6 Habits That Are KILLING Your Motivation

Do you constantly feel that your drive to achieve your goals and objectives is weakening as time goes by? Believe it or not, this happens to everyone. A lack of motivation will destroy your chances at success, no matter the circumstances (TopThink, 2020). There are people who are stuck and cannot seem to move forward in life and experience this. There are also people who are more fortunate and are steadily moving towards their goals, and still experience this.

Motivation is something that is affected by a huge number of factors, with each person’s motivation depending on different ones. You might argue that money and love are the main factors for everyone, and yes, they can certainly provide a boost on how motivated people are. However, there are habits that people have that can easily kill your motivation. To address this, this article will be talking about 6 habits that are killing your motivation.

You try to jump straight into your final goal while skipping the process

How often do you envision yourself already reaching your goals and succeeding? Although this is not necessarily bad, it might make you feel desperate to be the person that you envisioned. This will result in you trying to get to those goals as soon as possible while skipping the process. And, of course, not having a proper foundation for what you want to be is the perfect recipe for failure. You might start feeling as if your goal is completely out of reach and start to lose faith in yourself (TopThink, 2020).

Always remember, no matter how much you want something to happen, you always need to cover the fundamentals first. Don’t let the excitement control your actions, and more than anything, don’t try to skip steps. Reaching success is not something done from one day to the next one, it takes time and effort.

You desire to be perfect

Are you someone who has always tried to do things perfectly? Pursuing perfection can be one of the quickest ways to kill your motivation. Your pursuit of perfection can make you not want to do anything at all. Thoughts such as: “Why should I do it if its not going to be perfect?”, or “Why should I waste my time and effort on something I won’t be satisfied with?”. Such thoughts will surely kill your motivation in no time (Fannon, 2020).

To avoid this, the next time you want to do something, start with a rough draft and work on it to improve it until it reaches a point where you are satisfied. Expecting the first thing you do to be perfect is both unrealistic and demotivating. Perfection might not be able to be reached, but constantly practicing will surely move you closer to a point that satisfies you.

You compare yourself with others

How easily do you compare yourself with others when doing something? Comparing yourself with others, especially with people who are already in a privileged position, can very easily kill your motivation. You think about all the steps and effort that you have to make to reach your goals, while others who are more fortunate can do it with less steps (Make Me Better, 2020). Comparing your success with others’ can side-track you and make you lose motivation. Afterall, all of your attention should be focused on building your own success. Treating someone as your mentor because they have succeeded in reaching a goal you would like to reach is very helpful as long as you don’t lose track of yourself and your own ambitions.

You get distracted and procrastinate

In an era where distractions can be found literally anywhere you look, losing motivation and getting side-tracked has never been easier. How often do you stop your work and look through social media? If you constantly get distracted from your work and start procrastinating, this habit is most likely killing your motivation. Getting distracted all the time and procrastinating will only delay you from reaching your goals and might even reach a point where moving forward seems impossible to you, thus making you lose motivation (Ahuja, 2020). Distractions are almost unavoidable, and it will happen from time to time, but you should try to make a schedule and stick to it as much as possible, say, working without using your smart phone or any other distraction for 2 hours a day.

You don’t have a plan

Do you have a clear goal, but have no idea how to reach it? Not having a plan to follow can be one of the main things killing your motivation. You want to do something, but don’t know where to start. All you know is the final result, but don’t know which steps to take. To avoid feeling demotivated by this, find ways to encourage yourself and try to set small, achievable goals that you think will move you one step closer to your final goal. Slowly overcoming these small hurdles that you set yourself will boost your confidence and motivation (Ahuja, 2020).

You neglect your health

How often do you pull all-nighters? How much priority do you put on your health? Not being in a proper health condition can easily kill your motivation. This mainly happens because when you don’t rest well, your body does not have the energy necessary for you to do tasks and take steps towards your goals and objectives (Make Me Better, 2020). This can be very demotivating because you feel like you have the right mindset, and the right intentions, but your body cannot keep up. Always remember to prioritise your health, be in through your diet or your daily routines. This will not only help with your motivation, but also improve every single area of your life.

To wrap things up, motivation is already known to be the main driving force of our actions and behaviour. As such, you should always try to be as motivated as possible and get rid of habits that make you feel demotivated. Remember that making changes, no matter how small, is always better than not doing anything.

References

Ahuja, H. (2020). 5 Toxic Habits That Kill Your Motivation. Retrieved 28 January 2021, from https://hahuja7.medium.com/5-toxic-habits-that-kill-your-motivation-842642e419c1

Fannon, K. (2020). 9 Toxic Habits That Kill Your Motivation. Retrieved 28 January 2021, from https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/9-toxic-habits-that-kill-your-motivation.html

Make Me Better, `. (2020). 6 Habits that are Killing your Motivation. Retrieved 28 January 2021, from https://www.makemebetter.net/6-habits-that-are-killing-your-motivation/

TopThink. (2020). 7 Habits That Are KILLING Your Motivation [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASDRRQjJLjg