Habit & Motivation

Do you feel unmotivated to fulfil certain goals? 

You want to go the gym or exercise from home but you just cant move a muscle. 

You want to prepare a quick dinner for yourself and the family but you’re exhausted.

It’s normal to feel exhausted from your everyday daily grind, but if your constantly lacking motivation you need to ask yourself why?

I’ve found that gaining motivation is closely related to my daily habits.

What Do Habits Have To Do With Motivation? 

Well we can often look at external factors that contribute towards success, such as money, family, education, but what about our daily habits, can they determine if we succeed in achieving our goals or not.

Habits are internal and can be overlooked, but our daily habits can lead to our personal success.

So let’s see if we can shift our perspective and master both habit and motivation.

First let’s notice that Habits Are a Key Factor to Success.

Because habits dictate every area of our lives, what we eat for the day, how we get up in the morning, our routine to work. 

Habits are responsible for our actions from day to day.

An example would be what you choose to have for lunch. It can affect your energy levels. 

Your Habits can effect your goals, and overall lifestyle choices. 

For example if you eat to loose weight and have more energy throughout your day, then do you have a homemade such or a healthy snack ready to go?

Steer Your Habits And Use Them As a Tool. 

If you have a habit of preparing your lunch for work, then that consistent action results in the outcome you want to achieve, you’re likely to feel motivated to carry on again. 

So the solution to staying motivated is to control your habits.

How Do I Control My Habits?

Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become whats we repeatedly do. Sean Covey.

In order to commit to making positive life changing habits we must know what a habit is. 

A habit is a custom, routine or pattern. That allows us to carry out everyday essential activities such as brushing your teeth, taking a shower, or getting dressed.

There are two types of habits, conscious and unconscious. The unconscious goes into auto-pilot mode, and frees up resources, allowing our brain to perform more complex tasks, like problem solving, or what to wear.

Our conscious habits are easy to recognise and require more conscious effort for you to keep them up. If you remove your input the habit will most likely go away.

Researchers from Duke University have shown that over 40% of what we do is determined not by decisions but by habits. 

Take some time to think through your habits and see what ones are conscious or unconscious. Do those habits contribute towards your goals, do they make you feel positive or negative?

Ow we know what motivation is how do we harness it?

According to Leon Ho from Lifehack, whether you’re motivated or demotivated, motivation isn’t an on or off switch.

Motivation is a flow.

There are layers to motivation, but the one thats the most important is the Core-Your Purpose.

Having a purpose is what separates the motivated from the demotivated.

To form healthy habits knowing what your purpose is, can help you to drive out  unlimited motivation.

Your purpose derives from two things: Having Meaning, and Forward Movement.

Again go back to your why, why do you want to form new habits? 

Because even though motivation provides you with the energy to do something, that energy needs to be focused somewhere.

In Conclusion:

So now you know that motivation and habits go hand in hand. 

By taking responsibility for your role and daily routine this will reduce any distractions causing you to feel demotivated.

Remember knowing you’re why, can help you be mindful of your daily habits, it can help you assess and improve upon them.

Your motivation will automatically increase, because you’re taking steps towards a positive direction, and working towards something you truly want.