Becoming more motivated is about really feeling a deep emotional drive and commitment to what you want to achieve. That drive forces you to work hard, stay disciplined, and push yourself. Motivated people have certain habits that you can practice yourself to become motivated yourself.

Habit 1: Tell yourself who you are

Motivated people increase their drive by defining a certain higher identity for themselves. They say to themselves regularly: “I’m a winner”, “I’m successful”, “I’m a committed person”, “I’m committed to excellence”, or anything else they define for themselves. This higher identity pushes them to be like that and align their actions with it. It motivates them to be consistent with what they tell. If something is tied to “who you are”, you just do it!

Habit 2: Set yourself a true deadline

Deadlines are a great way to push yourself to go the extra mile. They motivates you to give full focus to finish of a project on time so you can let it go and focus afterwards on a new challenge. A true deadline is a date that matters because if it isn’t met, real negative consequences happen. If it is met, real benefits come to fruition (e.g. excitement of seeing your work out there). Setting deadlines can more than double the likelihood of achieving a goal.

Habit 3: Repeat to yourself WHO you do it for

Knowing who needs you for what you’re doing, or who are you doing it for creates that greater emotional connection to what you do. For example, for example you want a better future for your family.

Habit 4: Affirm to yourself WHY you do it

Your WHY is the main reason you work so hard.  It’s your ambition, dream, desire, goal or purpose. Why MUST you do this? When you affirm it to yourself, it means that you say with confidence to yourself and to others that something is true. By telling to others what you do and why, you create a social consequence and obligation because you told it will happen. This forces you to keep your promise and go for it!

Habit 5: Find the right support

Your motivation will increase a lot when you’re surrounded by people that support you, encourage you, and that challenge you to grow. An easy win is to just spend more time with the best and most positive people in your group. Next, find new people with greater experience to you. Stop waiting for the right people to come, start actively searching for them yourself.

Habit 6: Tell yourself you can do it

If you don’t believe you can do it, nothing really happens. Therefor motivated people belief in their ability that they can figure it out and eventually manage to do it. Your mind can be your friend, or your worst enemy and therefor it’s important to convince yourself you can do it with following activities. What you believe, is what you achieve.

Habit 7: Make progress

Motivated people make progress towards their goals. This progress is generated firstly by setting tiny intermediate goals that show their progress, but also by taking focused action to attain those tiny goals. Making progress gives you a feeling of being closer to your goal, and it creates a sense of achievement which initiates a greater source of motivation in you.