by Jennifer Riggins

As I already mentioned, I am part of a brilliant group of supportive and clever people, each who bring different skills to the table. Yesterday, I shared Steve Tallantyre’s explanation of how to leverage the science behind motivation. Today, I offer you Molly Sears-Piccavey‘s own personal tricks to gain and hold onto that motivation.

Molly gave us a plethora of ways to get and stay motivated that we countdown below. (Though my Google keyword perusal implies that folks are only looking to stay motivated to lose weight, this isn’t that kind of article. This is definitely geared toward the self-motivated worker or small business owner. Though you’ll find exercise is a good way to get there!)

Daily Motivation Tip #1: Keep the negative at bay

There’s no doubt that negative people are contagious

Sometimes you have to be more drastic — Molly felt less distracted and more motivated by doing a great purge on Facebook from 3,000 to 400 Facebook friends.

“I don’t wanna know if you are having a crap Tuesday and opening a bottle of wine,” she commented, wanting more from her relationships than over-sharing negativity. 

Then Molly recommends keeping negative people on a time limit and trying to keep energy suckers at bay whenever possible — anyway, energy suckers are usually huge time suckers too! Even if you have to be rude, get away from it!

Daily Motivation Tip #2: Change things up

Molly referenced a favorite of many of my Happy Melly team members, the Pomodoro Technique. It involves setting a timer to focus on things for a certain amount of time before you get a break.

She pointed out thought that “when you do this evil thing, you don’t really wanna stop now,” even pushing you to go past your timebox, particularly on tasks that frustrate you. She also said to make sure you plan your day with a variety of tasks whenever possible so you don’t get bored.

Daily Motivation Tip #3: Exercise

Let’s face it, as much as we put it off sometimes, after we workout, we feel better about ourselves — and those natural endorphins don’t hurt either.

Molly pointed out that, if you have the budget for it, a personal trainer can push you even harder and act as a sort of therapist too — it’s someone that spends an hour pushing you to push yourself. But if you don’t have the time or money for a personal trainer, definitely schedule some time every day to get out of your home or office for a walk or — when it’s too chilly this winter — do some yoga or YouTube exercise videos at home. (My favorite is FitnessBlender!)

Daily Motivation Tip #4: Scope out the competition 

After all, most of our group of almost all expat writers and bloggers about Spain are inherently competitors of each other. Yet we find more value in working together. And being a bit competitive pushes us to be better. In Brit Molly’s case, who, among many other things, is specialized in sharing Granada with the world, she scopes out American and Spanish bloggers touching on her city. Checking out the competition will certainly inspire you and boost your creativity.

Daily Motivation Tip #5: Celebrate your wins

So often, especially as small business owners and entrepreneurs, we just keep going and going and going and don’t stop to celebrate our progress. We need to take time to look back on and celebrate our successes large and small.

This also comes down to learning to treat ourselves. Us entrepreneurs tend to be self-deprecating, and we’re the ones who expect more of ourselves than anyone else does. Molly pointed out that you need to offer yourself little treats from buying or baking yourself a cake to small spa treatments. You deserve it!

Daily Motivation Tip #6: Set yourself goals

A lot of times in our Energizer Bunny lifestyles, we don’t actually plan things further out than a day or a week in advance, always just trying to stay on top of it all. Molly suggests that even when you don’t have specific objectives or a long-term business plan, it’s important to set short, medium, and long-term plans. They help you stay focused and also give you more wins to celebrate!

Daily Motivation Tip #7: Work someplace you love

“Changing the workspace changes a lot. Your motivation comes from your environment,” Molly said.

Now you can take this as a temporary change of scenery — I love frenetical Starbucks for hardcore writing — or you can create a completely different place to work, whether you work from home or a coworking. Certainly working in a more organized space makes for a more organized frame of mind, which means stay away from the kitchen or anywhere else chores await you!

Of course, this is only useful where you can control your workspace. But if you can’t, you can certainly dress in ways that make you feel good, listen to music that makes you fly, or even put a (work-approriate) wallpaper that simply makes you smile. And, really, if your workspace bums you out, it’s probably your job that’s doing that and it’s time to change for a job you love.

Daily Motivation Tip #8: Get out!

Sometimes you just gotta give up — for a short time. Recharge your batteries by going to the movies, reading a book in a nice cafe, just get away and give yourself those hours to refind your motivation.

Daily Motivation Tip #9: Don’t forget to ask for help

Sure, you can absolutely ask the advice of colleagues who do similar work to you, but sometimes it helps to get an outside perspective. Molly recommends asking your family or close friends for advice.

“Sometimes you can ask something of someone that has nothing to do with your actual work,” she said. “Sometimes an outsider will surprise you, look at it from the opposite way around.”

That external point of view may be just what you need.

If you’re doing something, Google how. It’ll either reaffirm what you’re doing, steer you another way or give some tips

piccavey on Twitter 

Daily Motivation Tip #10: Start from the end

Sometimes you just can’t seem to get started on something. Just like Steve’s tip of try writing the conclusion first in that blogpost you’ve been dreading to write, Molly echoes this by saying that if you focus on where you want something to go, you may be more motivated to get there.

Daily Motivation Tip #11: Don’t forget to check the simplest sources

Molly brought up the seemingly obvious motivator of Googling. She recommends starting out reading an article on what you’re trying to accomplish.

“If you’re writing a book, you Google how to write a book.” She said that it may be that it’ll just reaffirm what you’re doing, maybe you’ll learn you’re doing it completely wrong, or maybe just get some tips.

And make sure to check out the “World’s Best” of whatever you do. There’s sure to be some inspiration there!

Daily Motivation Tip #12: Get back to your purpose

Remember why you decided to do that and start it in the first place.

Molly’s words here may seem silly but are really important. Walk yourself back to why you are doing what you’re doing. Either you’ll find you’re on the wrong path or you’ll be re-motivated by your renewed sense of purpose.

Also Read: Are you living a purposeful life?

Daily Motivation Tip #13: Avoid procrastination

“Just do it fast to get it over with and done with.” Is it something you just don’t want to do? Molly says it’s even more important to remember “It doesn’t have to be perfect or spotless or impeccable, just get it done.”

Daily Motivation Tip #14: Remember, it’ll pass

Or better to quote our group founder Graham’s bonus advice: “Sh*t happens — but I know eventually it will go.” Sometimes your lack of motivation (like mine this last week) can be from external problems, but he says we just have to remember, whether it takes two hours, two days, or two weeks, that it will pass.  It’s often our job to motivate ourselves to get out of that rut.

What do you have to add? Offer your motivational tips below! 

Feature Image by Paula May (Unsplash)