Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way. – Les Brown

The beginnings of a new goal, a new project are wonderful. You are all worked up; full of excitement and action. However, somewhere down the line, goals remain, desire to achieve them remains but the action part goes missing. You simply lose the motivation to act on your dreams. And no matter how hard you try, you are stuck. You are stuck with inaction.

To achieve your goals, you need to find ways to motivate yourself to take action. You need to figure out how to get motivated enough so that once again you start running towards your dream.

At times like these, having a backup plan to motivate self and get rolling towards action is very helpful. Here are 10 powerful ways to get set and moving again, to get motivated to take action again.

10 Fabulous Motivators That Inspire You to Take Action

1. The Movers & Shakers

The movers and shakers are things that make taking action easy for you, things that motivate you to get out of your inertia and act on your plan. There are no wrongs and rights when it comes to movers and shakers. Whatever works for you is the right answer. Ideally it’s better to know more than one mover and shaker. So that when one doesn’t work, you can rely on the other one(s).

For some people (like me), it’s music. Just crank up some good numbers and they are all set to finish off everything on their task list. The pain, the de-motivation, the frustration, the tiredness … everything disappears in background when they rock on good numbers. It doesn’t matter what the task in hand is … whether it’s writing or exercising or cooking or doing dishes or even studying for that matter – there’s right music for every task – Music that motivates to take action.

Of course, music is not everyone’s savior. You need to find out what is motivational for you. What gets you grooving and moving? What turns you on? What are the movers and shakers for you?

Some movers and shakers (other than music) which are quite effective –

• 1. Exercising
• 2. Meditating / Visualizing
• 3. Playing
• 4. Reading a couple of inspiring passages
• 5. Talking to friends
• 6. Tracking progress
• 7. Setting rewards
• 8. Setting punishments
• 9. Reminding yourself of the real reason behind your goal
• 10. Reminding yourself of the real cost of not meeting the goal

What are your Movers & Shakers?

Action Items:

• i. Make a list of at least 3 Movers & Shakers for you.
• ii. Find out easy ways to incorporate these in your day to day life so that you remain on high of motivation always.
• iii. Enjoy one mover and shaker right away.

2. The Deal Breakers

If movers and shakers are those which turn your switch on, then deal breakers are those which turn your switch off. Presence of these, experience of these is enough to make you not want to work on the task in hand. Deal breakers promote de-motivation, lethargy, lack of interest, lack of focus and a lot of inaction. Deal breakers are those road bumps which slow you down or those road blocks which stop you completely from moving forward with your goals.

Anytime you identify something which is a deal breaker for you, remove it from your way. Find a way to get past them or not allow them to crop up in the first place.

Clutter is a huge deal breaker for me. I need to get my space organized to be able to get to work or even relax for that matter. Creating anti-clutter routines and allotting spaces for organized clutter help me take care of this deal breaker.

No matter how hard you try, there will be times when deal breakers will come in your way – usually at the most inconvenient times. There will be times when you won’t have time or energy to deal with these deal breakers and will have to work on your action item in spite of them. For times like these, knowing some work around beforehand can come in quite handy.

For example, I have found that if I cannot clear entire space, clearing the area which is in my vision range is enough to give me a breather and get to work. Facing a wall and using desk space while working is quite advantageous in times like these. I stack everything that’s on the desk somewhere else and voila, there is enough clean space for me to get to work.

Some Deal Breakers (apart from Clutter) –

• 1. Lack of sleep / energy
• 2. Dealing with energy vampires
• 3. Working on too many projects at once
• 4. Working on a huge overwhelming project
• 5. External distractions
• 6. Stress
• 7. Deadlines

What are your Deal Breakers?

Action items:

• i. Make a list of 3 Deal Breakers for you
• ii. Figure out how can you avoid them / eliminate them from your life
• iii. Figure out a work around for each of them

The Momentum Builders

As the name suggests, the momentum builders help you gain momentum in your tasks. They are all about making you a task ninja. You finish off one task after another in rapid succession, without any pauses. You get so much involved in your work that time stops mattering. The next time you check time, you are surprised at how much time has gone by and how much work you have managed to complete.

Your momentum builders will keep changing from project to project. To identify momentum builders for your current project, break down the entire project in small do-able action items. Prioritize these action items and give them a sequence of operation. From these, the first three action items on your list are your momentum builders for now.

To experience momentum, you need to complete these three tasks in rapid succession. On completion of each important task, you gain motivation. By the time you complete all three tasks, you build up on so much motivation, so much energy that you just keep moving forward – thus breaking out of inertia and experiencing momentum.

The logic behind success of momentum builders is quite simple –

• 1. Make projects seem less overwhelming by breaking them down
• 2. Reduce confusion of what to do and when, by creating a list of action items and prioritizing them
• 3. Gain motivation by completing important tasks
• 4. Take advantage of success and motivation of completing important tasks by working on a few more and thus adding fuel to existing fire – thus building momentum

Have you experienced being in momentum before? What put you in momentum?

Action Items:

• i. Pick an important project and find out your momentum builders from its task list.
• ii. Identify three important tasks which you routinely need to do. Experiment to find out whether these can be your everyday momentum builders.
• iii. Every time you encounter something that breaks momentum, list it down and figure out ways to deal with them effectively.

More Fabulous Motivators That Inspire You To Take Action In Part II