5 ways the super successful stay motivated & happy !!

5 ways the super-successful stay motivated & happy

While researching my latest book, ‘Let’s Do This: How to use motivational psychology to change your habits for life’ I uncovered 5 key motivational tips that the super-successful all use to stay motivated.

The world's best athletes, entrepreneurs and business professionals are not blessed with endless motivation or willpower on tap.

They are just like me and you.

The only difference is that they have figured out a great secret - Motivation is a skill that anyone can learn when they know how. 

Below are 5 of the best kept motivational secrets of the super-successful that will keep you showing up long enough to reach your dreams.

1 . Failure is part of the process never a reason to give up

Let’s get this out there - no one is perfect. Yet so many of us expect total perfection in everything we do. This creates an all or nothing mindset, that destroys motivation at the hint of a slip up or set back. 

But the truth is that failure, slips, blips, departures from the wagon are baked into the change process. 

James Prochaska’s, one of the greatest researches of behavioural change, brilliant research shows that it takes smokers on average 4-5 attempts to make lasting change.

So rather than a slip being a reason to give up, it's a sign that you are making progress towards your goals. 

So when things go wrong, dust yourself off, learn and come back stronger.

2  .Whether you believe you can or you can’t you’re right. 

It is so simple, yet so true, if you believe you can do something the chances of you reaching this goal are exponentially higher than if you don’t.

So much of life is based on beliefs that we hold about any given event.

The super successful are fantastic at creating beliefs that support their motivation and dreams. 

So write out your goal every day and take 2 minutes to connect with this goal, imagine yourself reaching the finish line. 

What can you see, sense and feel? Who will cheer you on, and how do you look as you reach the summit?

3 . Motivation changes and you have to change with it

Those office-athletes and entrepreneurs who are crushing it, know their ‘why’s’ will get them started towards their goals, but they also know they are not enough.

Why’s get you started but then motivation changes and you need to change with it. 

The trick is to focus on the present moment wins. 

What does the goal task give you while you’re performing the actions required?

For example, if your goal is to run a marathon. 

What does the physical act of running give you? 

You are not thinking about this in the past or in the future, what does it give you in the very moment?

Do you feel lighter, more energised, do you enjoy the wind through your hair… ?

Your brain loves to connect with the benefits of a task and it is this switch on focus that will keep you showing up.

4 . Streak with a twist.

Counting days successful days is a tool used by many super successful people from the billionaire comedian Jerry Seinfeld, to Andy Puddicombe founder of the massive meditation app Headspace. 

The idea is that by tracking your streaks you generate powerful motivation to keep you showing up because you won’t want to break the streak. 

I love this concept and it works. But it works even better when you add a twist.

Because what happens when the chain is broken? Too often the disappointment of starting from scratch zaps all motivation to continue.

So I recommend you streak with a twist and the twist is that you keep going even if you slip, but you make it down as a blip. Because as you have already discovered failure is very often part of the process. 

At the end of each month, you then look at your percentage of improvement rather than how perfect you were. 

5 . The super-successful always have a motivational plan

Winging it doesn’t work. Consistent motivation needs a quality plan. When you analyse the greats, they all have a laser-focused plan or process that fuels their motivation. And the best way to create a plan is to leverage a morning ritual.

‘We are all perfectly imperfect humans.’ and the biggest motivational mistakes is to assume we are perfectly rational when we are not. Our worlds are clouded by emotions, cognitive biases and evolutionary desires that will misdirect our motivation unless we take control with a plan.

A morning routine bookmarks your day -  it says that you are in control - that you are starting this day with intention and on purpose. The best way to achieve this is via a journaling routine that maps out a plan required to achieve your goals before you check your phone or emails.

Remember - If you don’t have a plan someone else has a plan for you. Your mission to take control of your motivational plan from the moment you wake.

If you want to achieve your wildest motivational dreams you need a plan that will develop the skill of motivation because as you will now uncover motivation is a skill