How to Stay Motivated When Life Gets Hard

We may not always feel motivated when life gets hard. However, the truth is no one is spared from setbacks. If you are trying new things and want to move forwards in your life, you often experience failure, and that’s ok. Failure isn’t here to stop you from getting where you want to go, but rather to point you towards something you weren’t thinking of at that stage. But I know, it can often scare us, and staying motivated during the times when life gets hard, isn’t easy. But there are ways we can move from this gloomy state and get motivated again.

Motivation is defined as a crucial element in setting and attaining our goals. It’s the reason for our actions. Whatever our goal is, we need motivation in order to reach it. However, motivation is crucial for not just starting something, it must be retained to ensure that we accomplish the task in question. 

These tips will help you stay motivated to follow through on your goals and dreams when life gets hard.

Four Ways to Keep Yourself Motivated When Life Gets Tough

1. Find your why – motivation is the energizer that forces us to take action. On our good days, we are all motivated and determined. However, when life gets tough, it’s often hard to stay motivated and see the light at the end of the dark tunnel. That’s why on those days we have to think about why  we want to achieve our goal. What is the reason behind our goal? Once we focus our mind on it again, it will help keep us motivated and achieve our goals.

2. Remember your goal – the best way to remember anything is to write it down. When writing down your goals, remember that they need to be SMART. This means specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. How to achieve this? Ask yourself some critical questions:

Specific – are your goals clearly defined?

Measurable – do you have a clear target and can you judge what you have achieved to date?

Achievable – your goals should be challenging, but are they also attainable?

Relevant – are your goals related to what you want to achieve in life?

Timely – do you have a deadline? If you don’t set a target for completion, how do you want to hold yourself accountable?  

3. Remind yourself of your better days – it’s so much easier to get things done when we aren’t facing challenges in life. However, life isn’t always a walk in the park. It has its ups and downs. So, on our worst days, when we lack motivation, lets remind ourselves of our progress and how well we are doing. When facing setbacks on my recovery journey and unable to see the positives, my friend would remind me of all that I had already been through and how well I had managed. She also suggested I make an achievement board – this was a great motivator when the tough days came and I wasn’t in the mood to do anything. Use these reminders to lift your motivation.

4. Inspiration, not distractions – surround yourself with inspirational and positive people, quotes and habits…instead of distractions. The distractions will only serve to divert your attention from your goals? Is it your phone, social media, friends, food…? I am not saying that you can’t have time with your friends or go out for a coffee and cake but set aside time for those things. Use your time wisely. Stop scrolling on your phone, instead use it for something productive and creative.

These four tips will help to boost your motivation and keep you motivated through tough times. We procrastinate less when we enjoy what we do. So have fun whatever you do. After all, life shouldn’t be a punishment, so enjoy it! And there isn’t a better day to start reaching for your goals than today! Start, keep going and enjoy the process. With some self reflection, determination and a little bit of persistence, you will overcome your challenges and get to the finish line. 

Katy Parker

Bio:

Katy is a well-being writer who integrates mental health and faith into her words. She is a mental health advocate and mentor who lives in England (UK) and shares her journey of overcoming trauma on her Journeyofsmiley blog. Katy is not shy in addressing controversial subjects or issues that deserve more attention. She is also the founder of the PTSD: My Story Project, a safe space for trauma survivors to share their stories and inspire others whilst also helping to fight the stigma surrounding mental health. Her goal is to encourage and empower trauma survivors and support them on their healing journey.