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negative self-
How can I conquer my negativity and become a naturally positive person?
answers these questions
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9 Ways to Motivate Yourself When
You Just Don’t Feel Like It
Achieving big goals and dreams always involves breaking them down into little do-
1) Reward yourself. Let’s say that I want to lose twenty pounds. That is not too
much, but it is still going to involve more days of self-
2) Do it for love of someone else. My teenage son proposed a deal that works for both of us. I do not smoke cigarettes and he does not experiment with drugs. Every time one of us is about to give in to temptation, our love for each other stops us. I cannot light up knowing that he might start doing drugs because I broke our deal. He hates the idea of me dying of cancer, so he never touches any kinds of drugs offered to him by his peers. The love of someone else can motivate you to do what you otherwise might not be able to do for yourself.
3) Trade work with someone else. I have watched my kids perfect this style of motivation. My son will offer to scrub out the showers if my daughter will do the dishes for him. Hiring someone to do the work you do not want to do is actually a form of trade. Barter or pay someone else to do it for you, so that you can continue moving forward with your dreams.
4) Truly consider quitting. I am not telling you to quit, but to really think about
it. If you have a goal or dream that means a lot to you and you have already invested
a large part of yourself into making it happen, then what would quitting feel like?
Is avoiding the difficult or distasteful task worth giving up on your goals and
dreams? The love of your long-
5) Share the misery. This reminds me of friends in college getting together to study for an upcoming test. Having friends along can make the experience more festive then it would have been if you were doing it alone. Is there a way to team up with a friend so that the work is easier or at least more enjoyable?
6) Just get it over with. One of my all time favorite quotes about getting past your inner blocks was written by Stuart Wilde in his book The Quickening, “Cut the shit and do the thing.” Yes, it is a bit rough, but we all know those stoic tough people who simply roll up their sleeves and dive in know matter how much they may hate the task before them. Take on a soldier’s mindset and just get to work doing the ugly parts so you can move on to the more rewarding parts of making your dreams a reality.
7) Get training or education. Quite often, we do not like doing something because deep down we do not think we know how or that we are talented enough. So, get the education, do the research, learn the necessary skills, or whatever else it is that you need to do to get ready for taking that next step. Once you have properly trained yourself, then you might even be enthusiastic about taking that next step.
8) Take a running start at it. Think of riding your bike uphill. It does not take kids very long to figure out that the best way to get that bicycle to the top of the steep hill is to build up a lot of speed before you even get to the base of the hill. You then let that momentum help to propel you most of the way up. Heck, with enough of a running start you can sometimes make it all the way up without any major struggles. If there is a way to pace yourself and reschedule the difficult parts of accomplishing your goals until after you have completed a bunch of the fun parts, then do so. The highs of your mini successes will help inspire you to push past the parts that you are avoiding.
9) Figure out a different way to do it. This is the supreme way to avoid doing the task all together. Be creative, be smart, think outside the box. Is there any way to make your dream come true without having to actually do the specific duty that you want to avoid? Sometimes you can find another way. Other times, just knowing that there is definitely no other path to your dreams other than the one before you is enough to motivate you to just buck up and get through it.
What is most important -
Copyright 2004, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow’s Edge