Seven Unconventional Ways to Enhance Your Motivation.
We all struggle to maintain consistent focus and motivation but there are many modern challenges to our motivation and focus which we are still learning to contend with and recover from. A few things to be aware of include:
Smartphones and watches, with their astounding variety of notifications from multiple platforms intruding on our focus as well as idle time.
Social media use, whose algorithms are cleverly designed to capture and hold the individual users attention, deferring it away from other tasks.
Chronic stress, whether from the pandemic or modern lifestyle, has also been found to kill brain cells and even shrink the size of your prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for memory, focus and learning.
Social isolation from both the global pandemic and modern lifestyles has also been shown to induce faster rates of cognitive decline.
Here are a few handy, unconventional hints to assist you to focus in again and get back on track if your motivation has erred.
1. Sing!
Even just toning or chanting Om improves vagal tone, reduces anxiety (which drains energy) improves emotional regulation as well as attention regulation. Similarly, listening to some upbeat music to raise your energy and singing or dancing along ( much like power-posing or laughter yoga) communicates to your body that you feel motivated, energised and excited to crack on. Tony Robbins uses dance breaks and power poses throughout his seminars to boost attendees attention, retention and dopamine. You don’t have to play music while you work if, like many, you are distracted by background noise, but a five minute song or dance break can give you a surge of energy.
2. Heal any fatigue, deficiencies, or burn out.
Sometimes an ebb in motivation is burn-out or a sign that you have deficiencies, next stop is usually depression or chronic fatigue so prioritise recovery, sleep, healthy diet and consider supplementing.
Common supplements for energy or adrenal fatigue are Vit c, B1,2,3,5,6,12, Vit E, Folic acid, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Iron, Iodine, Unsaturated Fatty acids, Selenium, Tyrosine, Acetyl-l-carnitine and herbs such as ginkgo, ashwagandha, cordyceps, ginseng. Speak to your Naturopath or herbalist.
3. Visualise your desired outcome.
Not only will this give you a hit of dopamine which spurs action, visualisation convinces the brain what you are attempting to undertake is possible.
Note the diagram. If we start on our flow graph diagram at Potential, we note how potential > leads to action > leads to results > leads to belief which > leads back to Potential.
We have immense potential. I’m not even stating this in a hand-holding way, but rather literally. You’re a carbon based life form with a brain. There are infinite possible ways you can manifest that potential. What 100% of us do is take action, not on our ACTUAL potential, but on what we BELIEVE or estimate our potential is. We then get results based on what actions we have taken and define our belief in our potential based on our past results. We cannot act and get results without a healthy dose of self-belief.
Whenever we attempt something new we have no existing set of results data to draw self belief from. Our actions can be inconsistent, hesitant or non existent, or if we are fearing bad results we can protect ourselves by abstaining from action (hello, procrastination!)
Exercise: Right now think about the positive results that flow from you completing whatever you are struggling to motivate yourself to undertake. See the big picture (as in the ultimate reason why you want to accomplish the thing), see all the positive knock on effects, picture it working out wonderfully and yourself enjoying your improved quality of life. Then , push on with your task.
Through this mental rehearsal you simulate the environment and actions connected to success and create a neural pathway that sees, knows and believes in your ability to obtain your goal. Your incredible body doesn’t even know the difference between imagination and reality. You can synthesise belief in an improved reality for yourself in this way.
4. Get your Life goals organised and out on a document at your first convenience.
In 1979, a study conducted on Participants of a Harvard MBA program, participants were surveyed on whether they had written goals. Of the participants only 3% had. Ten years later the study revealed that those 3% who had written down their goals were the most financially successful of all of the participants.
Documents are less fallible than your memory. Sometimes we need to park an inspiration but recall and complete it in good timing. It also serves to brain dump everything, bringing clarity, collecting your thoughts, seeing a bigger picture and prioritising. Additionally breaking down big goals into small manageable chunks makes them palatable, actionable and improves the perception of how big goals are, in fact, obtainable.
I suggest you start at the five year mark, or “big picture.” Then, break goals into smaller goals, setting objectives for two years, twelve months and 90 days. The 90 day goals are where you put most of our focus, and what we plan, set deadlines for, execute and review. I suggest putting these in a table, see example. You can create new items as you go, but do a proper deep dive review and potentially rewrite things that aren’t working every 90 days and dedicate time once a week to at least just look at your to-do list and deadlines. Ensure to put reminders in your calendar for the review dates, too.
Personally, I find it valuable to just use the one digital document ongoing, but review it periodically. By retaining the past stuff I have insight into past goals/challenges, reminders of ideas I have parked as well as a comforting reminder of how far I’ve come and all I have accomplished. I suggest a colour coding system to categorise items by digitally highlighting the text in the appropriate colour: Do Next Done Paused/change of mind/can’t be done Delegate/collaborate Feel free to adapt the system to your needs.
You can download a copy of my goals workbook here.
5. Jot down all the successfully completed tasks you have done today and put A BIG TICK next to each item.
Like an adult sticker chart, this releases dopamine, brings a sense of accomplishment and competence. This should remind you that you probably do more little tasks in a day than you give yourself credit for and help you manage your expectations which could lead to disappointment that gives way to despondency and inaction. Finally put the 1-2 really valuable things for you to accomplish today. Those which have the biggest benefit and which you know need to be prioritised and do them now.
6. Don’t touch your phone for an hour after waking up.
When you first wake up in the morning your brain switches from delta waves (deep sleep state) to theta waves (somewhat daydream-like state) The theta state is often free flow and free from censorship or concern, making the theta state an ideal time to tap into your subconscious to plan your day, visualise what you want and drive your actions forward toward achieving your goals. By grabbing your phone first thing and immediately diving into the online world, you skip those and go straight from the delta stage to being wide awake and alert (also known as the beta state). Aha , now you know why if you fall into a instagram reel hole in the morning your day feels like a total write off.
In skipping these states and checking your phone right after waking up you are allowing the day to run you with little thought to the direction you choose to go and giving way to distraction. Similarly, if you see unanswered texts, emails, notifications one feels compelled to respond even while lying in bed. These little disruptions are practically endless and this time is setting the brain up for your day so start it on a positive note by doing something which serves you like exercise, planning your day or meditation..
7. Create good boundaries around smartphone/watch usage.
Set social media app time limits, reduce notifications, unfollow time-sucking or uninspiring content, create buffers of phone free time. Maybe don't purchase a smart watch. Consider using 'flip to shush' or leaving your phone or watch in the break-room or your bag for work hours whenever you can.
All the best realising your goals, and remember Kinesiology can help you retrain bad habits, manage stress and realise your big picture goals.
Yours in Health and Happiness
E xx
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