You make a goal sheet...and then you end up putting it off til next time... Then there's the vision board with the latest to-do list but more often than not, it never gets started. And this habit sadly happens every year. What could be the problem?
Why are we so good in planning but actually, there isn't much follow – through? There must be something else missing aside from the plan.
According to Psychology Today, motivation is the desire to do things that gives the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day. You may have done the first step which is to visualize your goals and what supporting activities to attain the goal but staying focused with a high emotional quotient (E.Q.) spell the difference.
Feelings are crucial and inevitable that is why we do what we do and that includes indirectly losing a grip at motivation. According to The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking (cited from Time.com):
“...when experimental subjects are told of unhappy event, but then instructed
to try not to feel sad about it, they end up feeling worse than people who are
informed of the event, but given no instructions about how to feel. In
another study, when patients who were suffering from panic disorders
listened to relaxation tapes, their hearts beat faster than patients who
listened to audiobooks with no explicitly 'relaxing' content. Bereaved people
who make the most effort to avoid feeling grief, research suggests, take the
longest to recover from their loss. Our efforts at mental suppression fail in
the sexual arena, too: people instructed not to think about sex exhibit greater
arousal, as measured by the electricak conductivity of their skin, than
those not instructed to suppress such thoughts.”
Having said this, what does it relate to motivation? It means that it is good that we have a visible plan in place to achieve our goals, but we also need the “feel” of accomplishing that goal. According to an article from Time Magazine, in order to get that “feeling” we need to do the following:
Be positive. Winston Churchill said, “a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” To be positive and stay positive, we have to believe that either way is a choice. We maintain the positivity in our lives because we want to despite of the criticisms and setbacks we face in our career. Being in business and staying in business demand optimism to go through the ups and downs in the industry. To keep and stay focused, we have to think that “I am in control of my attitude, and no one can take that away from me.”
Secondly, we need to get rid of the negative people around us. There is a big difference between positive and negative criticisms. Good criticisms build you up; you stay inspired to do better. While negative criticisms take your dreams away from you and people think that your dream is not worth your time.
Get rewarded. To be happy and stay happy, you have to reward yourself while working on your plans for every little achievement that you make. Prepare immediate or short-term, medium-term to long-term goals for your business goals to determine your milestones.
Get peer pressure. To keep yourself motivated throughout the ups and downs of your upcoming venture, it is crucial that you surround yourself with people you admire and want to be in the future. Steer clear from people who just drain your energy away from you. To improve this situation, you need to circulate and radiate positive energy in your relationships. Advance your self-mage to create a good vibe and generate a high self-worth with everyone you talk to. Believe in yourself that you know the business more than they do, but acknowledge that to stay competitive in the industry – you need to continuously learn about the tricks of the trade and encourage collaboration with likeminded people.
To sum it up, it’s great to be objective when planning, but do not ignore your E.Q. while you cruise your way to success. Just remember the three things to keep you going – positivity, reward yourself and peer pressure, not to mention that you have to have confidence to pull everything off.