked with a “Negative Nancy” — someone whose unhappiness and pessimism adversely affect the valuable work engaged workers do every day. An actively disengaged worker doesn’t care about the company as a whole and would rather voice their unhappiness at work than brain-storm ways to change their behavior.

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What Are the Factors of Motivation? The factors of motivation can vary by environment, such as work or home life. However, two theorists created models that demonstrate the funda-mental motivational factors in all our lives.

First, we’ll look at Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory to understand one of the easiest factors of motivation. Then, we’ll explore Abraham Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs to detail five levels of motivation.

Herzberg wanted to look at what could be a motivating factor with employ-ees at work. He based his research around a list of factors that would either create satisfaction or dissatisfaction among workers.

After realizing there was a somewhat even split between what was satisfy-ing and dissatisfying, Herzberg categorized these characteristics into “hy-giene factors” and “motivators.”

Despite the name, hygiene factors are not representative of personal hy-giene or health! Per Herzberg’s definition, hygiene factors are those whose needs must be met first and foremost for anyone to achieve satisfaction. These hygiene factors are the characteristics that lead to the highest levels of dissatisfaction in the workplace. The most dissatisfying factor is compa-ny policy and administration, or how the business runs itself, with the least dissatisfying factor being job security.

On the other end of the spectrum are the motivators. Once all the hygiene factors are in place, these motivators need to be met to chase what Herz-berg calls “true motivation.” In the workplace, the most satisfying factor is achievement — when an employee feels a sense of achievement and ac-complishment, motivation and productivity can increase by 40 percent!

Of course, this model doesn’t have to apply solely to a working environ-ment. Everyone has unique hygiene factors they need to meet to go further and achieve true motivation. Maybe your hygiene factors include an orga-nized desk or a protein-packed breakfast! Once you’ve met these needs, you can then move on to tackle the other elements that can bring you true motivation.

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Another theorist whose model has become invaluable is Abraham Maslow. His hierarchy of needs identifies five levels of motivation, ranging from es-sential needs to ongoing growth. Starting at the bottom and moving upward, here are the five motivational levels.

Physiological needs: food, water, shelter, clothing, oxygen, sleep Safety and security: health, employment, social and family stabilityLove and belonging: friendship, family, intimacy, connectionsSelf-esteem: confidence, achievement, respect from others, uniquenessSelf-actualization: creativity, acceptance, morality, purpose, potential Maslow’s motivational factors function by satisfying levels one through three to pursue levels four and five. All of us need to be well-nourished and healthy to live life and do our jobs. We want to feel safe and secure in every environment. It’s also essential to build relationships and connections with the people around us, whether that’s family members, close friends or co-workers!

Once we’ve achieved these basic needs, we then become motivated by the upper-tier motivators. We want respect from our work family, we want to feel confident in our decisions and we want to be unique in our behaviors. After we gain that acknowledgment from our peers, we then begin to moti-vate ourselves from within — we’ll find our driving purpose in life, discover our untapped potential and let the creativity in us run wild.

If you’re still looking to determine what motivational factors are affecting you, an easy way to categorize is to divide between two options — intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The underlying principle here is that everything in our environment plays a role in our motivation, just as our inner thoughts and feelings do.

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Extrinsic motivation derives from elements in our environment that could increase or hinder our drive to get things done. In an office setting, for ex-ample, cubicles can keep some people focused on their daily work, while others feel cramped and like they are under scrutiny. Meanwhile, an open office seems brighter with cleaner airflow, but it can also lead to distracting conversations with co-workers.

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Intrinsic motivation involves three internal motivators — needs, cognitions and emotions. Believe it or not, that little voice inside your head can heavily sway your willingness to do a task! The boredom you feel doing a repetitive task at work, such as filing papers or stocking shelves, can affect your in-trinsic motivation. You can also gain positive influence from how a task or project makes you feel, like excitement from something new or eagerness for an enviable position.

The bottom line here is that motivational factors come in all shapes and sizes. The practice is simple — meet your necessary, fundamental, most basic needs first, and watch as your motivation for the bigger, more mean-ingful things in life start to blossom.

What Are the Benefits of Motivation? Behavioral, emotional and mindset changes are all benefits of motivation. These changes are an excellent way for people to reflect on their actions and thoughts and become a better version of themselves.

In general, the following items are the most immediate and common bene-fits of motivation:

- Strengthened connection to employer/company- Ownership over tasks and responsibilities- Efficiency at work- Satisfaction at work and in life- Commitment to a life-changing task- Confidence and happiness in yourself- Determination to continue relationships

If you’ve ever expressed hesitance in your current or future role at work, your boss has probably had the chance to incentivize you a little bit. Wheth-er that is an extra bonus or a reward for an accomplished goal, you’ve found the motivation to commit to your company and contribute to its over-all success.

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When an employer trusts you, they will likely give you more responsibilities and tasks to accomplish. This is a motivational boost, as it allows you to assume ownership and take initiative over your highly prioritized and well-regarded workload.

Motivation in the workplace can also lead you on a successful career path. You’ll improve efficiency and begin wowing your HR team — so be on the lookout for a possible promotion headed your way!

When you’re motivated and in an upbeat mood, you’re more likely to look at the good side of news and not focus on the bad stuff. This perspective shift not only leads to higher levels of satisfaction, but can also lead you away from self-pity and negative talk.

Losing weight or sticking to a diet plan does not happen overnight — de-spite us all wishing that’s how it worked. Instead, you need a gentle push of encouragement to get you going in the right direction. Motivation benefits you in this way, especially when you include a co-worker or friend to join you in the process.

You know how we just explained how motivation can encourage you to put more effort in at work, which could ultimately land you a promotion? Well, being motivated can also lead to some serious confidence in yourself — and that confidence will help push you toward that new position and higher salary! This push allows you to feel in control of your life, which is a feeling that will also contribute to your happiness in life and at work.

Finally, another rewarding benefit of motivation is wanting to commit to your current relationship and stick together when things seem challenging. When you’re motivated to find new ways to appreciate and delight your partner or spouse, they’ll only love you back 110 percent!

After establishing what motivation is and how it can impact your life, the next step in our guide is to address the root of the problem: Why are you un-motivated?

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Chapter 2 Why Do I Lack Motivation?

To kick off this process of learning, you have to reflect inward. Ask yourself, “What is preventing my motivation?” Often, it is because we enter with a negative or self-doubting mindset. When you commit yourself to work through the layers of self-doubt, you’ll expose what’s truly triggering your lack of motivation.

Factors That Contribute to Being Unmotivated There are a handful of lack of motivation causes, such as being lazy, pro-crastinating and even your mental health.

While laziness and procrastination are the common faults of motivation, it is important to discuss how mental illnesses can affect your feelings of motivation and inspiration. In fact, one of the top symptoms of depression is a lack of motivation or no feelings of desire.

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Depression can wear you down and make you feel exhausted and fatigued, no matter how much energy you’ve exerted in your day. You may also be spreading yourself too thin, being there for your co-workers, family and friends and leaving little to no time, effort or care for yourself.

If you feel like your lack of motivation is stemming from depression or anx-iety, talk with your doctor or therapist right away. They will work with you to find new approaches to rediscovering motivation in your life that benefit your lifestyle and personal limits.

How Can I Stop Being Lazy? One easy way to stop being lazy is to get up and move! Moving around in-stead of sitting and standing all day can give you bursts of energy and make you feel less sluggish while at work.

Many people tend to think the opposite of being lazy is an active lifestyle where you commit to working out every day. This is a tricky mindset to have, and one you should avoid. Just because you’re not hitting the gym daily doesn’t mean you’re lazy.

Instead, take your movement and physical activity in steps. If you’re stuck at home, use those commercial breaks on TV as an opportunity to walk around the house. Or, challenge yourself not to skip the intro or credits to your favorite show on Netflix, so you can take the opportunity to run up and down your stairs before the show begins.

You might feel like a desk or office job is making you lazier and giving you a lack of motivation at work — but it doesn’t have to! When you finish an as-signment, get up and refill your water bottle or pour another cup of coffee. Take a walk around the block during your lunch break. Giving yourself these moments for spurts of energy can counteract your feeling of lack of moti-vation at work.

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How Do I Stop Procrastinating Right Now? If you need to snap yourself out of it and stop procrastinating, give yourself a five-minute break. This extra time to yourself might sound counterproduc-tive, but when you realize you haven’t been productive, a break is a guilt-free way to let your mind wander. Scheduling time for a midday break will moti-vate you to get work done before and after that brief interlude.

Let’s say you’re at work and you realize you’ve been mindlessly reading and sorting through emails for nearly 30 minutes. That’s a solid chunk of time you could have been working, and you probably start mentally beating your-self up when you think about it.

To kick yourself out of that cycle, you need to step away for a mental re-start. Take five minutes to get some water, grab a snack from the kitchen and refresh your Twitter feed. Then, when you get back to your desk, set a timer for 30 minutes and get to work.

When that half-hour is up, it’s your choice whether you need another mental break, or if you can devote another segment of time to diligent work. The point here is to not let your procrastination over a task or assignment con-sume you and cause a lack of motivation.

Even if your procrastination is occurring at home — preparing dinner, folding laundry, decorating for the holidays — you can use this time trick to your ad-vantage. Don’t tell yourself you’ll start doing something after you finish the next episode of whatever you’re watching on Netflix. Take five minutes to grab a snack or something to drink and then get it done.

Another theorist whose model has become invaluable is Abraham Maslow. His hierarchy of needs identifies five levels of motivation, ranging from es-sential needs to ongoing growth. Starting at the bottom and moving upward, here are the five motivational levels.

(Plus, you can usually do all the tasks you’re procrastinating on at home while watching your show in the background! Life hack!)

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A lack of motivation causes laziness and procrastination to amplify, some-times reaching uncontrollable levels. Understanding the whys and wheres of your lack of motivation can put you a step ahead in gaining the balance and confidence you need to take action.

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Chapter 3 What Does Lack of Motivation Mean?

We’ve established why you might be lacking motivation — now, we need to understand what that could mean for you.

Most of the time, feeling unmotivated is a direct result of feeling unsatis-fied or discouraged. With a lack of motivation, nothing internal can make you want to do activities, whether they were pre-planned or not. When you have no motivation to do anything, you lack satisfaction, encouragement and personal drive.

What Is the Meaning of Lack of Motivation? The dictionary meaning of “lack of motivation” is equivalent to having little to no desire or willingness to do something. Merriam-Webster’s official defi-nition of motivation is a motivating force, stimulus or influence — also known as incentive or drive. At its core, the noun “motivate” means some-thing that causes a person to act.

Knowing these definitions, we can see how lacking motivation means not having any internal force causing you to act or perform. At work and at home, a lack of motivation can lead you to sit around and be unproductive, with nothing to influence you or your behavior. That thought alone could be what you need to kickstart your personal motivation!

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What Does Lack of Drive Mean? A lack of drive means there is little reason for you to behave in a particular way. There are four suggested behavioral drives for every individual — ac-quire, defend, bond and learn. Without these personal driving factors, you could have no motivation to do your work and be the best employee you could be.

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A quick overview of the four behavioral drives include:

Acquire — Immediate gratification and its associated status, determined by high versus average or below-average performance.Defend — Becoming active due to a threat being triggered. This could be increasing performance because of poor feedback or talking to someone within a hostile work environment.Bond — Working well with people who have similar interests, encouraging employee interaction and commitment to the company.Learn — The natural desire to understand yourself and the world around you, including within your job. Personal drive in the workplace is crucial. Remember the discussion of in-trinsic and extrinsic motivational factors? Well, your work environment offers you plenty of extrinsic motivators naturally. Your personal drive, how-ever, is what is going to motivate you to achieve the goals you and your company set.

For example, let’s say your employer announces an extended bonus for the employee who sets a new company record for number of sales completed. How awesome does that sound? You and all your co-workers get excited about the reward of extra money, as well as that glorified status of being the company’s best.

To meet that goal, you need personal drive to motivate you to do the work. You’ll want to acquire the cash bonus, to defend yourself against other salespeople, to bond with your customers as well as your employer and to make strong connections and close sales.

With a lack of drive, you won’t feel motivated to put forth the effort needed to make the most sales or to earn the extra money. Despite thinking the offer sounds appealing, a lack of drive means there is no motivation for you to get there.

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What Happened to Your Motivation? While there are internal and external motivators in all our lives, the nonexis-tence of external factors could create a lack of inspiration. Think about it — without the opportunity for you to obtain or work toward something, why would you have any motivation to get there?

A lack of motivation can stem from many instances, especially within the workplace. Perhaps your latest project came with very little detail or direc-tion. Instead of having everything in place necessary for you to excel and succeed, you hit a roadblock — a definitive factor for ceasing motivation!

Just a little bit of resistance is all it takes for your motivation to fall. You aren’t excited for the task at hand, you aren’t determined to move forward and you definitely would rather sit back than get going with the project.

With no motivation to do anything, life can quickly become dull, boring and even arduous for you. Regaining a desire and drive to move your life and ac-tions forward can provide you with what you need to become motivated again.

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Chapter 4 How Do I Find Motivation?

Though it may sound clichéd to say this, the key to getting motivated is to look within. If you’re constantly asking yourself, “How do I get motivated?” you should accept that it’s going to take some personal reflection — and also being open to new activities and environments.

How Do I Find Motivation? If you’re wondering how to find motivation, you can start with a few easy actions such as:

- Identifying your inspirations and passions- Going for a walk- Getting out of bed- Staying off the sofa Finding motivation when your job is bringing you down might seem like a challenge — but you can pull your inspiration from what you’re doing! Re-member back to when you were job searching? What led you to the role you’re in now? Why did you pursue your industry?

If you can remember why you decided to accept the job offer or apply to your position, it makes it much easier to redirect your focus, realign your goals and kickstart your motivation. After all, you probably didn’t accept the job without knowing the details of your day-to-day work or what you’d be representing!

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Going for a walk and moving around has so many benefits, in addition to being a form of exercise. It naturally triggers the release of endorphins in your body, the hormones that control how good or happy you feel. With a more pleasant mindset, your motivation becomes easier to access and guide.

You’ll also have the chance to clear your mind when outside. Spend your 20-minute walk reflecting on some goals you’d like to set, outlining the tasks you want to tackle in your day or meditating.

Getting out of bed might sound like a no-brainer, but seriously — you’re not going to find motivation by lying around all day! The first step in feeling pro-ductive is to roll out from under your covers and get moving. From there, motivation is just waiting for you to discover it.

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While it’s pleasant to relax and watch television on your days off from work, you should still be looking for ways to find motivation. Want to know a secret for how to get there? Stay off the couch. The longer you sit on the sofa, the more your energy drains and the more quickly you’ll realize your motivation to do anything is rapidly decreasing.

Reflect on your passions, clear your mind and get moving — you’ll find that long-lost motivation in no time!

How Can I Increase My Motivation? Setting goals for yourself is crucial in increasing motivation. When you define a goal or outcome you want to achieve, you’re much more likely to put in the effort, as opposed to crossing off an item on a list.

Think of goals as benchmarks that build on top of one another — one goal leads you to the next, which can lead you to the next and so on. Create a few goals you know you’ll be able to crush, such as tasks you want to com-plete or errands you need to run by the end of the week. You can set these goals daily, monthly or even yearly!

You’ll want to create some more difficult goals as well. What’s the point of finding motivation and not using it? By setting some benchmarks that re-quire effort and focus on your end, you’ll naturally enable yourself to in-crease your motivation so you can get further ahead. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to knock these out — otherwise, your desire to get anywhere close will start to fade away.

Another excellent way to increase motivation is to value communication and actively seek it. Engaging with co-workers or friends can help you feel rejuvenated and get excited about new activities or goals.

At your workplace, search for opportunities where you can have conversa-tions and deepen your relationships with your co-workers. Take your lunch breaks together, plan a coffee run or have a happy hour meetup downtown.

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When you get involved in discussions your colleagues are having about how they’re working through projects, you’ll gain insight into some motiva-tional tactics to use in your life.

Outside work, make sure to set aside time to interact with friends. These are the people who know you best — and they’re also the people you talk to regularly. Share the goals you’ve set with them, and they’ll be more than happy to brainstorm along with you. You’ll also encourage them to open up about what they’re achieving in their personal lives.

With the momentum of finding motivation building, it should only make sense to keep that energy going. After learning where to look for getting motivated, the final step is maintaining!

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Chapter 5 How Do I Stay Motivated?

The first step in staying motivated is to eliminate negativity. Being optimis-tic, visualizing success and rewarding yourself for both big and small victo-ries can lead you into a healthy mindset. When you need to figure out how to get motivated again after you’ve hit a roadblock, however big or small, these tips and reminders will be here to help.

How Do I Stay Self-Motivated? One of the most essential ways to stay self-motivated is to start some-where and keep going. Nike had the right mindset with their motto!

The best way to get — and stay — motivated is to do. If you’re finding it dif-ficult to start a large task, choose something smaller you can easily com-plete in a few minutes. Working through the smaller assignment will give you the momentum you need to head into the more challenging task.

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Another ingenious tip is to never underestimate the power of lists! Writing things by hand will make a lasting impression in your brain. Plus, once you write something down, you’re adapting your goal from being a “thought” to a “thing.”

This list-making skill will come in handy with these goals you’re creating. A goal is only a dream until you decide to act on it — but even before that, a goal is merely a thought if you haven’t given it life. By writing down your goals and daily task lists, you’re literally writing these points into existence.

You also can’t ignore the thrill of being able to physically cross off an item on your to-do list or a goal you’ve been keeping track of for months. Not only do lists help you visualize success, but they also allow you to see your progress!

How Do I Stay Motivated the Whole Day? To stay motivated throughout the whole day, it may be beneficial to break your day into small blocks. Set reachable goals and tasks for a few hours at a time.

Consider your average workday. Are you in and out of meetings? Do you have to make phone calls to clients? Do you stay at your desk for extended periods? Does the volume in your area grow chaotically loud during some hours more than others?

Use these patterns to your advantage. Set aside specific time to get “deep work” done — the times when you have the most concentration with the least amount of distractions. Around this block, you can schedule in some minor tasks or projects that don’t require your undivided attention.

When you break up your day into manageable blocks, you’re also naturally building in times for breaks and reset points. Whether you use these “inter-ruptions” for stretching, chatting or refueling, you’ll be thankful you did — and find higher levels of motivation to contribute to a productive day.

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Let’s consider a quick example. You get into work by 8 a.m., you have a call at 9:30, a co-worker sends you a lunch invite for noon and you have an ex-ecutive meeting at 3. Save the morning workflow for your most challenging, focus-driven task, and take a few moments before your call to collect your thoughts. Jump into a new task afterward, and reward yourself with a long, relaxing lunch.

After lunch, you might feel a bit full, so use that time to knock out some lower-priority work. Attend your meeting, and come back feeling rejuvenat-ed and motivated from the inspiring discussion you experienced. Knock out a few more key items before wrapping up your day — it’s that easy!

How Do I Stay Motivated and Focused? The best way to stay on task is to eliminate distractions. Electronics, crowded places, loud music — remove them. When you’re working up the motivation to get something accomplished, you need to set limits with yourself to keep your mind on track.

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One of the best things you can do is keeping your phone away from you. Don’t set it on your desk within view — even if your display isn’t lighting up from receiving notifications, you might not be able to avoid the temptation of checking it anyway.

When you keep your phone in your coat pocket or in your bag on the floor, you’ll be less tempted to reach for it and break your focus and concentration.

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It might also be helpful to look up some browser extensions that ensure you’re not navigating to another website. Some tools allow you to block specific websites, while others make you solve a puzzle if you try to navi-gate onto another page.

Additionally, if you find yourself eavesdropping on people’s conversations, it might be a good idea to invest in some noise-canceling headphones. Play-ing white noise can provide you some accompanying sounds that won’t dis-rupt your motivation or thought process.

Another critical note is to stay organized, both at work and at home. A clean environment can quickly lead to a clean mind.

If your work desk is covered in sticky notes, notepads and paper clips — well, it’s no wonder you haven’t been able to find motivation to stick to! Pro-vide yourself a clean working space by only keeping the essentials on top. Place everything else into drawers or filing cabinets.

The same goes for your home. A messy kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom will only make you feel cramped and crowded. If you’re looking to stay motivated, you need your surroundings to be welcoming and open.

Have you recently experienced a setback and are wondering how to get mo-tivated again? Start cleaning! Once you start, you most likely won’t be satis-fied until you stop — and simultaneously, you’ll have sparked and reignited that motivating feeling you’ve been looking for.

How Do I Stay Motivated Constantly? Maintaining constant motivation involves practicing a routine. There’s a reason for the popular “practice makes perfect” cliché!

Apply these tips and principles to your workday, and evaluate your perfor-mance at the end. Did you finish everything you set out to complete? Do you still feel energized and motivated? What worked for you and what didn’t?

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Using these questions, tweak a few processes to make sure the effort of finding motivation comes naturally for you. Then, repeat! Try again the next day and compare your performance with the previous day.

Like we mentioned earlier, finding motivation and staying motivated re-quires a lot of inward reflection. Pick what works and customize the prac-tices to fit your schedule and your needs.

Look, we all know there’s no such thing as overnight success. The more you actively recognize what’s stopping your motivation, as well as what’s start-ing it, the easier it will be for you to adjust, recenter and challenge yourself to get motivated again.

The biggest thing to remember here is don’t feel defeated, and never beat yourself up. We all have days when the ball stops rolling and life just seems to have it out for us. And that is OK.

The best thing to do is close your eyes, take a deep breath, think of one solid thing you’d like to accomplish — and then go after it. Setbacks are normal, and it might do you some good to expect one every now and again.

You can draw some motivation from external factors, but a lot of it comes from within. When you can’t figure out how to dive back in where you left off, return to this guide and restart the process! It doesn’t take much time at all, and you’ll likely discover new goals and inspirations you haven’t yet tapped into.

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Let’s recap! You’ve learned what motivation is, why you might be lacking it, what could be causing your lack of motivation, how you can find motivation in your life and how to continually stay motivated.

The next step in your ongoing path to get motivated again is to create a habit and challenge yourself each day. Note that it’s normal to have a day of regrouping to mentally take a break! But re-committing multiple times throughout the day to focus on your goals and get closer every day is a great starting point for your newly motivated life.

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Productivity Theory