How to gain and sustain self motivation

At some or other point of our day to day life, we feel tired, we feel depressed, we feel that there is no urge to start the new day. Simply put, we void. While these may be due to specific reasons & situations or it may be due to some reason going on in our subconscious mind which we do not understand at that moment. Whatever is the reason, the bottom line is that these phases of lack of motivation is an energy killer. It drains your physical energy, as well as disturbs your emotional well being. Most of the time we look upon other people or sources to gain motivation.

While our friends, family or ideals can definitely motivate us, but there is a limit to that. Until and unless the sense of motivation comes from our own minds, we can not sustain it. It may be there for some time but it does not last long.

Based on my personal experiences, I have identified certain tricks that would help us to remain self-motivated against all odds. Today I will share those with you ( and No .. Meditation is not one of them ). Before I share those, there are certain other points that are important for us to put in our brains. Here are those:

If you are not a chocolate or ice cream seller then do not try to make everyone happy: How much ever you try, you won't be able to make everyone happy, so stop doing it from today. But that does not mean your behavior should change to rudeness ( take extra care about that ). You can always be polite, but firm. Try to understand who all you need to prioritize and then act accordingly. Once you start doing this you may feel guilty initially, but do not stop. Remember, it is important for your own sustenance.

You are always a villain in someone's story: How good or genuine a person you are, you will definitely be a sinister villain in some or other's stories. Interestingly you may or may not be aware of it. If you are aware and you know you have done anything wrong, admit your mistake to the person. Always be true to yourself ( even if it may mean that after admitting your guilt, your relationship with that person may not remain the same anymore ). At least you won't die every day thinking of your wrongdoing. If it is not at all possible to admit your mistake to the person, then admit it to the Supreme Lord asking for mercy ( but this should not be taken as an escape route to avoid admitting a mistake to the concerned person )

There are invisible enemies surrounding you in disguise of known faces: You may not be aware, but everyone pretending as your friend and well-wisher around you may not be so. So be cautious to understand who are your real friends and well-wishers. Try to be alert from those who are not. ( This does not mean you have to avoid them, this means you should not be sharing your mind and secrets with them)

Don't get emotionally attached to Likes and Follows: This is an age of social media, so you may not be able to hold yourself back from checking your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media accounts. But your happiness quotient or emotional quotient should NOT be dependent on the likes, follows, and comments you get on social media. Please understand that all people liking a post of yours are not liking it out of admiration or fondness about you. They may be liking it just for social compliance ( means it looks bad in the social circle if he/she is not liking that post of yours ). In a virtual world where you cannot see the other person, you can not judge him/her thought process just based on a like/follow. Hence do not let your mental wellbeing get affected based on social media activities.

If you are sad, it is not required to let the whole world know about it on social media: Though a lot of people would show sympathy to you and say good words against that post of yours and you may be feeling wow so many people care! Mind it dear that it is an illusion. Behind you, they would be gossiping and laughing about you.

We have learned some important tips that we should be aware of and try to start practicing them. Now we will see the tricks that are needed to sustain self-motivation:

Start learning habit: You can start to make it a habit to learn something new - that may be reading books, music, painting, learning to play a video game - whatever you feel like enjoying. Do the learnings with some target in mind. The reason for this is that the habit of learning something new will keep you busy and not let your idle mind overpower you.

Do not stop your normal flow of life: There will be ups and downs in life - you can't avoid it, but the trick is not to completely stop your flow due to the downs. After a certain time, that down will get healed but if you had stopped your flow, you will find yourself lagging behind. Catching up again with life will be another challenge.

Always be true to your ownself: You can not stay in peace by cheating your own self. Hence you should always be clear to your own conscience. Respect honesty, respect moral values and principles, and stick to them. Do not lose your self-respect, values, or principles to make someone else happy.

Stop saying "You won't understand my situation": You don't need to explain your situation to everyone because ultimately it is you yourself who has to go through that emotional state. Only you can help yourself to come out of it. You can explain it only to your very near and dear ones who would help you because they will understand your situation.

Now the final trick is that all the above steps may not come naturally to all. In that case, you should bring this by practice. Initially, you may not like it, feel bored, feel exhausted, but do not stop because once you develop the habit it will flow as easily as water. And! You will always remain self-motivated!