Keeping yourself motivated is hard work.
I decided to write about getting motivated because I have a hard time motivating myself, so why not write an article to myself?
Motivating yourself is an everyday job. You can’t just do it when you have nothing else to do. You must make it a part of your everyday routine.
No one can make you do anything but you. Even if you spend $5000 on a seminar you will forget the feeling of super motivation within 30 minutes after you leave. Am I right?
Motivating oneself does not come easy to most people. Sure you can get hyped up about something for a while, but then you get lazy and find something else that needs done and then your great project gets pushed to the side and forgotten about.
So, why not make motivating yourself a habit forming experience?
OK, if you don’t have any motivational problems you can just skip this article and go to the next one. But, for those of you who need help here is tip number one:
Tip #1: Develop good habits
Make a habit of doing something related to your e-biz such as writing a couple of sentences every day as part of an article. You will soon have an article ready to go in a few days. And the more you write, the easier and faster it gets.
By the way, articles are one of the best ways to get free traffic on the web. Even if you are using the article on your site or in a newsletter or ezine, you can also submit them to article directories. Maybe even change a couple of words or the title every five directories or so, and your content won’t appear to be duplicated everywhere! Put your name and web link at the bottom and, Voila! Quality backlinks to your site.
Or, if you already write well, it could be something else like submitting articles to other websites or article directories, or spend a set amount of time doing research each day.
The point is to do the same thing everyday and make yourself do it for at least 21 days in a row.
Why? This will force you to develop a habit, and the thing you are doing will become a natural part of your daily routine so that it won’t seem like it takes any time at all and then you can move on to adding another productive habit to your arsenal.
So, what are you waiting for? Get your calender out, mark off 21 days on it so you’ll have something to put checkmarks on and decide what you are going to use for your first new good habit!
Tip #2: Use visual aids to remind yourself
The calender is one example of this. You can also use post-it notes, or index cards to put motivational messages on or list the needs for the current project.
Put them where you can see them. It might look messy to someone who has other people do all the work, but I have sticky notes stuck all around the edges of my monitors and other places where I can see them when I look around my work area.
Sometimes I even look at them and get rid of
the ones I don’t need anymore! 
And writing down your goals and breaking them down into smaller parts is proven to help with getting your goals accomplished!
Tip #3: Your attitude is important
Reminding yourself to have a positive outlook will make things go much more smoothly. We are responsible for the way we react to things in our lives and the way we act around other people.
Reacting in a positive way can make the difference between learning from a bad break and turning yourself into a failure by giving up the first time something doesn’t go your way.
Every new thing that you try will not work out right and it is OK to make mistakes. The way to benefit from things that don’t work out right is to keep track of what steps you followed the first time and the results. Then keep track of what changes you made and the results of these changes.
This way, you will learn from your mistakes and your triumphs.
You will get it right or decide that a particular tactic doesn’t work for you. Some things will work for you and some things work for others, but will never work for you.
When you have confidence that you can control your attitude and change things, your life and your business productivity will improve greatly.
Giving yourself positive reminders will improve the way you feel about yourself and improve your attitude. Write down some things such as “I will get (this part of the project) finished today” and “I will learn to do (this) today, so I can improve my website” and other positive activities and keep them where you can see them until you no longer need them.
Tip #4: Keep your personal problems seperate from your work
You can’t focus on your job if you are distracted by problems or issues with personal relationships or other personal problems, so when it’s time to work take a deep breath, clear those thoughts from your mind and focus on the job at hand.
Tip #5: Take a regular break
Especially important if you are working at the computer, make sure that you take regularly scheduled breaks from your work.
This is important to cut down on stress and tension. It will make you more productive, healthier, and help you stay focused on the bigger picture of your project.
Putting off break times by thinking “I’ll get this done in a couple more minutes and then I’ll take that break” simply means that you’ll never get that important down time to keep you relaxed and focused.
Every hour or two, depending on how long you can be comfortable at your desk, get up and stretch, walk around, do something to refresh your mind for ten minutes or so.
If you are lucky enough to work at your home, you can do some house work every couple of hours to break up the routine, or go outside and spend a few minutes at some small yardwork tasks every break period.
This can add up to getting a little at a time done on a project which you might normally have to take a whole day to do at one time.
Just remember to spend the necessary amount of time at your work.
Tip #6: Get some exercise
Concentration, typing and planning all make your muscles tighten up.
Remember, when it’s time for a break, get up and do something. Get up and stretch, do some carpal-tunnel exercises, walk around, DO SOMETHING!
Go outside and check the mail, get some sunlight, look out the window, take a look at the painting on the wall, RELAX!
Thank You for reading,
Douglas Wade
WeekendFreebies.com
