How to achieve anything

The key to achieving anything is having the motivation and discipline to put in the work required to achieve it. In this month’s blog we take a deep dive into motivation so that you can learn what it takes to achieve anything.

Motivation is the desire to do things. It is the driving force that causes the change from desire to do something to actually trying to achieve it. Without motivation you wouldn’t get anything done and so it would be impossible to achieve the things you want without it! With this in mind, here are 4 simple steps that’ll help you motivate yourself so that you can achieve anything:

STEP 1: Become aware of what motivates you

The key to maintaining your motivation is understanding it. What motivates you? Take a look at the different types of motivation listed below to see:

1) Internal Motivation

Also known as intrinsic motivation, this comes from within. The desire to do something takes place because it is intrinsically rewarding. This means it accomplishes something that is important to us, e.g.: it’s fun, you enjoy it, you have an interest in it. To learn about your internal motivation, you must look at your values. What do you value? (e.g.: if you value family, then you might be internally motivated to do something for your family.)

2) External Motivation Also known as extrinsic motivation, this comes from an external reward. The desire to do something is driven by external gain such as money, fame and praise (e.g.: learning a new skill could mean you can move to a better job).

3) Positive Motivation Put simply, these are the benefits of taking action – the things you will gain, achieve, receive if you take action (e.g.: if you study for a qualification you will be able to achieve your dream job.)

4) Negative Motivation The consequences of not taking action – this can often be the most powerful type of motivation, especially if you want to change something that’s causing discomfort (e.g.: losing weight in order to avoid becoming obese or developing type II diabetes.)

Once you understand what motivates you, include this type of motivation in your plan of action when working out how you’re going to achieve your goal.

STEP 2: Hold your goal in positive regard

Therapists use a technique called Motivational Interviewing to elicit motivation in a client who wants to change their behaviour. They encourage their client to talk positively about the change they want to make and the benefits of this change. They empower and encourage the client to take small steps to build their confidence until they feel able to take action towards their goal. So, stop focusing on the negatives and look at the positives. Hold positive regard towards your goal and all the steps you need to take to achieve it. Remind yourself of the reasons you want to take action and you’ll start to feel your motivation increase.

STEP 3: Imagine you’ve already achieved it

Visualize achieving your goal and the benefits it will have. Really spend time imagining what it would be like to achieve your goal. How it would look, feel and change things. What the benefits would be, the impact it would have on other areas of your life and what it truly means to you to achieve this. Then imagine this was your reality – you’re going to want to take action to make it happen!

STEP 4: Take small manageable steps

Most people don’t achieve their goals because they feel overwhelmed by them. So, if you want to stay motivated you need to break the goal into manageable chunks and make small steps on a regular basis towards it. This increases your confidence which means the likelihood of believing you can achieve this goal increases, resulting in an increase in motivation!

Implementing this approach to motivation going forwards WILL help you achieve anything! Give it a try; see the difference it makes.

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