How To Gain The Motivation To Start & Finish a Task (Accomplishment).
1) Look back on any past activity where you successfully accomplished something by motivation or your current flow state.
The successful completion of something is called an accomplishment; the reason being that you not only begun, but you pulled through to the last — and motivation serves as one of the principal tools to doing so.
Motivation is hard to cultivate. It is way easier to proclaim something you wish to do, say or accomplish but way harder to actually start or bring the said thing(s) to fruition.
Motivation is needed for a lot of things. To overcome a difficulty, start a project, learn a skill, migrate abroad, complete your education and/or kick-start or change a career, you name it.
It’s also commonly referred to as a push, nudge or ginger, to start something and also finish it. Motivation is like fuel, although you have the car and everything else in it set, you’ll never move unless you’ve got fuel in it.
This fuel is what propels you to change your behavior, make a decision or carry out any task and/ or accomplish a goal as stated above.
To get motivated can feel like a needle in a haystack, very underwhelming and this is why I’m here to help give you one of the best (not-so-easy-to-adopt) tricks to successfully accomplishing what you set your mind to — through motivation.
Look back on any past activity where you successfully accomplished something by motivation— or your current flow state
Motivation is a primal tool everyone is imbibed with but what differentiates us is the ability to use it and use it well too. Being motivated starts with the mind, the willingness to actually do something you set your mind to. Using the powerful force from the mind in conceiving a notion and pulling through with it. But as aforementioned, it’s easy to make up your mind but hard to actually start or stick with accomplishing it.
The good news is, there’s at least one thing you must have successfully accomplished in your life thus far — be it academically, by ’burning the midnight candle’ and finishing college or University in flying colors, mentally, by battling anxiety or depression, physically, by practicing hard rejuvenating exercise to fully heal from sickness, or spiritually by making up your mind to practice steps that’ll draw you closer to a supernatural being, that’ll bring you protection and rest of mind, the list goes on.
Think about those times again.
In addition, ask yourself what current flow state you’re in and what’s been giving you the ‘nudge’ to carry on too.
How challenging is the task? What inspirational quotes or sayings are pulling you through it? Did you have to polish your skills or acquire new ones? How and why?
Analyze your current flow state and introspectively determine what’s been keeping you ‘on’.
Afterward, lean towards those times and evaluate what methods or questions you asked yourself — you used in pulling through; questions surrounding how you made up your mind to even agreeing to indulge in those activities in the first place — was it inevitable? Or were you coerced to do them? If not, identify the strengths you exercised in achieving them to the end? What tactics or strategies did you implore in the process of deriving the end result — despite the difficulties and thus lagging involved?
For instance, academic-wise, did you identify yourself as a night reader, who assimilates information better at night over daytime, were you a writer with a photographic memory who preferred to jot things down and learn by ‘flipping’ the notes?
What worked for you, and how?
When it’s been determined, then curate a method, similarly or not, depending on the type of task at hand and use it to get you started again and pushing on with what you currently seek motivation to accomplish.
This is useful both for tangible and intangible life activities.
As humans, we must have accomplished one thing in our lives that we can let our minds wander to or consciously ruminate over and if not, it’s evident through our survival to date, delineating the mind as a powerful force that keeps us going.
Personally, I’ve struggled hard with my identity for so long, I didn’t even realize it was crucial and contributed to the way I always ‘acted’ around family, friends, lovers, and others till recently. Upon realization, the eureka moment through pain, forced me to embark on a beautiful self-discovery journey that has proven indispensable and enabled me to continue growing and developing. This hasn’t been a smooth ride without relapses to old behaviors and temptations to quit. But what keeps me going is having made up my mind firstly, and imploring useful intellectual techniques such as reading, journaling, praying and writing to give a semblance of a self-aware version of me today.
What about you?
Gaining motivation requires you to first ascertain the value of what you need it for
“Gaining the motivation to do something is all about making it a must in the first place”.
Let’s assume you have a goal to accomplish and you’ve looked through your previous activity to simulate the kind of motivation you used then for what you need it for now. The next essential thing to do is to verify why you need to achieve what you must achieve because gaining motivation for something is all about making it a must in the first place.
Ask yourself what the value of accomplishing that goal is.
When you have a strong reason to do something because of its impact or advantage, in the end, it makes the process of actually doing it and continuing with it much easier.
With regards to my previous instance, it was crucial I identify who I am so that I would figure out how to love it, accept it, and hopefully, project that to the others around me in such a way it doesn’t breed continuous conflict and unnecessary anxiety.
What do you stand to gain in the end with wanting to gain this motivation to engage in what you need to — in order to achieve what you must?
Reverse-analyze the value of what you stand to gain, in this case, lose — if you do not muster the motivation to pull through
By this I mean what will the end result be if you don’t achieve what you really need to achieve? Is there a consequence, perhaps, failure of advancement, self-disappointment, or another penury of some sort.
You need to check on both sides — that is, the value of what you stand to gain by doing what you need the motivation to do and the consequences of not achieving them, that is where another prompt to be motivated comes from.
For me, when I encounter a set-back or oblige the temptation to give up on the journey, I feel worse; like a quitter. I feel guilt and regrets which are triggers to what I’m fighting hard to avert, therefore, I retract and remake a decision to ‘keep showing up every day’.
What about you? What will happen if you don’t achieve what you must (or not)?.
Motivation needs your mental strength and resilience and no distractions
After ascertaining the correct answers to the questions above, the rest lies in your mental strength and resilience.
How desperate are you to accomplish your goal?
How willing are you to put aside all distractions and focus on achieving it?
How flexible are you in quickly bouncing up to continue that process and thus, maintain the flow state to get to the finish line?
These questions lie in your personal zeal to finally achieving what you need to and reaping its value afterward.
For me, despite not being where I want to yet, I know I’ve accomplished a lot and just like a domino effect; when you conquer one thing, the more you would want to conquer. I’ve been able to do this by diminishing limiting beliefs like fear, guilt, and regret from the list.
It’s easier to get motivated with doing something you naturally want to do and not forced to do
It’s as simple as that.
When you have flair for something, a skill or talent; purpose or calling, it’s always easier to make your mind and gain the motivation required to delve into it and the momentum to carry on — again, bearing all the guidelines as stipulated above, in mind.
I love writing, it serves as a distress mechanism for me, but most importantly, it helps me be introspective and ‘be there’ for someone else, similarly and in so many other ways — inspiration.
Motivation can be underwhelming when you truly need it to start something and it can be overwhelming when you need it to continue the process.
But to gain motivation, you need to reflect back on your past successful accomplishments or current flow state and input a similar level of effort, strategies, and strengths in your current to-be-achieved goal. You need to determine the value of this next thing you want to accomplish — is it worth your time and effort? How?. Next, reverse-analyze this value and ascertain what the consequences of inaction would bring.
Be mindful of the fact that motivation comes and goes and the ability to fully accomplish what you need to also deeply lies in your mental capabilities; that is, the strength to start and the resilience to keep going — when the overwhelming knock-down comes.
Once you’re able to gain the motivation to do something, it forms the momentum needed to carry it on which will help you reach the finish line.
Remember to exercise a flexible mind and make back-up plans and adjustments where and when necessary, as not all that is planned must be achieved and exactly as planned — but at least you gave it a try.
