How To Stay Motivated: 10 Therapist-Approved Motivation Tips

Staying on task and maintaining your motivation isn’t always easy, especially when your to-do list is long and involves lots of hard work. If you find that you lose motivation easily, we’re here to help. 

Read below for 10 therapist-approved tips for setting goals and maintaining consistent motivation levels.

What Is the Difference Between Short-Term and Long-Term Motivation?

First things first: let’s differentiate long-term motivation and short-term motivation, as the two require a different set of habits and skills to maintain:

• Short-term motivation helps you follow through on measurable goals over a smaller window of time. Examples might include finishing writing a song you started working on earlier today or not giving up on a puzzle level in a challenging video game.

• Long-term motivation gives you the focus and will to reach your long-term goals. Examples of long-term motivation in action include reaching long-standing career goals or fitness goals that take months — or even years — of focus and hard work.

What Are Some Common Causes of Lack of Motivation?

No matter what your end goal is, the most important thing is identifying the obstacles that stand between you and success. 

Below are some of the most common causes of lack of motivation:

Burnout

Sticking with goals can be hard when you feel overwhelmed. A lack of work-life balance, too many commitments, relational stress, and many other factors can lead to burnout, which can drain you of your motivation and overall energy. 

The best way to fight burnout is to practice self-compassion and find ways to include more rest in your life. The digital world can be endlessly stimulating, so leaving ourselves hungry for more can be helpful.

No Recognition

When your hard work doesn’t get acknowledged and celebrated, it’s easy to forget why you put so much effort in in the first place. One key to staying motivated is getting plenty of support and affirmation from friends, family members, and coworkers as you pursue your goals; no one can do it alone!

This may also be a sign that your work is not intrinsically motivating. While extrinsic tactics like recognition and rewards can help short-term motivation, they tend to bottom out for long-term motivation where intrinsic motivation shines.

Individual Challenges

If you struggle to stay motivated and feel like there’s little you can do to change your situation, it’s possible your mental health plays a key role in what you’re experiencing. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is common and treatable with professional help, and there’s no reason to feel ashamed. If staying motivated is a constant struggle, getting evaluated for ADHD might be the right place to start.

Over-Focusing on Feeling Motivated

Feeling ashamed and discouraged about your progress towards big goals can lead to stress and frustration. That’s why it’s more important to practice self-care and focus on maintaining your well-being rather than ruminating about how motivated or unmotivated you feel. We can almost guarantee that you’ll feel better — and accomplish more — if you pay less attention to your motivation levels.

Physical Factors

Sometimes, a lack of energy and motivation has a simple solution: meeting your physical needs. For example, if you’re hungry, thirsty, tired, or sick, it’s no surprise that you find it hard to reach your goals. Feeling unmotivated often isn’t a sign of a deeper problem — it might just be a sign that you need to have a snack, take a nap, or take a break from work until you get over a cold.

What Do Therapists Recommend To Improve Motivation?

If you’re finding it hard to stay motivated, pull a few tips from this list! Below are 10 therapist-recommended practices to help you stick to your goals and feel more fulfilled on your journey of personal growth.

1. Distinguish Short-Term and Long-Term Tasks

Feeling overwhelmed can quickly take away your energy and motivation, and one of the easiest ways to feel overwhelmed is having a disorganized task list. If you have trouble knowing which of your tasks deserve immediate attention and which should be saved for later, make sure to take time to separate short-term and long-term tasks into two distinct lists. 

That way, you can keep track of everything you need to accomplish without feeling like it’s all hanging over your head at once.

2. Remove Distractions

We know this is easier said than done, but removing distractions from your environment will help you complete tasks and accomplish goals — even when the distractions seem to make an unenjoyable task more bearable. 

It’s better to push through without distractions than to make yourself inefficient and inattentive by trying to (for example) get your homework done with the TV playing in the background.

3. Stop Procrastination Right When It Starts

Procrastination can feel harmless at first, but it tends to become a habit that’s harder and harder to break as time goes by. That’s why we recommend avoiding procrastination at all costs by taking care of tasks as soon as you can. 

That doesn’t mean you can’t rest and take breaks when working, but it does mean that you shouldn’t push off today’s work because you don’t feel like doing it — that will just make tomorrow’s work even more stressful.

4. Work on Time Management

One of the easiest ways to boost your motivation is staying organized. When you don’t have a time management strategy and a plan for accomplishing your tasks, it’s impossible not to feel overwhelmed. 

However, when you take just a few minutes to block out time for each of the items on your to-do list, you’ll find that your workload feels more manageable, and you feel more prepared to conquer your tasks.

5. Surround Yourself With Hard-Working People

Everyone needs inspiration to stay motivated. Even if you think of yourself as an entrepreneur and typically work alone, do your best to connect with and surround yourself with other hard workers who can push you to be the best you can be. 

The positive peer pressure might feel overwhelming at first, but you’ll find yourself grateful to have people in your life who you can relate to and look to for motivation when you aren’t feeling your best. Body doubling, a productivity tactic where someone does tasks while someone else is physically present or virtually connected, can be a great help.

6. Practice Positive Self-Talk

If your inner monologue makes you feel belittled, weak, and ashamed, it’s time for a change! One of the keys to motivation is being kind to yourself and cheering yourself on as you progress. 

That means there’s no place in your life for negative self-talk and self-shaming. Instead, practice gratitude, give yourself grace when you make mistakes, and affirm your strengths both out loud and in your thoughts. You’ll be amazed by the difference this practice makes!

7. Visualize the Work

Visualization can help you prepare for the tasks on your to-do list and keep you from feeling unprepared and overwhelmed. You can use mental visualization practices to flex your creative muscles and prepare yourself for work. You can also write or illustrate the process for a task and leave the visual representation of the project up in your workspace to use as a reference.

8. Take Healthy, Structured Breaks

Resting is one of the keys to progress, even though that might sound counterintuitive. If you have a go-go-go mentality and don’t know when to take breaks, you run the risk of losing touch with the signals your body and mind send you that let you know when it’s time to recharge. 

Every hour or so of work, take a moment to check in with yourself and see if you have any physical or mental needs before moving forward. See it through to completion then take a beat to congratulate yourself and reward yourself before diving in again. Even five minutes of walking or grabbing a glass of water can help you return to your work refreshed. 

We definitely don’t recommend using up your break time on social media or networking apps, though! Focusing on the real world is probably a better use of your rest time.

9. Allow Yourself an Off Day

Everyone needs a longer break sometimes, too. A day off can help you maintain motivation by giving you the chance to fully recharge your batteries and come back to your tasks feeling better than ever. 

If you don’t know what to do with your time off, consider connecting with an online support group to relax, share thoughts and feelings, and enjoy one of your favorite video games.

10. Talk to Someone

You’re not alone in your struggle to maintain motivation. A licensed mental health professional can help you sort through the root causes of your issues with motivation and give you the validation and encouragement you need to get back on track.

Get Back on Track With Hero Journey Club

If you have trouble reaching your goals, one of the best ways to move forward is with a supportive community. Join a Hero Journey Club group today to find strength and support while enjoying a relaxing gaming experience.

Sources:

Short-Term and Long-Term Learners' Motivation Modeling in Web-Based Educational Systems, Interactive Technology and Smart Education, 2021

Job burnout: How to spot it and take action | Mayo Clinic

Evaluating the Effect of Program Visualization on Student Motivation | Research Gate

Mental fatigue, work and sleep | ScienceDirect