Achieve your goals with these science-backed motivation enhancers.
Setting a goal—anything from getting a degree or landing a new job to achieving a new level of physical fitness—is a big step towards improving your life. But following through to achieve what you set out to accomplish can be challenging, especially on those days when motivation wanes. So, how can you follow through on your commitments when you don’t feel like doing the work?
Everyone loses motivation from time to time. When you’re feeling unmotivated, try one of these science-backed strategies to get yourself back on track towards your goal.
Put your goal on the calendar.
Make working towards your goal a habit.
Plan for imperfection.
Set small goals to build momentum.
Track your progress.
Reward yourself for the little wins as well as the big ones.
Embrace positive peer pressure.
Practice gratitude (including for yourself).
Do some mood lifting.
Change your environment.
Remember your “why.”
Motivation (and remaining motivated) only sometimes comes easily. When you need extra help, consider the above tips can help. Let's look at these self-motivation techniques, including what they are and the science behind them.
One way to increase internal motivation is to create external motivation by setting a target date. Whatever you’re aiming to accomplish, put it on the calendar. You may be working towards a goal with a set finish date built in. Examples include preparing for a test or taking a course with a fixed end date.
If your goal lacks this structure, you can add it by deciding on a date by which you could realistically achieve your goal.
Want to run a 5k or a marathon? Sign up for a race on or near your target date. Considering a degree? Research the application deadline and write it down. Aiming to learn a new career skill? Register for a course and set a target date to finish.
Having a target date not only helps you stay motivated but also helps you track your progress—you always know how much further you have to go. This can have a big impact on your performance.
Be realistic when setting your target date, but resist the urge to give yourself more time than you’ll need. Studies show that we sometimes perceive longer goals as more difficult, even when they’re not. This can lead to a greater likelihood of procrastination or quitting [1].
When you make working towards your goal a habit—an automatic conditioned response—you no longer have to rely so much on feeling motivated. How do you turn a behaviour into a habit?
Choose something you already do every day, like brushing your teeth or eating lunch, to trigger the action you want to make a habit. Write an “if-then” plan (or an implementation intention).
For example, if you want to create a habit of studying for a class daily, your if-then plan might look like this:
If I pour my first cup of coffee, I will spend five minutes on my maths homework.
To build consistency in exercise, it might look like this:
If I get up and brush my teeth, I will immediately wear my workout clothes.
Making this plan and committing it to writing could increase the likelihood of following through.
Notice that the above examples do not say you’ll read six textbook chapters, watch two hours of lecture videos, or spend an hour sweating on the treadmill.
Getting started is often the hardest part on low-motivation days, and starting is much easier when the task is small: Five minutes of study or putting on your workout clothes.
These seemingly small actions can prime your mind for the task at hand, so the follow-through—a longer study session or a full workout—can happen more naturally with less mental resistance.
Feeling excited and confident about achieving your goal is great, but it’s also possible to be too optimistic. Not every day will go exactly as planned, and that’s okay. Life happens.
One way to boost motivation on difficult days is simply to plan for them. As you think about your goal, jot down a list of the things that could get in your way. If you’re taking an online course, this could include:
Losing internet access
Getting a phone call in the middle of a study session
Having a child home-sick
Feeling stuck on a difficult concept or assignment
If your goal is to go running every day, some obstacles might include:
Rainy weather
Injury
Illness
Getting asked to stay late at work during the time you usually run
You can’t predict everything that could happen, but you can predict those obstacles that are likely to happen from time to time based on our unique circumstances.
Once you have your list, make a plan for handling the obstacle. How can you plan for when your internet goes out? Maybe you could download a few lecture videos to your phone or computer for offline access, or you could identify a nearby coffee shop that offers free Wi-Fi.
Now, when that obstacle pops up, you have a plan to keep the momentum going instead of losing motivation and feeling deflated.
Remember that missing your task is a perfectly acceptable plan for some obstacles.
Next time you’re setting a goal, practice the WOOP technique pioneered by Dr. Gabriele Oettingen. This stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, and Plan. What is your wish? What would be the outcome of that wish coming true? What main obstacle stands in your way? What can you do to overcome that obstacle?
“If you want to change the world, make your bed. If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the day's first task. It will give you a small sense of pride and encourage you to do another task, and another, and another.”
This quote is from United States Naval Admiral William H. McRaven, who gave this advice during his commencement speech at the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. The former Navy SEAL was onto something.
Research shows that frequent small successes can build a sense of momentum that can, in turn, drive long-term success, especially early in the process [2]. Whatever your big goal, start by breaking it down into smaller chunks. Getting a new job might be a big goal. Smaller goals could be updating your CV, making a portfolio website, earning a certification, or attending a networking event.
Setting goals at the start of a new week, month, or year can naturally increase motivation. We tend to mentally associate these temporal landmarks with new beginnings while creating mental distance from any perceived shortcomings in our past. Now, that’s what we call a motivational Monday.
Seeing progress can be highly motivating. You’ll find many tools to help you track your goals. This could be as simple as a to-do list or calendar where you can cross off tasks or days as you complete them. Or you might opt for a free tool like Trello, which allows you to create a personalised digital task board to categorise your big goal into daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly sub-goals.
Another option is to draw a progress bar on a poster board or paper sheet. Hang it somewhere where you’ll see it regularly, and fill it in as you get closer to your goal.
Sometimes the best goals are SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
It feels good to be rewarded for our work. However, rewards can also improve motivation and performance. Rewarding yourself for reaching small milestones and completing big goals could boost your interest and enjoyment in your work.
These rewards don’t have to be big or cost much money. Check out this quick list of ideas you could use to reward yourself:
Take a short break
Go for a walk outside
Enjoy your favourite snack
Read a chapter of your favourite book
Spend a few minutes meditating
Listen to an episode of your favourite podcast
Plan a night out with friends
Play an online game
Visit a free museum or attraction
Have a long bath or shower
Call a friend or family member
Spend a few minutes making your reward list so that you’re ready to celebrate your wins, big and small.
You’re ultimately the one who puts in the work to achieve your goals. But other people can be a great motivator.
Feeling like you’re part of a team can boost perseverance, engagement, and performance, even if you’re working alone. Depending on your goal, this might mean joining a study group, running team, gym class, professional organisation, or virtual challenge.
Sharing your goal with someone whose opinion you value can strengthen your commitment to attaining that goal. For work goals, consider sharing with a mentor or supervisor. You might share educational goals with a teacher or academic advisor or fitness goals with a coach or fellow gym member you admire.
It might seem like gratitude would lead to complacency and acceptance of the status quo. Yet some studies have shown otherwise. Feelings of gratitude can:
Motivate self-improvement
Make us feel connected to others (i.e., part of the team)
Enhance motivation across time, beyond the duration of the gratitude practice
Induce a sense of wanting to give back
Improve physical and mental health, as well as sleep
You can choose more than one way to foster an attitude of gratitude. Spend the first five minutes after you wake up going through everything you feel grateful for. Better yet, write them down in a gratitude journal. Is there someone in your life you’re particularly grateful for? Write them a letter expressing your thanks.
A good mood has been linked to increased productivity and improved quality and quantity of work. This doesn’t mean you have to be positive all the time—that’s unrealistic. But if you feel sluggish about working towards your goal, a quick mood lift could be enough to get you started.
Need some ideas for how to boost your mood? You could try to:
Spend some time in nature (or at least get some sunlight)
Look at some cute pictures or videos of animals
Watch funny videos on YouTube
Exercise
Adopt an alter ego (i.e., the Batman effect)
Sometimes, a change of scenery can help you approach your task with fresh eyes (and a new sense of motivation). The novelty effect is a short-term boost from altering your environment.
If you usually study at home, have a session at your local library. Do you always watch lecture videos on your computer? Try downloading them to your phone to watch outside in the park. Switch up your running route, or try a new exercise routine.
Why is this goal important to you? Why is that reason important to you? Why is that important to you? Keep digging until you reach your ultimate “why”—the core value driving your goal.
To reinforce your “why,” set the alarm every morning to remind yourself to spend one or two minutes visualising what success would look like. What would it feel like to achieve your goal?
Now that you have more information about getting motivated, ask yourself what you want from your professional path. Use some of the tips above and empower yourself to achieve your career goals, big and small, with Coursera Plus. Get unlimited access to more than 7,000 courses, hands-on projects, and certificate programs to enhance your resume. Get started with a seven-day free trial.
Meng Zhu, Rajesh Bagchi, Stefan J Hock. "The Mere Deadline Effect: Why More Time Might Sabotage Goal Pursuit." Journal of Consumer Research 45, no. 5 (April 2018): 1068-1084. Accessed June 10, 2024.
Seppo E. Iso-Ahola and Charles O. Dotson. "Psychological Momentum—A Key to Continued Success." Frontiers in Psychology 7 (August 2016): 1326. Accessed June 11, 2024.
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