It’s pretty easy to find the motivation to go to your day job. After all, it’s your main source of income, and for most of us, that alone is motivating enough. When it comes to your side hustle, however, it’s not always as simple to maintain motivation. Yet, in order to reach your side hustle goals motivation is a must.
The Key to Maintaining Motivation
In order to understand how we can maintain motivation it’s helpful to examine the reasons we lose it in the first place.
Setbacks: A setback, regardless of the size, can lead to a decrease in motivation, especially when the setback causes a loss in confidence. When your confidence takes a hit it’s easy to feel like success isn’t possible and not worth trying for. This can lead to decreased motivation and productivity. Even worse it can lead to you even giving up completely.
Lack of Concrete Goals: Motivation can be the fuel that gets you to the finish line, but you can’t get moving until you set a concrete and well defined goal. If you are plugging away at a vague goal or a broad idea of what you think you want, you’ll have a hard time focusing and run the risk of losing motivation.
Poor Planning: Once you have a goal, you need to map out a plan to achieve it. Without a plan, you won’t have any direction and you’ll end up wasting valuable time and energy. It’s difficult to maintain motivation when you don’t have a plan to guide you.
How to Stay Motivated
Now that we know the reasons we typically lose motivation, incorporate these methods to keep your motivation up and your side hustle on track.
Keep Your Eye on the Prize
Maybe you started a side hustle to pay off debt or fund a vacation. Perhaps you started side hustling because you want to eventually make it your fulltime gig. Remember the reason you started in the first place, and keep that in mind to drive you forward. Post visual reminders for inspiration and accountability.
Track Progress
Keep track of your goals and check in on your progress regularly. As you see your progress over time you will be motivated to continue improving. Make sure you celebrate your successes and achievements as well no matter how big or small.
Stay Positive
Positive thinking can have a big impact on your motivation levels. Whenever you encounter a challenging or negative situation try to glean any silver linings and take away a lesson learned. Practice gratitude for the positive experiences and lessons learned. If you’re starting to question yourself or your abilities make a list of your strengths, successes, and advantages. Acknowledge your weaknesses, but don’t dwell on them.
Refocus and Refine
In some cases taking a break is the best way to kick start your motivation. A little time away can provide you with a refreshed view and energy to tackle your goals. Additionally, it can be helpful to tweak your goals as you go. You may have started on a path toward one goal, but found you’d like to go in a different direction. Knowing exactly what you want will help you become motivated to take action.
Make a Plan
Once you set a goal for yourself, you’ll need to have plan or strategy to follow. Make a list of the activities that will lead to success and turn that list into an action plan. Set specific tasks you need to complete to keep you focused and on task. Refine your plan as you go to reflect any changes you’ve made to your goals.
While the best way to maintain motivation is not to let it wane in the first place, everyone experiences a dip at some point. If you notice a lack in motivation, find a method to get yourself back on track as soon as possible. Before you know it, you’ll be on your way to success.
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Motivation has always been a problem especially when there’s no concrete plan. And I think that’s easily handled by being aware of where you are — tracking. Good post.
Thanks, Matt!
Planning and focusing goes together. Once you have a concrete plan to achieve a goal, it is important to stick to it and keep evaluating your performance with time.
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I agree, I think you need both in order to keep moving forward.
Thank you for sharing the article. It’s very interesting and useful. I’d love to hear more from you.
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