My Simple Strategy for Staying Motivated

Staying motivated in work, relationships, or personal lives can be hard. I’ve had days when doing nothing felt more inviting than being productive, when withdrawing from others was easier than reaching out.

Fortunately, I have a simple strategy which I use to motivate myself. It keeps things fresh in my life, stifles boredom and gives me something to look forward to.

I set seven-day challenges which are simple but drive the plot towards me achieving my goals.

The following are some of the goals I achieved by following this strategy:

Writing a draft for a 50,000 word novel.

Switching to a vegan diet.

Started running.

How I Did It

1. Writing 50,000 Word Novel

Writing the draft for a 50,000 word novel felt quite daunting at first. However, when I challenged myself to write just 1700 words per day for seven days, it felt achievable. It was. I repeated that challenge three more times and ended up writing 50,000 words in 30 days. It felt good.

I don’t write 50,000 words every month. The few times I have done it have been quite healing for me. I put on paper all my unedited thoughts with no fear of judgement.

My thoughts, feelings and experiences later become repurposed as content on different platforms. I write blog posts, short stories and quotes.

2. Switching to a Vegan Diet

It was about 10 days before my birthday. I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when a post caught my eye.

A friend had set themselves a challenge which was to start seven days before their birthday. They wanted to do something meaningful that would impact lives positively for a long time to come.

Seven days is not long enough to make that kind of impact, but that’s what makes it a challenge. They were going to try and do the seemingly impossible.

Their challenge was to raise a specific amount money and raise awareness around depression and suicide. A noble cause. They garnered a lot of support and I know people’s lives were changed for the better

They’ll always remember that year as the year they really made an impact. I loved the idea so much I decided to copy it by setting a challenge for myself starting seven days before my birthday.

My challenge was not as noble as my friend’s one, but it was challenging enough for me. I’d heard so much about the health benefits of switching to a vegan diet and decided it was time to give it a go.

For someone who loved steaks, ribs, burgers, cheese, and omelettes I knew this was going to be hard.

At the end of seven days I was feeling lighter and had more energy. My mood had lifted and I slept a lot better. I decided I would do it for one more day.

That one more day turned to days, weeks, months. Now I’m counting years. It all started with a seven-day challenge.

Not all my seven-day challenges have resulted in permanent changes. Some have been just for fun.

3. Running

I love learning from successful people. I study their habits and when I find a practice that resonates with me, I incorporate it into my own routine.

That’s how my running journey started. The person who inspired me was not a runner but they exercised regularly. They spoke about how exercising helped them gain clarity, become more creative and increased their productivity.

I liked the results I saw. I chose running because it did not require much investment. All I needed was my running shoes and kit. I did not need fancy equipment or a gym membership. I could just change into my running gear and hit the road.

I’m coming up to my fourth year of running. I am so glad I took on the challenge.

What You Can Do to Stay Motivated

Challenge yourself on a regular basis. It will enrich your life immensely. Start by identifying things you’ve always wanted to do but kept putting off due to lack of time, or things you’ve been afraid to do.

Search for challenges online and make a commitment to fully engage and complete the ones you participate in. The main advantage of online challenges is the accountability factor. When you see how invested in the challenge your group members are, it will force you to step up your game.

Start a group and set challenges for others. You can be the moderator supporting your group members on their journey.