The Creative Lowdown April '23

10 HABITS OF HIGHLY MOTIVATED PEOPLE

We all want to be more productive and motivated. But who has the time to start a side hustle, new hobby or business? Well, believe it or not, we all can with just a little motivation.

That’s why we’ve gathered ten simple steps to increase your motivation to help you achieve your goals sooner. While these little changes to your daily routine don’t seem like much - they add up.

Brainstorm Often

Keep a notepad by your bed or use the notes in your phone to spend time each week brainstorming new ideas. Training your brain to think outside the box by finding solutions to problems through new ideas and concepts will have you motivated to try out your new brainwaves.

Brainstorming helps you come up with ideas quickly without overthinking. This allows you to get your brain warmed up, pumping ideas from your mind to paper.

If your not sure where to start, brainstorm a list of things that need doing around the house and ways those jobs could be made simpler and more time-effective. Once you’ve trained your brain to think creatively, you’ll think sessions will have you founding elaborate and ingenious ideas.

When people ask us how to stay motivated, this is one of our favourite habits to recommend.

Gratitude Journal

The power of positivity can significantly boost your motivation levels. By journaling what you are grateful for you force your brain to start looking for the good in your life.

You may be surprised at what a powerful tool a gratitude journal can be when used consistently. When you start each morning with a positive affirmation and end your day reflecting on all the great things that you experienced, your brain tricks

you into working harder for the dopamine, hit you receive when listing your gratitudes.

This motivates many people into looking for the positives in their lives and how they can recognise negative situations as positives. For example, if your boss is tough on you, you might try saying, “I appreciate the feedback, as my boss must see great potential in my work.”

Chunking

Yes, you read that correctly - Chunking. No, it’s not a new fashion or dance craze its a habit of highly motivated people whereby they break their tasks down to smaller steps. For example, instead of “write the expense report”, they break it down into writing the introduction, then the first paragraph before lunch and completing the task with mini-goals along the way. This helps you to cross off more on your list, making you feel like you are accomplishing more tasks.

Try breaking down your bigger tasks into smaller steps. Focus on each step for 20-30 minutes and then take a short break. Then focus on the next step. These little bursts of highly focused work help you to accomplish more throughout the day.

This habit is especially useful for those looking to boost their motivation quickly. If you have been feeling incredibly unmotivated, this habit works quickly to increase motivation.

Exercise Regularly

Have you ever noticed how good moving your body makes you feel? This is because, during exercise, our body releases endorphins and increases our dopamine and serotonin levels. This magic trio of natural happiness improves our mood and ability to focus on the task at hand.

Not only does exercise make us happier, but it can also reduce stress, boost our self-esteem and keep our bodies in good shape what’s not to love.

Whether it’s a full-body cardio workout, strength training or a short walk with the dog, any exercise is good exercise and guaranteed to make you more motivated.

Treat Yourself

Make sure you find time in your busy schedule to treat yourself to the things you genuinely enjoy. It can be anything as long as its something that makes you genuinely happy. For some it’s taking a stroll along the beach, others like face-masks and mani/pedis, while others enjoy a night on the town.

Whatever your treat is, make time to enjoy and do it regularly. Having something to look forward to even something small like your favourite coffee or chocolate bar acts as a motivation to achieve tasks and reach goals.

Celebrate your Accomplishments

Most of us rally around the troops when a friend achieves something big, but when we reach something ourselves, we rarely stop to acknowledge our outstanding work.

A secret of highly motivated people is stopping to celebrate their successes. Even small victories deserve recognition. Acknowledging your success is vital long-term success, happiness and self-fulfilment.

So next time to accomplish a goal, stop for a moment and celebrate your success. Be proud of your achievements, great and small. Victories come in all shapes and sizes, so be proud of yourself and be grateful for the handwork you do.

Remember your Mantra

Write out your biggest goals and turn them into a Mantra. Read this to yourself daily. Every time you feel yourself procrastinating remember your mantra, Where do you see yourself in one year? What will you have accomplished? How much money will you be making? What things that you do daily will get you to your end goal?

Remind yourself of the end goal when focusing on the daily tasks that will help you reach your goals.

Set Daily Goals

Each morning set a goal to accomplish that day. Work towards achieving that goal but starting with something easy and over time, make your daily goal for challenging.

By creating a habit of achieving a different goal each day, you will be motivated to accomplish this, regardless of your busy schedule.

By setting the goals small at first, you get into the habit of setting and accomplishing goals daily. Once you are in the pattern, it’s easier to set more ambitious goals to achieve daily. Before you know it, you are accomplishing goals at a faster pace each day.

Meditate

Mediation is often perceived as humming in the lotus position in a Zen retreat, but this is false anyone can practice mindfulness and mediation. Some of the worlds most motivated people insist that their daily 10-20 minutes of mediation is the secret to their success.

There are lots of mediation apps you can download for free, but if you think you don’t have time, try listening to a relaxing podcast during your commute or keep your phone on aeroplane mode until work starts. Both are mediative practices encouraging focus.

Follow a schedule

Create positive habits by sticking to a regular schedule. Most of the World’s Billionaires, CEO’s and highly accomplished people have daily plans they stick to. They wake up, eat, meditate, exercise, work, play, relax and sleep roughly at the same time each day.

Scheduling your days helps program your brain into behaving a certain way at certain times. It helps ensure you’re entirely focused while at work but not uptight and stressed during your play and relax time.

Following a schedule helps you remain on target and motivated. It doesn’t matter what your schedule looks like or if it fits the ‘norm’ as long as it fits your needs and helps you stay on task its a simple change you can make to become more motivated.