Practical tips to maintain your motivation as you progress in your goals.
- Danelle Venter
- Aug 8, 2024
- 4 min read
Motivation is defined as a need, drive, or desire to see a change in our environment or self, which can come from within a person or without. In this post, we will look at practical tips to maintain motivation as you progress through your goals. We will look at how to start motivated, maintain our motivation, and what to do when we lose our motivation.
My brother Johan was a national endurance rider. One race he competed in is a very well-known and challenging race that takes part in Namibia. Johan competed in this 120km trek through the Walvis Baai desert with a high-performing and highly motivated horse named Apache. One thing that he didn’t count on was Apache losing all his motivation which resulted in Johan running 25km alongside Apache. When I asked my brother why he thought his horse lost his motivation, he said that there were no markers for the horse to follow, Apache was running in what seemed to him an endless race in an endless desert marked with nothing but sand. Johan then learned that if he pulled in the reigns and changed Apache’s pace more often, he would have engaged Apache’s interest and had a much different outcome – i.e. more time in the saddle and less on the sand next to the Apache.
Sometimes in our own goals, we may feel like we are running in an endless desert and lose our motivation to continue. We need to be intentional about how we start, how we progress, how we know we are progressing, and in our evaluation of the progress we have made.
Starting motivated: Define your Why.
In the first post of this series, we saw that goals are important because they help us to be intentional about what we want to see in our lives. Later on, we looked at how we start setting our goals by looking at the end result – what will my life look like if I get this? When we can define the outcome of what we want to achieve, and what our lives will look like when we achieve it, we can put words to our desire. If you are in the middle of a goal and find that you are no longer motivated to continue, start with the finish line – what will you get if you finish your goal? Define your why.
When we can define the outcome of what we want to achieve, and what our lives will look like when we achieve it, we can put words to our desire.
Staying motivated.
Motivation comes from different places, we get motivation from the joy we have in taking part in the goals, from rewards for finishing tasks, from friends’ encouragement, and from the need to maintain a certain image or status quo, just to name a few. When we set goals, as mentioned in the earlier posts, it is good to have markers. These markers make the path to the finish line clear and indicate the progress that we have made. Make use of your markers to track your progress and reward yourself for each marker you pass. Make your rewards relevant to what you enjoy and make it worth the effort to get to that marker, especially if you feel like your enjoyment of participating in the goal is waning.
Another practical way we can maintain our motivation is by sharing with our friends. Celebrate your progress with the people around you, invite them into your journey, and allow them to cheer you on. Your friends can also provide some outside perspective when you find it challenging to progress to another marker. Share in your friends’ progress and encourage them as well. Your win might motivate them and vice versa.
Win back your motivation.
There may come a time when you feel that you too are running in an endless desert and lose your motivation to continue. This is a good time to evaluate your goals. Losing motivation may indicate that you have lost sight of the initial why, it may also indicate that you need to change your approach. Perhaps your goal is not feasible within the timeframe, or perhaps the next step is too complicated and needs to be broken down into multiple steps. You may also need to evaluate how well your markers indicate that you are progressing toward achieving your goal, or goals.
Coach U
Think of something you want to achieve or something you have been working on. Answer these questions:
What do I get when I finish my goal?
How do I know I am making progress?
How can I celebrate the progress I am making?
Who can I share my wins with?
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© 2024 Ivan Venter, All Rights Reserved.
Image by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash
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