Connect smaller To-Do's with big-picture goals.
Sometimes, it's hard to see how small, annoying items on your to-do list add up to anything greater that will improve your life. A key success strategy I've used is to make a vision board that allows you to see the Big Picture you're trying to create in full color. Put the vision board up in your room where you'll see it every day, and make sure your mind soaks up the images you've chosen. If you aren’t so keen on a “Vision Board”, try pictures, posters, drawings and imagery that exude motivation.
Making a vision board doesn't have to be complicated. You can cut out photos from Forbes, for example, or any other magazine which is likely to inspire you, and create a collage of your ideal future. Simply tape or glue these graphics onto a poster-board from CVS to make a fantastic visual inspiration you can gaze at every morning when you wake.
While looking through your to-do list, ask yourself how these little things add up to create the vision you have on your wall. When you can concretely visualize the end result, like that dream house you've been saving up for, you'll be more motivated to plough through any resistance.
This strategy has personally helped me build Gajizmo.com. When I started Gajizmo, I just wanted to build a site to educate my generation, Generation Y or the Millennial Generation. However, along the way, I started doing nice things for people here and there, and figured why not tie it into the site’s mission. My intention wasn’t to build a site and donate all the ad revenue to charity or use it for random acts of kindness, but that end-goal inspires me to continue writing articles and growing the site so we can take on larger projects or causes and try to affect greater change.
Always remember that the idea of work is worse than the work itself.
There's a big difference between the Mt. Olympus of the Greek gods and the actual Mt. Olympus in Greece. One is a magnified, mythologized version of the other. Similarly, the idea that is constructed in your mind of “That Thing I Can't Make Myself Do” is far worse than the actual task. Demythologize it, remember that it's something you can accomplish in no time, and do it.
Abandon all traces of perfectionism.
If you've acquired the habit of having to do something perfectly, trade it for the popular mantra of 'progress, not perfection' instead. Being realistic and self-compassionate will take you farther in life than perfectionism ever will. The “ideal” can only ever exist within your imagination, but “excellence” is within your grasp.
Find out what you're missing. What are the true roadblocks? It might not be what you think.
Consider if there might be tools, contacts, or crucial information that are missing which are stalling your goals. For example, maybe finding a high paying job without a degree isn't the real problem - perhaps it's hard to get a good job because you haven’t spent any time actually looking, or when you do get the chance to be hired, you don’t spend time preparing for an interview.
Likewise, if you just moved to a new city and find it hard to stay motivated in your quest to make new friends, maybe the real problem is a lack of money for a night out instead of shyness. Making friends is a financial investment as well as an emotional one. Analyze what's stopping you and create a plan to fill in the missing resource, and you'll come out on top in no time.
Final Word
In the end, Chris Babson is right in stating that “If you don’t know exactly where you are going (and why), that is exactly where you will end up.”
The idea of motivation and more specifically of self-motivation is one that has been discussed since the dawn of organized societies and will keep on being discussed as the world continues to be shaped by humanity’s transcending dedication towards a free economy, devoid of imposed limitations, within which one can prosper to the extent of one’s true capabilities.
Moreover, the American dream may have moved on from its days as an immigration pamphlet and evolved into a full-blown inland promise that anything is feasible, but self-motivation remains the one and only tool advertised as necessary and not included in the do-it-yourself, easy to assemble, product packaging that we now more broadly define as “success”.
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