Motivation is necessary for any goal you have in your life—whether it’s to lose weight or to grow your online business. You know this, but you might be wondering how to stay motivated when you don’t see any big results.
It’s just sooooo hard, right? We live in a time when all we want is instant gratification, so it makes it much harder to stay on track.
Persevering when it seems like nothing is happening takes dedication. Some might even call that a skill, which means it’s something that you can learn.
Doing nothing when you’re lacking motivation is a bad habit that can have significant negative consequences. Since motivation is frequently in short supply, learning how to ditch the bad habit and push through what seems like a period of nothing happening is important if you want to succeed.
7 Ways to Stay Motivated Even Without Noticeable Results
If you’re looking for a sign, this is it. Don’t quit! Use these 7 tips to help you stay motivated when you just feel like giving up.
Practice patience
No one wants to be told to be patient, but here we are! We’ve been hearing those words since before we could even understand them. It’s almost as bad as being told to relax or calm down, right?
However, it’s still good advice. Sometimes things take longer than we like or think they should. Sometimes the results show up suddenly after a long period of time.
For example, you can whack a boulder with a hammer thousands of times and at first, it appears that nothing is happening. All of a sudden, the boulder splits in half.
Focus on the result
Keep the final result fresh in your mind. When your motivation is waning, remember how you’ll feel when you’re finally successful.
Visualize being successful. Target that moment when you first achieve that goal. Notice how good it feels.
Set a schedule and stick to it
When your motivation lags, it’s common to start feeling and acting lazy. One way to combat this is to create a daily plan for yourself and stick to it.
The less motivated you are, the more structure you need. Giving up is easy, but it’s also the most perfect way to ensure that you’re not successful.
It’s difficult to fail in the long term if you continue trying. Eventually, you’ll accomplish your objective, but only if you commit to working towards your goal.
Turn mistakes into lessons
Learn from your mistakes and failures instead of letting them pull you down. Mistakes and failures happen a lot more than we like, but they’re part of the process. Getting the most out of these negative results can make a positive difference.
If you can adopt the belief that failures are common and can ultimately help you to move forward, it’s easier to stay motivated. So even if you’re failing, things are actually happening in your favor.
Be grateful
Remember that everything is still okay. Even if you aren’t seeing the results you want right now, you’re still working towards them.
Be grateful that you have the opportunity and mindset to change your situation. You recognized that you needed a change and you’re taking the steps to make that change.
Practicing gratitude each day is a great reminder that your life isn’t as bad as you thought. You’ll hang in there longer and keep trying if you feel grateful on a regular basis.
Take a break
This can be a short or a long break. Just remember that it can be tough to get back on track after a long break. Long breaks have a way of turning into permanent breaks, after all.
Maybe it’s time to take a long weekend and get out of town. Maybe you just need to take a night off and have a beer and some chicken wings with your friends.
A break doesn’t always mean a mini-vacation, though. It also helps to take brings in the middle of your work periods as well. Five or ten minutes here and there can help you manage distractions, like telling yourself you can check Facebook when you’re on break rather than right this minute.
I love using the Pomodoro Technique to manage particularly stressful workdays or times when I really need to focus to get things done. It really helps to push back distractions when you have set break times.
Remember your past successes
Your past successes can also rekindle your enthusiasm, making it a lot easier to stay motivated. Reminding yourself that you’ve been successful in the past can renew your hope that you’ll also be successful now. It’s a great way to improve your mood, too.
Even if you tried and failed before, think about what you learned that can help you be more successful now. You may have learned a new skill or picked up a new contact that you can leverage this time around.
Motivation is nice while it lasts, but if you’re going to be super successful, you must learn to keep working even without motivation.
You can also create and recover motivation by using these tips. Remember how great it’s going to be when you succeed in achieving your goal and don’t be afraid to take (short!) breaks as you need them.
Always be patient and appreciate the good things that happen, even though it make take a while to start seeing the results you desire.
Recap: How to Stay Motivated When You Can’t See Results (Yet!)
Success requires patience and perseverance. That’s something that really hard for a lot of us when we aren’t able to see immediate results.
It’s up to you to work on transforming your mindset for success so you can stay motivated.
Remember to use these tips on how to stay motivated to help you out:
- Practice patience
- Focus on the result
- Set a schedule and stick to it
- Turn mistakes into lessons
- Be grateful
- Take a break
- Remember your past successes
