We get this question a lot – how to stay motivated. Most of the time it’s from a newer blogger, a female entrepreneur, a small business owner, someone with a side hustle. And we get how hard it is. The easy answer is: you have to want it. But that’s easier said than done. Today I am going to share a few little things I do every day to keep me motivated, productive and successful. Some of this post will kind of blend in with productivity because that goes hand in hand with motivation when you own and run your own business. These tips for how to stay motivated should hopefully all be attainable, and not huge shifts from your everyday life – but if they are – just take one tip at a time – you will be so surprised at the results!
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How to Stay Motivated
Don’t Skip Out Your Morning Routine. The foundation for a successful day is rooted in your morning routine. If you ask any millionaire about theirs – they will all sound the same. Wake up early. Work out. Meditate. Drink water. Make a smoothie. You’ll notice they’re all positive and healthy things. This will set the tone for your whole day, and get your mind right to conquer anything! See mine HERE. If you are looking to stay motivated to eat healthily or go to the gym – it’s also all in your routine. Get so used to doing it that it becomes second nature!
Have a To-Do List. Organization is also a huge factor when it comes to staying motivated. That means your workspace, your calendar, your email. Having a to-do list helps me stay productive throughout the day. Depending on your personality you can calendar every single minute or have a general one. I fall somewhere in between – I do have free time that I don’t schedule but I will include appointments, anything that has a deadline, and then a list of things to fill that time. Prioritizing this list is KEY. Calendar in things like date night, grocery shopping, workouts, phone calls so you can’t make the excuse that you don’t have time.
Don’t Watch TV. I work from home and have a rule that I will not turn the TV on until the sun goes down. You won’t believe how much more productive I have been since I adopted this rule and I never ever cheat. If you find yourself easily distracted when working, I recommend reading Indistractible — so good.
Become Addicted to Results. Whether it’s losing weight, making more money, being more present in your life, not drinking — whatever. Once you start to see results, it becomes addicting. This is always the extra push for me to keep at it. Sometimes the hard part with this is that it doesn’t happen overnight – so focus on small victories. Imagine if you just did ONE percent better each day — how much that would be at the end of the year — crazy right?
Be Selfish With Your Time. The first year we really saw our business grow was a time that I had to make some hard choices. Less texting in group chats. Less happy hours. Less weekend trips. Less girls dinners. Of course I don’t mean ignore your friends — but I would try to meet up with them and do something productive. Some ideas: meet a friend to work at a cafe, take a workout class together, go for a walk and talk. You are still connecting with your people but also crossing things off your list that you had to do anyways. Two birds, one stone. This leaves more time to achieve your goals!
Take a Break When You Need It. This may seem counterproductive to staying motivated, but it was a hard truth I had to learn. If you don’t listen to your mind and body and slow down when it’s telling you to, then you will just shut down and that’s not good for anyone. If you need a vacation, take it, if you need a five-minute dance party, take it, if you need a 20-minute walk, take it — hell take a nap if you need to! Taking the time to take care of yourself will make sure that you are always performing at the highest level. Sleep is SO important to staying motivated and on your game. I repeat: sleep is SO important.
Time Batch. When I first started working from home – this SAVED me. Emily wrote a whole post on time batching HERE. Basically you are going to break down your tasks and time them. If you need to fold your laundry and don’t want to and drag it out that is a waste of time – set a timer for 10 minutes and get it done! If your email inbox is overwhelming, so you just ignore it – set a timer for 20 minutes and respond to the TEN most important ones. You’d be surprised at how much more productive you are when you’re up against the clock.
Focus on One Goal at a Time. I believe in long term and short term goals – and that they are drastically different – so to clarify, I am talking about BIG goals here. For example: if you wanted to write a book – great that is your one goal. And you are SO much more likely to achieve it if you aren’t trying to write a book and launch a side hustle of making jewelry if that makes sense. Taking baby steps towards this big goal every single day will keep you motivated, inspired, and trekking along. Whereas if you are trying to achieve two things at once, you will more than likely end up burnt out.
Mindset is Everything. This is coming from someone who was a former pessimist – I used to be able to only focus on the worst-case scenario and spent so much time seeing the negative. I don’t know what exactly changed me — I think it was reading The Secret, and having it actually work. But I do believe if you wake up every single day and say “I am going to crush it today.” Then you will 100%. It’s hard to not be motivated when this is what you tell yourself every single day.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Help. I am a huge fan of the Skinny Confidential and she always advocates for outsourcing anything that drains her of her creative juices and that’s huge for her success and motivation. She knows where her strengths are and wants to be sure she can give 100% effort to that side of her business and so she has help with the other parts. The same is true for running a household, a team – whatever it is. I know it’s sometimes hard to give up the control and accept that you can’t do it all – but you will be able to do it better once you can acknowledge this! I used to get super stressed out to the point where I would cry that I had to do returns or pick up packages and so I hired someone to do it for me. The money I made up because I was able to take that time to work instead of wallow in pity and drag my feet to do that was way more than it cost someone to help me out with that. We are huge fans of outsourcing – it keeps our minds fresh and allows us to focus where we need to!
See Big Picture. Not every single day is going to be perfect. Of course, there will be some days where you feel like you got more behind than ahead but that’s okay. Try not to dwell on those days and let that become a cycle. But instead, focus on the bigger picture and know that everything happens for a reason. We always get super upset and bummed about these things — stress out to the max and truly freak out — but then a few days later, we will revisit the situation and try to take a learning or a positive from it. There are so many things that we have no control over – that we let control us – and focusing on those are not seeing the bigger picture. The more you visualize on the final result or goal – the more you will allow the little roadblocks along the way slide off your back.
We hope you liked our tips on how to stay motivated! Creating this month’s content has been so much fun and we are really enjoying it! Especially because on days we’re just not feeling it – we can come back and read our own words to get us back on track! These things have truly worked for us – and we have been able to double our business for the past three years in a row. More on that soon!
