11 Simple Ways You Can Stay Motivated

September 25, 2015

It can be a challenge to stay motivated when you and your team are multitasking
day in and day out. These hacks can help you rekindle and get results.
The hallmarks of Leaders is their drive to succeed, their ability to take risks and a
dedication to make their dream work. With this, however, comes the challenge of
keeping the fires of motivation going, for themselves and their teams. Writes Bruna
Martinuzzi.
In an age of multitasking and work overload, how do you keep motivated to push
yourself and others, day in and day out, in order to achieve results? Here are some
hacks to rekindle the spirit for you and your team, when you need it.
1. Monitor DE motivators
One mistaken notion that needs to be abandoned is the idea that we can fuel
motivation in others. Motivation is an inside job. Having said this, it's possible to
demotivate even the best in your team. Your job as a leader is twofold: One is to
create the environment that allows the natural motivation and initiative of people to
come through. The other is to watch out for what can dampen the spirit in any
team. Examples of these conditions are not keeping your promises, not giving credit
where credit is due, and rewarding non-performers the same as high performers. As
football coach Mike Delaney put it: "Any business or industry that pays equal
rewards to its goof-offs and its eager-beavers sooner or later will find itself with
more goof-offs than eager-beavers."
2. Keep an Eye on the Enjoyability Index
As a small-business owner, you likely keep track of a multitude of business metrics,
such as sales performance, overhead costs and staff productivity. How about
keeping an eye on the enjoyability index? Successful entrepreneurs have usually
cracked the code of building work cultures that keep employees motivated. One
overriding feature of these work environments is that they're enjoyable places to
work. Making sure people feel good about where they work is a smart move.
Enjoyable work environments help relieve the pressures and stress that can
decrease motivation in the long run.
To stay motivated, people want to feel they're a part of something bigger than
themselves. Connect the dots for people; help them understand how their efforts
are directly tied to the bigger picture.
We spend many of our waking hours at work. This makes it more difficult for people
to separate their personal and professional lives. Ask yourself, are people happy to
come to work in the morning or do they dread it? There are many ways to create
enjoyable work places. Two to start with: Eliminate stupid workplace rules, and
make sure people aren't micromanaged.
3. Establish Micro Milestones
Working relentlessly on long projects can tire the spirit and result in people losing
steam along the way. To avoid this, at the beginning of each project, carve out small

milestones for the entire project, and celebrate small wins en route. This simple
practice helps reenergize people and keep their motivation going.

4. Keep Yourself and Your Team in the Zone

Being in the zone describes a state where an individual functions at peak
performance. This state of flow happens when we're involved in activities that are
intrinsically motivating and when there's a balance between the challenge and the
skills. It's hitting the sweet spot. Just like athletes and musicians, being in a state of
flow means we're completely absorbed with what we're doing. We experience total
concentration.
As a leader, you can set the conditions for people to experience this state of flow by
establishing crystal clear, short-term goals, giving people a sense of control, and
immediate feedback on how they're doing, not six months later at performance
review time. Prevent boredom that sets in when people's skill level is much higher
than the challenge, and find ways to enrich people's jobs, continually raising the bar
to keep them engaged.
If you're struggling to get in the zone, due to distractions, try using one of the many
focusing apps such as Focus Booster.
5. Allow Autonomy
Motivation can increase when people feel in charge. The perception of having
autonomy and control over work tends to boost one's energy to pursue a goal. As
much as possible, give people control over how they go about achieving the results
you're seeking.
6. Focus on the "Extra Milers"
Instead of trying to motivate everyone on the team equally, focus more of your
motivation efforts on the "extra milers." We all know these people. They're the ones
who go above and beyond their job description, who consistently put in an extra
effort and make it easier for everyone in the team. A study at the University of Iowa
reveals that it pays to place these people in more central positions in the workflow
where they would come in contact with many team members. A more strategically
placed extra miler, the study suggests, has a positive impact on the team and
improves the team's overall performance and motivation.
7. Connect the Dots for People
Most people want more than just a nice job, close to home. To stay motivated,
people want to feel they're a part of something bigger than themselves. Connect
the dots for people; help them understand how their efforts are directly tied to the
bigger picture, to the vision and mission of what you're trying to accomplish. At
every opportunity, remind people of the ultimate goal, of the dream. You cannot
over-communicate when it comes to reminding people of where we're going, why
we're doing what we're doing, and what will happen when we get there.
8. Change "I Will" to "Will I?"

A study by the University of Illinois reveals how changing your self-talk can have a
measurable impact on your motivation to pursue the fulfilment of a goal. The
change is simple. Those who ask themselves whether they will perform a task
generally do better than those who tell themselves that they will.
9. Guard Against Procrastination
A sure fire way to dampen motivation is to give in to procrastination. Understanding
the cause of your procrastination can help you manage it. According to
procrastination scholar Piers Steel, author of The Procrastination Equation, most
procrastination happens for three reasons: lacking self-confidence to achieve a
particular goal, being disinterested in the task, and being impulsive, which diverts
our focus away from our goals and distracts us. His procrastination equation is
based on four components:
Expectancy: your belief in how likely you are to achieve your goal;
Value: how much value you place on the goal;
Impulsiveness: how likely you are to be influenced by short-term vs. long-term
gratifications; and
Delay: how far into the future the goal realization is.
One way to use this equation to help you stop procrastinating is to split your goals
into bite-sized, feasible pieces. Make them realistically achievable, concrete and
short term.
10.
Digitize Your Goals
If you need an extra push to keep up your motivation to accomplish some goals, use
one of the many online commitment trackers such as GoalsOnTrack, Stridesapp
orBeeminder. You can also create private Pinterest boards to gather ideas and
information for your projects, share visual content with your team, and keep up the
motivation through collaborative effort.
11.
Put Pen to Paper
In an age of tech gadgets, using a pen and paper can be the ultimate hack for
keeping up your motivation to work toward your goals. A study at the Dominican
University of California found that you're more likely to commit to your goals if you
simply write them down. Grab a notebook and start writing down all the goals that
matter to you. Carry it with you and review what you wrote down periodically to
keep the motivation alive.