How To Stay Motivated When Life Is Getting You Down

Life isn’t all bad or all good – there will be challenges around every corner. Negativity will find its way into your life and make you question your life choices and decisions. It destroys your hope and dreams for the future, until you are unsure of what path to take in life.

Yet, as long as you are living and breathing, there is always hope. Even if you may not see it, it’s definitely there, but it’s up to you to seek it out and embrace it.

It’s important to maintain a positive approach to life, instead of letting the stresses of life weigh you down. During this difficult and complicated time in your life, you will need some guidance. Read on to find out how to stay motivated.

Appreciate what you have

It’s almost impossible to stay positive and motivated if you are constantly focusing on the negative aspects of your life. Unless you change your mindset, you will be stuck in a routine, and you certainly won’t be going anywhere. If there’s something you’re not happy about, try and find ways to change it.

Focus on the good aspects of your life. There are always reasons to wake up in the morning. Start with the small things that you appreciate in life. Your morning coffee. Brisk walks. Daily conversations.

Don’t take what you have for granted. It may not always be there in the darkest times. Appreciate the present and don’t think too far ahead.

It’s important to concentrate on what you have now and the decisions you make at the moment. If there is something stable in our lives, it gives us a reason to stay motivated.

Reward yourself

One of the key ways to keep motivated is to reward yourself often. When life isn’t being kind to you, it’s your job to be kind to yourself. It doesn’t have to be something big, it can be as simple as buying new clothes or getting a haircut.

After achieving something or completing a set goal, give yourself a well-deserved break. Light a scented candle, go out with friends or just stay at home watching your favorite movies.

Sometimes it’s very hard staying motivated when everything in your life is uncertain or unsatisfactory. Rewarding yourself is the greatest form of self-love, acting as a reminder that you are doing very well.

Write a list of your goals

Keeping a list of goals and adding to it will give you that extra push you need in life. It provides you with something to work towards, which means that you’ll always feel motivated to work harder in order to achieve these goals.

Every month, write down at least one thing you would like to achieve. It can be work-related, family-related or something completely random. Put the list on the wall, or somewhere you will always be able to see it, so you can refer to it every day.

It will add new excitement to your life and give you a new sense of direction. As long as your goals are realistic, your mind will stay focussed on working hard to achieve them.

Change your attitude

It’s easier said than done, but changing your attitude in the morning will affect the rest of your day. If you wake up expecting it to be another bad day, chances are it’s going to be a bad day. Working on your mental attitude is a step towards being motivated in life.

Simply looking in the mirror and smiling at your reflection can boost your mood and prepare you for the day. Tell yourself that no matter what happens, today is going to be a good day.

Surround yourself with pPositivity

It’s difficult to stay positive and inspired if the people around you are always negative. Inevitably, their bad mood and pessimism will rub off on you, no matter how hard you try to prevent it.

Try and distance yourself from these kinds of people and instead spend time around those who add something to your life. If your friends have no dreams or ambitions in life, it’s likely that you won’t either. You need to be around people who share the same views in life.

If a conversation seems to be taking a negative turn, try and steer it in another direction. Try to see the positive side of things. If someone close to you is always negative it doesn’t mean you should push them away, try and find a way to help them. By helping someone else, you’ll be helping yourself.

Have a plan

A plan doesn’t have to be where you see yourself in five or ten years, it can be something that guides you towards success. If you don’t have any kind of plan or direction in life, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

Write a to-do list for the following day, the following week, the following year. This will improve productivity and give you that boost to accomplish the things that you are set out to do.

Without a plan, you will feel like you’re stuck. There will be nothing pushing you forward in life and this will have a bad outcome. All it takes is a list or some kind of mental plan to keep you motivated and for you to believe in yourself. If others can do it, so can you.

Don’t make it about money

If the only thing motivating you to work harder is the money, then you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Sure, having more money in your pocket it great, but it shouldn’t be the force that keeps you going.

At first, money may be the key thing motivating you in life. But you’ll soon realize that money just isn’t enough.

Make sure your goals are your own goals and not someone else’s. If someone tells you that one job is more important than another as you will be earning more, don’t listen to them.

You shouldn’t sacrifice your happiness and career prospects for a job that pays you more money. Forget what other people are telling you, go with your gut and follow your dreams. The only person in control of your life is you.

Believe in yourself

Many people who feel unmotivated in life lack confidence in themselves. They don’t believe they can do it, which is why they don’t try. But if you don’t take the necessary steps towards achieving your goals, then you’ll never go anywhere.

It’s important to believe in yourself, even during the not-so-good days. When you have a bad day, any motivation you had previously abates and you are left with a feeling of hopelessness.

On those days, you should remind yourself of what you have achieved so far, and visualize everything you will achieve in the future.

There will be days when you won’t feel like working and that’s OK. Maybe you should use this time to rest. Don’t worry, everything will work out in the end.

If you persevere, even in the dark days, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t achieve your goals.