Do you really know how to motivate yourself? Do you struggle with making deadlines? Do you feel burnt out and tired all the time? Do you frequently put tasks off? These are some signs of being unmotivated. Below are four key ways to help you motivate yourself. When you’re motivated you are more on top of your priorities and feel good about yourself and your work. Try these motivation tips to better yourself and your work.
1) Make time psychology work for you. If you have ever taken a time management course before, you have learned how to pack more into less. But have you ever noticed how difficult it is to leave a project or job incomplete? You can play on this psychology of completion by writing out a “things to achieve” list before you go home at the end of the workday. Chances are if you don’t have a good system for picking up exactly where you left off, it’s like starting over. Tonight, instead of just tidying up before you leave the office, lay out the pieces where you need to pick up to get off and running first thing in the morning.
2) Give yourself daily and hourly goals. Very few of us have the ability to stay disciplined all the time. Yet studies have shown that a big difference between those who succeed and those who fail is constant and concentrated activity. Big hitters report such behaviors as not taking lunch until they make a pre-set number of phone calls. They don’t allow themselves to play golf until they sell a certain number of units. Sure they make sacrifices. But in the meantime they also make sales. Most who practice this method of self denial say that when they do earn a lunch or a golf game, the taste is very sweet when linked to successfully accomplished activity.
3) Make selling a game. When you take your work too seriously, it becomes drudgery instead of enjoyment. Most top producers mention that their income takes a back seat to how much fun they have on the job. Interestingly, many poor producers look at their paycheck as being the biggest motivator. The problem is that your sales production will fluctuate. Try “playing” more often with your best customers. Send out birthday cards to prospects or customers you care about. Turn sales calls into a game by counting how many times you have to get a “no” before you get to a “yes”. Then make a game out of getting to that “no” number, knowing that a “yes” is just on the horizon.
4) Burn out is a key factor in maintaining motivation. A great way to avoid the symptoms of burn out is to link rewards to activity instead of success. This idea is a bit contrary to most opinion that you must set goals (and I agree!). But to change things up, and avoid killing motivation because you didn’t hit a goal, try giving yourself a reward for activity. A great way to create motivation is to give yourself a reinforcement gift that comes as a result of superior effort. If you maintain it consistently, effort always results in success!
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