How to become more motivated: 5 tips from American psychologists

We all have big goals and dreams that we want to achieve, and we all sometimes need an extra boost of motivation to make them come true.

Find people who inspire you

Whenever possible, try to find a group of people who share similar goals. Let friends or family know about your wishes – they can become advocates and help hold you accountable for progress.

Stop making excuses

Be extremely honest and ask yourself: "what is preventing me from achieving my goals?" For example, negative thinking is a common obstacle for a person working to achieve their goals. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy – if you think you can't achieve a goal, your chances plummet.

Estimate the energy potential

Lack of motivation may be due to lack of energy. Determine what may be negatively affecting you: restless sleep, stress, poor nutrition, or even depression. Make sure you take good care of yourself.

Prepare a specific plan of action

Motivation can come from understanding how to achieve your goal. Most likely, you can break the original goal down into smaller ones. This will make the achievement more manageable and much less time consuming.

Use rewards as extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation is a fancy way of saying that we are motivated by external factors such as money, good grades, weight loss, etc. Decide how you will reward yourself for reaching certain milestones. This is a great way not to get lost on a long run. No matter how old you are, getting a reward is fun, whether it's a new pair of shoes or a little trip.