The Four Steps You Need to Match Your Motivation to Your Goals
Goals and motivation go together like a car and fuel. Having a goal that you have no motivation to achieve is a recipe for depression. On the other hand, having motivation with no goals is a recipe for helping others achieve their goals without achieving anything meaningful for yourself.
Moreover, just like some cars are fueled by diesel gas and others by unleaded, not all goals take the same type of motivation. Goals that are easy are very different than goals that are hard, In addition, goals you have no idea how to achieve or that highlight your weaknesses require different motivational approaches.
Therefore, you must make sure that during your process to pursue any goal you take the time to understand how you will motivate yourself. This comes down to setting goals using these four steps.
1) Visualize the Details
Start by making sure your goal is something you can visualize in detail. This visualization is extremely specific. Visualize the daily routine you will use to make progress, people who are helping you, and the things you are doing in the moments before, during, and after you achieve the goal. This includes all the inspiring and deeply positive emotions associated with those moments around achieving the goal.
2) Build Confidence
Break the goal down into something you have the confidence to achieve. What it takes to achieve the goal must only feel slightly difficult to you. When something is only slightly difficult, you can still be confident that you can do what it takes to overcome the difficulty. This usually means you not only know what you must do, but you also know other people in a similar situation as you who have done the same thing.
3) Create a Progression
The “what” and the “how” to achieve your goals must include a process that is a progression. For example, if you want to run a marathon, the process is a walk, jog, run progression. This allows for tiny victories along the way, realistic growth to higher levels of difficulty, and the ongoing motivation that comes from making it to the next level.
4) Identify How To Use Your Strengths
The “what” and the “how” to achieve your goals must leverage your strengths and not depend on you turning a weakness into a strength. It’s a fact that you’re at your best when you’re using your strengths.
You can find your strengths in the activities you love to do, or you could use something like the Gallup “CliftonStrengths” tool to find them. Regardless of how you do it, when your process leverages your strengths, motivation is effortless. On the other hand, the effort and grind it takes to turn a weakness into a strength will do nothing more than distract you from your goal.