Self-Motivation: 9 techniques to motivate yourse

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Self-motivation is an enormously important quality.

If you can motivate yourself, you will achieve your goals.

In the end, you can turn it around however you want:

Self-motivation is an important foundation for success — in sports, at work, in life.

But how exactly does self-motivation work?

• How do I motivate myself?
• How can I do things I don’t feel like doing?
• What tricks do successful people use to motivate themselves? These are the questions this article is about.

I will explain 9 techniques that you can use to motivate yourself permanently and do what you set your mind to from now on.

But before that, we need to briefly look at what two types of self-motivation there are.

The two types of Self-Motivation

Let’s first start with a basic (but important) question:

What is self-motivation, anyway?

Self-motivation means that you make yourself work on your goals and get things done on your own. You don’t need anyone else to push you or “force” you to do it.

Through self-motivation, you simply do what you set out to do. Without excuses. Without long back and forth. Without a lot of chatter.

Self-motivation: doing what you set out to do

Why is self-motivation so important?

Because the things that get you ahead, in the long run, are usually not much fun.

So you need certain self-discipline for self-motivation:

• Going to the gym after work instead of getting comfortable on the couch.
• Meditating for 10 minutes before going to bed instead of looking senselessly at pictures of photoshopped Instagram models.
• Clean out the garage on Saturday mornings instead of sleeping until noon.
• To work on your business idea instead of reading the 20th business book.
• To drink a green smoothie at 7 am instead of eating a Nutella roll. To do the “right” things, you need self-motivation.

And there are two types of it.

What is the best way to motivate me? The two types of self-motivation

There are two reasons why we humans do things. And no, neither has to do with sex or food. At least not directly.

The two reasons are:

• We want to avoid pain
• We want more pleasure

So we want to avoid things that don’t feel good. And we want more of what feels good.

But which of the two types of self-motivation is better?

Variant 1: Pain as a motivator

Avoiding pain is a much stronger motivator.

Imagine that every minute you are hit on the thumb with a hammer. What would you do to make them stop? Probably (almost) everything.

Now imagine you are lying relaxed on a couch and someone offers you a full body massage. What would you do about that? Not much.

That’s also why most people don’t change their lives until the pain is great enough.

Many want to exercise more, make more money, or quit a bad habit.

But most don’t start until the pain is really big:

• When they are left by their partner because they gained 30Kg.
• When they are so unhappy in their job that it makes them sick.
• When they smoke so much that they are out of breath just walking around.

Pain is often the only reason people make a really big life change.

But while pain is a very powerful motivator, it’s not healthy for you to be permanently motivated by pain.

Fear of failure can drive you to perform better on the job. But if you motivate yourself for years only by fear, it will eventually eat you up inside.

Feeling like you’re not good enough may push you to develop a dream body. But you will continue to feel empty inside.

There are enough examples of very successful people who are unhappy because they pursued their goals for the wrong reasons (more on that later).

Don’t be another one of them.

Variant 2: Joy as a motivator

Joy as a motivator means that you do things because you like doing them (or at least don’t hate doing them) and because you expect a positive result.

• You learn Spanish because you look forward to being fluent in it soon.
• You go to the gym because being in shape is important to you and you love a challenge.
• You study medicine because it fascinated you as a child.
• You work hard because it drives you to get more out of yourself and get better.
• You run a marathon because you want to surpass yourself.

So you don’t do things because you feel fear, want to prove something to anyone, or feel like you’re not good enough (that would be a pain as a drive).

You do things because you want them. Because they feel good. Because they challenge you. And maybe even because you enjoy them.

Pain is often the initiator to get moving. Like a nudge that makes you finally jump off the 5-meter board.

But pain should not be a long-term motivator.

If you want to jump off the 5-meter board regularly, then you shouldn’t need a nudge every time.

Okay, enough of the theory.

Now let’s get to the important questions:

How do I motivate myself long-term? And how do I manage to overcome my inner pig and do what I’ve set out to do?

Learning Self-Motivation: The 9 most effective techniques to motivate yourself

Whether you are driven by pain or by joy, there are always phases in which you lack self-motivation.

That is normal. After all, you are a human being and not a machine.

Nevertheless, there are a few very effective techniques to motivate yourself.

And that’s what we’re talking about now.

1. The 5-minute rule for better self-motivation

Maybe you know this: there’s one thing you don’t feel like doing at all.

Making an important but unpleasant phone call. Reading a 30-page work report. Cleaning out your basement. Anything.

For hours or even days, you shirk it.

But eventually, you get over yourself and start.

And then you’re completely surprised to find out that it’s not so bad… You might even get a certain amount of enjoyment out of the whole thing!

We feel the greatest resistance before the beginning. The beginning of an activity is always by far the most difficult.

Starting is the hardest thing

That’s why I want to introduce you to the 5-minute rule.

The whole thing works like this: You resolve to do the unwanted task for 5 minutes.

No more. No less.

• Put on your running shoes and go for a jog for 5 minutes.
• Sit down at your computer and answer emails for 5 minutes.
• Go to the basement and start cleaning out for 5 minutes

You might be wondering right now why you should do something for 5 minutes. After all, you can’t get much done for 5 minutes.

Well, here’s the thing.

Once you start doing something for 5 minutes, you’ll likely do it for longer.

Suddenly you’re engrossed in the task, you’re focused, and time flies.

The 5-minute rule has saved my ass many times when writing.

I didn’t feel like writing at all. Then I resolved to write for 5 minutes. And most of the time it turned into 2–3 hours.

Important!

If after 5 minutes you are not in the “flow” and still completely demotivated, then stop.

After all, you set out to do it for only 5 minutes.

This point is important because otherwise, this rule will eventually no longer work for you.

2. Measure your progress

The most effective form of self-motivation is progress.

Small (or large) successes motivate you permanently and drive you forward.

The problem with this?

Many people don’t measure their progress. So they often don’t even know if they’re making progress or going in circles.

Of course, it’s easier to measure progress in some areas than in others.

Losing 10Kg or writing a 200-page book are clear goals that you can easily measure.

But even in other areas, you can see progress.

Let’s say you want to become more confident.

Because hey, a little more self-confidence and charisma never hurt anyone.

Then, first of all, define what self-confidence means to you.

For example:

• I can say no to my partner when I want to say no.
• I speak up at meetings at work and give my opinion.
• I can approach strangers and start a conversation.
• I overcome my fear of being judged by others and start a blog. Becoming “a little more confident” is not measurable.

But “sharing my honest opinion with my work colleagues” is.

For example, you can write down every day for 3 minutes in which situations you acted confidently in your eyes and in which not.

At the end of each month, see how you’ve evolved.

For example, to see my development in my business, every month I write down what went well, what didn’t go well, and what I learned.

Remember: small successes are one of the best ways to motivate yourself.

And to notice them you need to measure your progress.

3. Postpone it until tomorrow! (Yes, you read correctly)

I go to the gym every Monday and Thursday.

80% of the time, I enjoy going. The other 20% of the time, I get over myself.

But there are exceptions. In which I postpone my workouts.

Last Thursday for example.

At 18h I wanted to get up to go to the gym.

But I was exhausted. I had slept badly and worked a lot the last few days.

Just the thought of going to the gym hurt.

Instead of bending over backward, I postponed the workout until Friday.

And relaxed the rest of the evening.

It doesn’t always make sense to force yourself to do something.

If you have no motivation at all or are exhausted, do it another time.

Important.

Find a specific day and date when you want to catch up on your planned activity.

This way you a) will do it and b) can now relax with a clear conscience.

4. Reward yourself — the ultimate trick for more self-motivation.

It works for children. It works for animals. And it works on you: Reward.

If you’re just so lazy that even Homer Simpson would be impressed, use a reward to motivate yourself.

Let me explain.

There are things you want to do:

• Check social media
• Eat something delicious
• Watch a series on Netflix
• Meet up with friends

There are some things you don’t want to do:

• Answer emails
• Clean up
• Prepare your presentation
• Go jogging

So what do you do?

You reward yourself with what you want to do for doing what you don’t want to do. And just like that, your self-motivation goes up!

Reward yourself — it works!

A few days ago I wanted to shoot three videos for a video course of mine in the morning.

But I didn’t feel like it.

So I said to myself:

“I’ll shoot the three videos. That’s about two hours of work. After that, go to your favorite restaurant and eat something delicious.”

And bang! The motivation to shoot videos came faster than a 15-year-old on his first time.

Which works great for small tasks:

Do the task (household, answer emails, congratulate your uncle on his birthday) and then deliberately reward yourself with 15min of social media or Youtube.

5. Forget To-Do Lists

Many people organize their daily lives with to-do lists. I used to do that as well.

And I have to admit: A to-do list is better than nothing.

But to-do lists have a big problem. They don’t have a concrete schedule.

You only know what you have to do, but not when.

And that often leads you to keep putting things off until another time, and your list gets longer and longer.

When you have a lot on your plate and many different activities to coordinate, you need a schedule.

So you write down what you need to do — and when!

Believe me, it makes a world of difference.

I started doing this a year ago as my work became more complex. I have more employees, more clients, more responsibilities.

And of course, as a result, more things to get done.

And having a schedule has helped me tremendously to prioritize better, be more productive, and relax better at the same time.

Forget to-do lists. And create a schedule for yourself.

It’s OK, you don’t have to thank me for the tip.

6. Do it as early as possible, that’s when self-motivation is the highest

When do you find it easier to do something you don’t feel like doing?

In the morning? Or in the evening, after eight hours of exhausting work?

Probably in the morning.

As a rule, we have the most energy and concentration in the morning or the forenoon.

What can you learn from this?

Do what is important to you in the morning or the morning (if possible).

This has two big advantages:

1. You have more energy, willpower, and focus for the task at hand.
2. You feel better the rest of the day because you’ve already done something important

I am independent. So I can organize my day the way I want.

I realize that this may not be the case for you.

But maybe you can still find time in the morning before work.

For example, let’s say you want to go to the gym 5 times a week. But after work, you often lack the energy.

Then get up an hour earlier and do it before work.

Try to do the things that are most important to you as early as possible.

This approach has made me an estimated 20–30% more productive.

7. Use the Eisenhower principle

It’s not uncommon for people to be unmotivated because their to-do list is longer than the line at an Ikea on Saturday morning.

In case you also have too many things to do, use the Eisenhower Principle.

The Eisenhower Principle (or Eisenhower Method or Eisenhower Matrix) is a well-known time management method from the entrepreneurial world.

Here we distinguish between important and urgent tasks.

Important means that the task serves your goal achievement. For example: learning how to use SAP software to apply for my dream job.

Urgent means that a task must be completed in a timely manner. For example: Book the hotel for Saturday in Hamburg.

Now you have to divide your upcoming tasks into.

Important/unimportant and urgent/not urgent.

This results in the following matrix:

Image by author.

Through this system, you understand what you should do next, what you should do soon, what someone else can do for you, and what you shouldn’t do at all.

8. Do it for the right reason

We saw two types of self-motivation at the beginning of this article (pain and pleasure).

Roughly speaking, pleasure is a form of intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation (“motivation from within”) means that you do something because you enjoy it, it’s challenging, or it’s important to you.

A good example of this is hobbies. You pursue your hobby because you enjoy it, not because you want a reward for it.

Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, means that you do something to get a reward or to avoid punishment.

A typical example of this is work. Many people show up for work to a) make money (reward) and b) avoid quitting (punishment).

A large number of studies have shown that intrinsic motivation is the more effective type of motivation.

What does this mean for you?

Try to find goals in life for which you have some intrinsic motivation.

The more intrinsically motivated goals you pursue, the fewer motivational problems you will have.

There are indeed certain things for which you have more intrinsic motivation than for others. But you can also develop your intrinsic motivation up to a certain point.

This is enormously important to stay motivated in the long run (for example for work, for the gym, for studying, etc.).

And how this works, we see now.

9. Become better and thus always increase your self-motivation.

A lot of research has been done on motivation over the last few decades. One important finding:

We are only permanently motivated when a task is challenging.

If a task is too easy, we quickly become bored. If it is too difficult, we lose motivation because we see no prospect of success.

And that is an important realization.

Because at some point, every task becomes boring. If you do the same thing for months or even years, the routine will catch up with you.

So how can you avoid getting bored and keep yourself motivated?

By trying to get better.

No matter what you do: try to get better at it

I’m often asked where I get the self-motivation to write so much for years.

My answer: I try to get better.

With each article, I try to write clearer, better, and more entertaining.

I delete words and sentences that are unclear or redundant. I think of good comparisons and examples. I ask myself if my text is not only useful but also entertaining.

This challenges me again and again.

And because it challenges me, it stays interesting.

When I started weight training over 10 years ago, I sometimes lacked the motivation to train.

For several years now, I’ve been noting the weight, rest, and number of reps for each exercise.

At the next workout, I try to improve my values (either more weight or more repetitions).

While I don’t always make it, I challenge myself. And because of that, it doesn’t get boring.

No matter what you do regularly, try to get better at it. Challenge yourself. Grow.

This will keep even boring tasks interesting and you won’t lose motivation even after months and years.

Self-Motivation: How to stay on the ball for the long term

Self-motivation is and always will be a challenge.

We just like to do things that feel good and provide an instant reward.

Sitting on the couch watching a movie and scooping ice cream feels better than going for a jog.

It’s a matter of overcoming your inner badass time and time again.

That’s why self-motivation is also a daily decision.

A decision to do what doesn’t feel good, but is good for you in the long run.

And the more often you make the “right decision”, the easier it will be for you.

Because ultimately, self-motivation is also just a matter of practice.