If you want to succeed, you need to find a way to motivate yourself for success. It’s easy enough to get motivated for a short-term goal, but it can be harder when you’re trying for something that will take a long time. Sometimes it even seems like the biggest challenge is getting going in the first place.

Here are forty ideas to motivate youreself for success:

1. Know you’re why. This can be motivating to keep you going when times are tough because it’s an ideal, something you strive for every day; this is why many successful people make inspirational quotes or vision boards   (multiple examples).   If inspiration isn’t your thing, then think about how much you’ll lose if you don’t succeed. Will it be embarrassing? Will it keep you from achieving your dreams?

2. Make a list of benefits to achieving the goal. This is similar to knowing your why, but sometimes people find it motivating to make a list of what they’d get out of their success rather than just thinking about it.

3. Figure out the costs of not achieving it. On the flip side, think about what will happen if you don’t succeed. Will you lose your job? Will you miss an opportunity to go to college or start a business? Will you have to live with regret for the rest of your life? Your natural reaction might be that none of those things will happen to you, but that’s just the ego making its usual case for complacency.

4. Set a schedule. People who follow a schedule tend to be more motivated because they know exactly what needs to get done and when it needs to be finished. This is similar to knowing you’re why because if you don’t go by a schedule, there’s no real reason to be motivated.

5. Set small goals that lead toward the bigger goal. You might think that it will be motivating to set some challenging goals for yourself, but more often than not, it just discourages people because they never feel like they’re making progress.

6. Tell other people about your goal. Having an audience can motivate some people because it gives them a sense of accountability. If you fail to achieve your goal, it’s embarrassing if everyone knows about it. On the other hand, if you succeed, nobody will ever forget that either!

7. Create a friendly competition with someone else. This works best if it’s someone that you know well enough that you don’t want to let them down, but people can also create competitions with strangers if they think it will work. The idea is that you’re competing against the other person, not yourself, so you have more motivation to try your hardest.

8. Make a bet. A bet works the same way as a friendly competition, but it can be more motivating if you actually put money on it or otherwise make it something of value to you.

9. Reward yourself for meeting your goal. This is a great idea because it creates anticipation for what you’ll do when you achieve your goal, which will motivate you even more. Plus, it’s something to look forward to that isn’t based on an external factor like having someone else telling you that you’ve succeeded.

10. Break up your goal into sub-goals. People are often motivated by making progress, so if they can see themselves getting closer and closer to their goals after each step, they’re more likely to keep going.

11. Share your goal with someone you trust. Having support from someone who cares about you can be motivating, whether it’s for checking in on you or just being there when things are tough.

12. Make a public commitment/announcement so that people will notice if you fail. This is a variation of having an audience that will hold you accountable, but some find it even more motivating. If they know that other people will notice if they fall short, they’ll work that much harder not to disappoint anyone.

13. Find something new to learn about your goal every day. As long as the information is useful (and not just junk news), it can motivate to have something new to think about every day. Plus, if you have a lot to learn, then you’ll feel even more accomplished when you finish it all.

14. Make yourself accountable by posting your progress publicly. This is similar to making a public commitment because other people will notice if you fail, but it’s a little different because they can also offer their support. This will be especially motivating if the people who see your updates regularly care about you and are rooting for you to succeed.

15. Make it an ongoing process. There might come the point where you’re not motivated anymore by what you’re doing, but it’s important to keep going anyway. Even if you can’t fully motivate yourself anymore, you need to be self-disciplined and push through the hard parts until they’re over with.

16. Try a new project that will benefit from your initial goal. This is helpful because sometimes people get tired of working on one thing forever, but they aren’t motivated to do anything else. This will give them a fresh start that can motivate them to pick back up where they left off earlier.

17. Choose a new goal instead of keeping going with the old one. Sometimes, people get burnt out after working on something non-stop for too long, so it’s important to take a break. This will make you more likely to come back afterward with renewed passion and help you avoid getting burned out again in the future.

18. Reward yourself for even small steps toward your goal instead of waiting until all of it has been achieved. People are often motivated by feeling like they’re making progress, so it can be helpful to congratulate yourself on each small thing you do on your way to the big goal.

19. Make a list of all the things that will stop being available to you if you fail. For example, what will happen if your goal is to save up enough money by working overtime and then something happens where you lose your job? Or if your goal is to keep going to the gym every day, what will stop being an option if you don’t have time or motivation anymore?

20. Make up a list of the best possible reasons for continuing with your goal after you’ve taken a break from it. If there are reasons that are compelling to you, then it’ll be easier to get back into your goal after you’ve taken a break.

21. Find someone else working on the same goal and compare each other’s progress to keep motivated. Even if this isn’t enough for you to work without feeling demotivated, it can still help you feel like there are other people out there who are just as motivated to reach their goals.

22. Come up with a plan for what you’re going to do in advance so that when you get demotivated, you can follow your plan instead of trying to motivate yourself again from scratch. It’s helpful to think about ways to work around feeling demotivated so that you can keep going even when it’s difficult.

23. Make a point of taking some time to have fun every day so that you always have something enjoyable to look forward to as often as possible. When people feel good about themselves and their lives, they’re more likely to do everything else well. Plus, if you don’t want to do something because you’re having fun, then it’ll feel like less of a burden.

24. Avoid negative people who will actively try to make you feel unmotivated about your goal. You can’t control how other people act or think, but you can control whether or not you let them negatively affect your life. People who try to bring you down will only make things harder for you, so it’s a good idea to cut them out of your life.

25. Teach yourself that being unmotivated is just one step in a longer process, and remind yourself that there’s no such thing as being motivated all the time. Even when people are most motivated, they can sometimes feel tired and unmotivated. It’s important to embrace all of your feelings instead of just trying to push through them or feeling bad about yourself because of them.

26. Imagine how much worse it would be if you had no goals to work toward anymore. If you lost your motivation completely, then it wouldn’t be possible for you to take care of yourself, go out with friends or family, or engage in other activities that make life fun. Then, remind yourself that the only reason you feel unmotivated is that you still have things to do, so there’s no need to worry about it yet.

28. Remind yourself that it’s not about your mood but your actions. Even if you’re feeling unmotivated, there are still things that you can do, like reading something educational or doing some mindful breathing to take care of yourself. People who stay positive throughout all situations are generally just as unhappy as people who complain about everything because they don’t know how to take care of themselves or deal with negativity.

29. Create an anti-laziness playlist so that even if you don’t feel like doing anything, you still have music to listen to and enjoy. This way, instead of feeling unmotivated because you don’t know what to do next, you’ll find yourself dancing happily or singing along to your favorite songs. That way, you’ll be able to take care of yourself even if you don’t feel like it at first.

30. If you ever feel unmotivated, ask what’s next? Then do that thing or read about it until you start feeling motivated again. Even if the answer that comes to you isn’t something that you want to hear or do, remind yourself that it’s just one step in the process, and so you’ll be able to get back on track if you take it.

32. Make your goal about achieving things instead of avoiding failures. Instead of thinking of your goal as something that will make you lose out, think about the things that you’ll be able to do if you reach it. People who set out wanting to avoid failure will give up as soon as they’re faced with even a little bit of resistance, but people who see their goal as something that will enable them to pursue more positive options in life can keep going even when they face setbacks.

33. Start small, and then go from there. People who want to achieve great things sometimes feel unmotivated because they keep thinking about how far they have left to go, and so it feels like a huge mountain in front of them. It can seem almost impossible for someone to be able to climb it, but if you take one step at a time and trust that you’ll be able to do it, then success becomes much more likely.

34. Take advantage of all people who want to help you out and motivate you. Whether friends or family members or professionals like life coaches and therapists, ask them for support because they can provide things that you can’t. Just knowing that other people are there to cheer you on can make it easier to keep going when things get tough.

35. Remember that even taking care of yourself is an accomplishment. It’s easy to forget how much effort it takes to wake up in the morning, shower, brush your teeth, go out into public, or do other basic things when you’re feeling unmotivated. But remember that taking care of yourself is harder than it seems, so when you still do it even when you don’t feel like it, then it means that you’ve taken one step toward being successful already.

Conclusion

It takes more than just wanting to be successful; you have to work hard for it. We know that getting up and working on tasks can seem daunting at times, but there are ways tomotivate yourself for success that will help the process go smoother. Our guide provides 35 tips for self-motivation, so you don’t find yourself feeling like Giving Up! Remember these tactics when your motivation is waning, or you need a little extra boost to get started with an important project task again. Keep reading if this blog post has inspired you; we offer blog posts on how neuroscience can help improve marketing strategy.