I’m always looking for ways to do my best and improve myself in everything. It could be a job, project, start up, or even a daily task that you take on each day. We often want to work hard on a task but we lack or run out of motivation. Here’s the thing, motivation requires discipline. Below you’ll find some ways that can help motivate you to do your best.

Find Out What Energizes You

No matter what the task is find the part about it that energizes you. Take for example a project that requires several different types of tasks to be completed. Why not start with the task that you enjoy the most or gives you the most energy? You can also think outside the box. Maybe music or podcasts energize you during a tough task. Find that one thing that makes you excited while doing the task. Sometimes even taking frequent breaks can re-energize us. It’s all about finding your greatest strengths.

Write Down Your Goals

Writing down your goals is a beneficial way to do your best. You are taking the initiative of supporting your future self. It is a constant reminder of the things you want to achieve with a task, project, or life. You also get to do the fun part and cross off the goal once you complete it! It’s all about figuring out where you are going all while prioritizing. Writing down your goals helps you stay motivated because you’ve got a plan in mind and that’s exciting. I know this is like beating a dead horse but it’s worth it!

Just Start

Often this is the hardest part. Once we get started we start getting excited. It’s different for everyone but you’ll never achieve anything in life if you can’t get started. There is also nothing wrong with starting small. Sometimes the small things are what motivate us to do the bigger things. So quit thinking and start doing.

Build Habits

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”   ― Jim Rohn

Develop yourself personally. See my Morning Routine. When you start to see success in your own life by utilizing habits you begin to put this in place in your work life. Willpower is a limited resource, so once you implement something that becomes habit, it becomes natural. When we start with small habits they make us more productive.

Check out The Compound Effect book. It’s all about building upon habits and decisions in your life to achieve success.

Surround Yourself with Hard Working People

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” ― Jim Rohn

The quote above has been my mantra since the beginning of this year. It make so much sense that we become who we spend time with. Try reaching out to someone you admire and want to achieve their level of success. There has to be someone that lives near you that has attained the kind of success you want. You can also reach out by cold emailing and utilizing twitter. I have also heard a lot of great things about conferences. They are a great place to meet up and hangout with people who have similar interests as you.

Give Yourself Positive Reinforcement

Focus on your skills and talents as much as you can. There isn’t any reason to dwell or worry about all the bad things that could happen. Try and build self esteem by reminding yourself about your good qualities. Some people might think of this as being selfish but I couldn’t disagree more. Why should we always put ourselves down and think the worst? We deserve better. You wouldn’t be where you are today without the skills you’ve learned and aquired. Try waking up tomorrow morning with a smile on your face. Talk out loud about the positive things in your life. Let these serve as constant reminders everyday. It could be as simple as saying ‘I’m going to be the first one to complete this 5K on Friday.’ The cool thing about this is that you may find yourself accomplishing these tasks that you reaffirm yourself of everyday.

Stop Making Excuses

This is self explanatory. Shut your brain up. Need I say more?