Hello, friends! What are the secrets you need to build your motivational skils? Do you feel like you have no motivation for anything? Do you feel like doing absolutely nothing at all, or perhaps you have had a project in mind that you have never gotten around to and starting just does not seem to happen? Perhaps you started on a project, but lost motivation to see it through? Does any of that apply to you? If it does, then do not despair! I have some self-motivation techniques and secrets to help you build your motivational skills and positively inspire you again!
Build Your Motivational Skills and Reap the Benefits of Becoming a Self-Motivated Person
The big secret to building your motivational skills is simply understanding it better. In this two-part series, I will give you the definition of self-motivation, and why you need motivation skills. Next week, I will give you 10 powerful self-motivation techniques that you can practice so you can become more self-motivated.
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What Exactly Is Self-Motivation?
According to the business dictionary, the definition of self-motivation is the “ability to do what needs to be done, without influence from other people or situations. People with self-motivation can find a reason and strength to complete a task, even when challenging, without giving up or needing another to encourage them.”
That’s a mouthful! Let’s break it down into several different parts so we can find the motivational skills we need. The first part is the “ability to do what needs to be done.” To me, that says that the first motivational skill, or secret, is simply to start taking action. Sometimes we hesitate to start something because we are scared that we will do it wrong. Perfectionism takes hold and we are so scared of messing it up that we don’t even start! Has that ever happened to you? I know it has to me.
Related: How to transform your perfectionism
People that have motivational skills are people that take the initiative and start on a project without needing someone to babysit them or break it into parts for them. Most often, they are the ones breaking it into small, manageable pieces. I think that this whole definition has a business application, but also an everyday life application. In your everyday life, you are not going to have someone tell you exactly what needs to be done. You have to determine it and take action to start doing what needs to be done.
Remember that imperfect action is better than no action.
Imperfect Action is Better Than No ActionClick To TweetA Funny Self-Motivation Example
My oldest son is pretty much a self-starter and even at 4 or 5 had some self motivational skills. After laundrying his clothes, I placed them in neat piles on the ironing board. I called him in, and because he was still little, I went into detail about what I wanted to be done.
“I have washed, dried, and folded your clothes,” I told him. “Take each stack of clothes and put them away in your drawers where they go. Socks, underwear, and pajamas go in your top drawer. Shirts go in the middle drawer, and pants go in the bottom drawer.”
He did not like this break-down of all the details because he could figure it out himself and knew what to do.
“Momma,” he told me dramatically with a sigh, “I know what to do. All you have to do is tell me that my clothes are ready. I will do the rest.”
I was highly amused, so I described the incident on my personal Facebook page. One person responded, “Can you teach that to my 14-year-old??!”
Cute, But How is this Showing Motivational Skills or Self-Motivation?
My son possessed the ability to do what needed to be done. He did not want influence from other people or situations, hence his response. He found a reason to do the task (so he could get back to playing) and he did not need encouragement from me to put his clothes in the right place. Possibly because he knew I would make him re-do it if I did not find the clothes in their proper places, but also because that’s just the kind of kid he is. He tries incredibly hard to do the right thing and to please me.
However, the clothes were not put away neatly folded. More like they were shoved in the appropriate drawer and they fell everywhere. The task was not done perfectly, but it was done as well as he had the ability to do it at the time.
Secret #2: Sometimes, done is better than perfect.
Sometimes, done is better than perfect.Click To TweetWhat Motivational Skills Make a Person Self-Motivated?
Self-motivated people have learned motivational skills that make them self-starters. The first, and one of the most noticed, motivational skills is taking initiative. The third part of the definition of self-motivation further clarifies what motivational skills a self-motivated person has learned. “People with self-motivation can find a reason and strength to complete a task, even when challenging, without giving up or needing others to encourage them.” What we often describe as the quality of self-motivation, are actually motivational skills which follow specific techniques.
Secret #3: Know Your “Why”
“Find a reason and strength to complete a task” Do you know what motivational skills you need to find a reason and strength? Two things – You need to know your “Why” and you need to persistence to carry it out. Without persistence and commitment to a task, you will not find the “reason and strength to complete a task, even when challenging.”
Secret #4: Persistence Pays Off
The fourth and final part of the definition is “without giving up or needing another to encourage them.” Not giving up sounds an awful lot like determination to me. We might apply “stubborn” here too but that’s usually used in a negative context. “Determination” is a much more positive and powerful word that has a good connotation.
How Do You Encourage Yourself?
We all need a bit of encouragement from time to time. If you don’t get it from other people, where do you get it from? The answer is that you get it from yourself. If this seems hard to you, then don’t worry, I will go further into detail on some powerful self-motivation techniques that you can easily apply no matter what you are trying to get the motivation to do.
Secret #5: Keep telling yourself “I can do this.”
Pay attention to the way you talk to yourself. Tell yourself “I can do this.” often enough and your brain will start to believe that you can. Give yourself a little pep talk. Remember why you started doing this task in the first place and approach it with enthusiasm. Learn as much about it as you can if you don’t know where to start. We will go further into these techniques in the 2nd part of this series.
Why Do I Need Motivational Skills?
Oh wow! That’s a big one. Some reasons why you need motivational skills are:
- Get more accomplished in less time
- Be happier with yourself and life
- Have more perceive free time
- More opportunities
- Get noticed by your peers/co-workers/friends
- Have more time to dedicate to learning
- Feel more energetic
- Keep more positivity in your life and be encouraging to others.
Conclusion
Self-Motivation and motivational skills are closely linked. If you see someone that is a self-motivated person, you are seeing the result of the motivational skills they possess. When you learn motivational skills, they are most effective when applied to yourself. You cannot motivate someone else into action if they do not want to be motivated. However, you do have total and complete control over the actions that YOU decide to take.
Remember that sometimes the hardest step is starting and that imperfect action is better than no action. Do not let perfectionism paralyze you. In situations like these, done is better than perfect. I have never once written a perfect blog post. Room for improvement is a constant. However, I still hit publish when I felt they were as good as I could make them. Hopefully, they have helped someone or had some positive impact on someone somewhere. Had I never published them, they would not have accomplished that.
Are you faced with a job that you don’t really want to do? Maybe you have a big presentation in front of the whole company. Prepare yourself mentally for the task ahead, picture yourself succeeding at it, and practice to boost your confidence.
Great tips! Thank you for sharing, Elena!