Five ways to improve your motivation 

Five quick ways to improve your motivation and start seeing progress fast

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Happiful

Procrastination, burnout, low mood and overwhelm are all reasons why our motivation can falter – but low motivation doesn’t mean our progress needs to stop. Here are five quick ways to kickstart your motivation and get back on track.

Make a fresh start

If you’ve been feeling weighed down by tasks, or unclear pathways, giving yourself a fresh start creates the opportunity to re-evaluate what you want to achieve, figure out how you want to do that, and let go of any negativity that may have been holding you back.

Simplify your goals (and your to-do list)

In order to achieve more, sometimes we need to aim for less. The more we try to put onto our to-do list, the more likely we are to feel overwhelmed. Cutting back on activities that don’t motivate or excite you can help you to avoid procrastinating. Instead, try and keep things simple – you can always expand on your goals later on, once you’ve started seeing progress.

Try the five-minute rule

The five-minute rule can help you to feel more productive. It’s simple – you just commit to spending five minutes on one of the tasks on your to-do list. Pushing past those first few minutes can be enough to help you get into the flow of things. Using a timer can help you to avoid clock-watching while reminding you to assess how you are feeling once your time is up. 

If you’re feeling more motivated, keep going! If not, why not try taking a short break and then coming back to try another item on your list?

Focus on gratitude

Being grateful for things can have a significant impact on your motivation. Researchers have found that expressing gratitude for something good in your life can help improve your sense of self-worth, fitness levels and overall health. Practising gratitude can act as a mood-booster which, in turn, helps you get into the right mindset to get things done.

Work with an expert

Without someone to hold us accountable, it can be easy to procrastinate, put things off, and lose our motivation. If no-one is watching, are we even failing, or just delaying getting started? Creating a sense of accountability can help us to push ourselves forward even when our motivation levels may be lagging.