If life were a game of Snakes and Ladders, motivators would be the ladders and demotivators the snakes. So better watch out for the demotivators. Lest, they pull you down.

Top 10 Demotivators to watch out for:

1. No motivation
We all need motivation from time to time. It is all right if you need as well. If you are not working on staying motivated, your chance of getting demotivated is high.

2. No “fresh” motivation
Motivation is not a one time thing that once motivated it will sustain on it’s own for long. For how long will the same reason induce you to work? After a time, we automatically find reasons to negate whatever our initial motivation reason was. Inorder to stay motivated, we not only need consistent motivation, we need fresh motivation consistently.

3. Self doubt
“Do I deserve this? I am not good enough. I will never succeed. Who am I to aim so high.” Isn’t self doubt killing? It limits us, our dreams so much. It pulls us down and doesn’t let us succeed. Believe in yourself. Don’t let self doubt get to you.

4. Demotivating people
Look closely at who you hear from. What are they telling you? Do they believe in you? Do they encourage you? Sadly, often it is our loved ones who act as our biggest demotivators. Maybe they want to protect us, maybe they don’t want us hurt, maybe they simply don’t believe in us … whatever the reason, we rather not listen to them.

5. Past experiences
Is your past pulling you back? Is it giving you innumerable examples from your life where you did not succeed? Is it pestering you and putting seeds of fear and failure? Accept your past but don’t allow it to rule you. What happened in past, remains in past.

6. Being alone
Are you alone in the venture that you have set for yourself? Nobody sees any worth in this. Nobody thinks alike. Are you the only one who believes in the worthiness of your goals? Don’t give up just because you are alone. Chances are, you could be the first one … the path breaking one.

7. No set goal
What is your goal? Where are you headed? Not knowing where the finishing line is, is definetely demotivating. How to know how far to go. How to know how close are we. It is so difficult to keep going when we don’t know what we are moving towards.

8. Huge goal
How far ahead do you want to go? How high do you want to reach? Does your dream seem unachievable right now? Does the goal seem too huge to achieve? Break it down so that it seems achievable.

9. Where’s the party?
Do you celebrate small victories? Or keep waiting for the final one? Working day and night is so boring. Remember always – All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

10. Failure
We might be all geared up to run towards our goals. But the first failure breaks everything down. It negates all motivation reasons. It demotivates us to even try further. Remember – If at first you don’t suceed, Try, try again.

Books On Motivation:

Photo Courtesy of TeeRish

This article featured in following carnivals:

• Day and Shifting Paradigm
• Carnival of Positive Thinking