10 Daily Habits To Keep Yourself Motivated Throughout The Day

Unmotivated, burnout, overworked, exhausted, tired. These are all states that we have undoubtedly experienced once in our lives. What makes it worse is that we have unconsciously convinced our brains that this state is permanent.

Societies demands are great and we have to rise above the call of duty, unfortunately, at the cost of our own well-being. I have been down that road many times and it's easy to stay in the state of mind for a long time. It doesn't have to be this way.

Here are 10 ways to get your brain out of its funk and get you motivated.

10. Make Your Bed first thing in the morning

Weird suggestion to ask of you to make a positive change in your life, but there is merit to making your bed the first thing in the morning. By making your bed first thing in the morning, you are tricking your brain to complete a task at the start of your day. Let's be honest with ourselves, what is the first thing you do in the morning?

I know most of us, myself included, would say grab my phone and check my socials. By making your bed first thing in the morning, you accomplished your first task of the day and by doing that, you may have the motivation to accomplish many more tasks you set for yourself.

In the video below, Admiral McRaven talks about his time in the Navy Seals and explain the logic behind making your bed in the morning,

I never made my bed and thought it was nothing but a waste of time. That wasn't until I listened to Admiral McRaven's story that changed my perspective. Now, I see making my bed as a mini-task to complete in order to face the harder tasks that are expected of me to face.

Let's say you weren't able to accomplish anything you wanted in the day. It happens to all of us, but at least you can go to a bed that you made. Celebrate the little victory to enjoy the big ones.

9. Set Strong Intentions By Saying "Will I?"

Asking yourself this question is less declarative on the intention you set for yourself. For example, "will I spend the rest of my day watching YouTube videos?" I know I can get lost in watching YouTube videos all day, but asking yourself will this be all I do today, may motivate you to do something else.

By saying, will I, eliminates most of the guilt we have when we don't follow through on our intentions. Here's a common example of an intention most people set for themselves. "I will go to the gym today." Now the other way to view it is, "will I go to the gym today?" One is more of a definite while the other is a challenge you set for yourself to achieve. Challenge yourself by saying will I, and see what comes as a result.

I have been saying this to myself and I have seen a significant increase in my productivity. I set a personal challenge for myself to achieve and it makes me want to achieve that goal. When I don't reach my desired goal, it's okay because it's something I didn't demand myself. 

8. Give Yourself Permission To Slow Down and Breathe

It's no doubt in anyone's mind that we live in a fast-paced society. Everywhere you go you will see or hear something along the lines of call within the next 10 minutes and your shipping is FREE, sign up right now and you will receive 50% off your next purchase, or my favorite, you will never see an offer like this anywhere else, buy now. It is not just with advertisements pressuring us to make a decision on the spot.

Our society has embraced the idea of grinding to make your way to the top."The grind doesn't stop," "You're watching TV while I'm out here Grinding," "My dreams are more important than sleep." Grinding to get where you want in life is not bad, but it can feed into feeling burnt out when you aren't grinding constantly like what the culture wants you to do.

A close friend of mine had this mindset and I watched as it was slowly taking over his life. He played soccer and he loved it with a burning passion. All of his coaches respected him and his teammates looked up to him as the leader of the team. A couple of weeks into our semester, He tells me that he is experiencing pain throughout his body and is still expected to perform at 100% at the practices and games.

One night, my friend was going for a workout and I said to him, "you should rest for tonight, man." He says to me, "If I'm here resting, someone else is out there grinding." He talked to me one day saying that he didn't perform as well as he wanted to in practice and was tearing himself down. I manage to talk to him about how this way of thinking isn't good for you. It took some time, but he took the advice to heart and is now doing a lot better for himself.

In life, we can't be expected to satisfy ALL demands. It is important for us to take a step back and take as long as we need before we get back out there. 

7. Allow Yourself To Fail before you succeed

Failure is something we all have experienced at least once in our lives, but failing doesn't have to be as negative as we've been led to believe. Failure can be a great motivator to get you where you want to be. It's all about how you view failure.

I have failed more times than I ever succeed and I will continue to fail because I've allowed failure into my life. By giving ourselves permission to fail or viewing failure as a learning opportunity, we start to see failure as a chance to grow from our mistakes.

My favorite failure was when I was in an audition for Shenandoah University in 2016. Fresh out of high school, I felt ready to take my next step into becoming an actor by getting my BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) I stepped into the audition room and gave my best audition.

I left the room ecstatic and look forward to the mail. When I received the mail, it was a rejection letter. I never felt more devastated in my life. Going to this school would have changed my life forever and it was all dashed away. I wanted to give up acting altogether that day. 

I went to my local community college to get my Associate's degree and figure out what I want to do with my life. It wasn't until later I was able to perform at my local community college to realize my place in this world.

I want to be an actor. After I got my Associate's degree, I went back to Shenandoah to audition one last time. I did my audition, I left the room feeling good and waited for the letter. The letter came in and it read, Congratulations, Javere! I got accepted to my dream school to become an actor.

If this story teaches you anything is that failure is not the end all be all. Reflect on your failure and find ways to improve the mistakes you've made. Only through self-reflection can you know success. 

6. Take Risks without worrying about failure

As mentioned above, treating failure as a learning opportunity helps us grow as individuals. To maximize this, you need to be willing to step out of your comfort zone. It could be something small like, take a scenic route, have conversations with strangers, or listen to a podcast that has different views from you.

In order for you to get to where you want to be, you have to be willing to take risks for your success. A quote I like by, Oriah Mountain Dreamer, that got me to step out of my comfort zone and want to achieve my dreams: 

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for – and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool – for love – for your dreams – for the adventure of being alive. -Oriah Mountain Dreamer

This quote has changed my life for the better. It gave me the confidence to go for what I really want in my life and risk everything to get what I want. I can say with full confidence that it's worth the risk. You won't get to go anywhere by staying in the same lane. Take the risk of looking foolish, take the risk for love, take the risk for your dreams.

5. Visualize Your Goals

If you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hand. Visualizing your goals is an amazing tool to use for your brain. Seeing your goals in your head or written down, is effective to get your brain to do what you want it to do. I thought this wasn't all that useful at first until I started doing it.

I talked about my failed audition and how I said I wanted to give up acting altogether that day. I was looking through one of my old notebook journals when I was in elementary school and I stumbled upon a page and it said, I want to be on TV. I remember the day I wrote that message.

I was watching an episode of, Cory In The House, and I was very giddy about this particular episode. My mom came into my room telling me to stop making so much noise. I looked at my mother and said to her, "Mom, I want to be on TV, like them." My mom gave me a warm smile and said, "You can be anything you want to be." I wrote it down in my notebook that night and my mind hadn't changed since. Your mind is your most powerful weapon and can be used to do incredible things. You just got to set your mind to it.

4. Foster a Community

Community is a feeling of fellowship within a group of people that share similar perspectives. Having a space and people to call family, is euphoric. There's nothing that comes close to having friends and family that care about you and want nothing but the absolute best for you. It takes time and energy to foster a community like this, so don't be discouraged if you don't have one right now.

I struggled with connecting to people for the longest time. It's crazy how some people can make lasting connections over the years; some people have had friends ever since they were in kindergarten. I wouldn't even recognize their face after so long! That's the level of commitment that is needed to have a community of people that, love and care for your dreams and success as much as you do for them.

The easiest way to foster a community is by establishing connections with people that align with your passions. This can be done through, looking on sites like Facebook, YouTube, Google, etc. exploring your community, volunteer, join clubs at school, and countless more ways. Have a community that can last a lifetime.

3. Declutter Your Space

Actively cleaning your space will not only make you feel really good about yourself but will also clean your mind from all the clutter. Before I went to college, my room was a mess. Clothes and paper were scattered across the room, everything disorganized, and for the life of me, I couldn't find anything I needed.

Once I went to college, I realized that I had no one to clean up after me and my room would progressively get worse with all the junk I had inside it. Even my friends pointed out that my room was a mess and didn't want to be there. I took the initiative and try hard to keep my room presentable as best as I could. Now, I can't stand it when my room is messy.

Decluttering my space was very therapeutic to me, almost as if I was decluttering my mind. I recommend cleaning your space at least once a week and build to habit. It will lead to long-term success and will get you to do what you want to do.

2. Invest In Yourself and learn new skills

Investing in yourself is the easiest thing you can do. If you know how to treat yourself, others will treat you that way. There are countless ways to treat yourself better with, self-help books, regular exercise, meditating, learning new information and so much more. I never realized how important it was to invest in myself until I look back to how I was.

I took it upon myself to start journaling and didn't think too much of it. For days that I wished had gone better, I wrote them down in my journal describing how I felt at the time. Now, I look back at some of those entries and I think to myself, "Damn, I went through all that and I'm still here." In some way, it gave me a sense of confidence in myself to face whatever comes my way next.

Self-care is very important and should be seen as a standard in our society. To this day, people don't view mental health seriously and view them as weak for quitting a competition. Those that struggle with mental health, are some of the strongest people out there because even though they have an illness, they will still go out into the world and fight for their dreams.

I know this because I am one of them. We are not alone. Do the things that serve you and benefit you; don't live a dream for someone. Find what makes you passionate. And if you are having a rough day, hopefully, these tricks will help you get back on track. It's not about the falling down that defeats us, it's the staying down.

1. Live In The Present Moment

Live in the here and now, because that is the only time you have to make positive changes in your life. Don't put it off for tomorrow, don't dwell on the mistakes or missed opportunities in the past. Live for yourself and take care of yourself. Once you do that, you'll be ready to take on the challenges of tomorrow as you learned from the mistakes in the past.

These tips and tricks are built to help you make positive growth in your life. If it doesn't seem to work at first, don't give up. Tasks become habits, habits become routine, routinely becomes a lifestyle. Take a risk. You just might surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.