How to Motivate Yourself When You Feel Stuck?
Do you struggle with how to motivate yourself to take action, even when you know exactly what you want to do?
Many women I work with, including my coaching clients, find self‑motivation one of their biggest challenges in everyday life.
It’s not easy to move forward when you have little time and a lot on your mind. The pressure of work, caring for your family, and daily household duties can make it hard to find energy and motivation for anything else. When you’re thinking about starting a new hobby, opening a business, or beginning regular exercise, you need more than just “willpower” – you need a clear and consistent action plan.
Why You Might Have a Problem With Motivation
If you keep asking yourself, “Why can’t I motivate myself?”, there are usually deeper reasons.
Very often it’s not laziness – it’s what’s happening in your thoughts and emotions.
Common reasons you may find it hard to stay motivated:
Hidden emotional blocks that drain your energy and confidence
Procrastination habits that have become automatic over time
Old beliefs about yourself that tell you “I can’t”, “I’m not ready” or “I’ll probably fail”
Feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities and not knowing where to start
Once you become aware of the emotional barriers that are blocking you on a subconscious level, it becomes much easier to build the motivation you need to make real changes in your life. Before you can successfully start a new project, you first need to understand how your thoughts and learned beliefs affect your everyday decisions and behaviour.
When you start working on your mindset and confidence, motivation stops being a short burst of energy and becomes something you can create and support every day.
POORLY SET BAR
If you constantly set the bar for your personal goals too low and below your capabilities, then automatically your mind will know about it. This might subconsciously direct you to actions opposite to the set goal. Your mind is programmed to keep you in a comfort zone and the least line of resistance. For your own safety. By setting yourself up in advance to avoid any risk in your life, your overall level of motivation to make any changes might be poor as a result.
Comfort = comfortable peaceful existence
It works on the principle of association. Your brain, which is your central computer keeps you away from the stress of change because that’s how it has been programmed. However, you are the captain of this ship. You control where you want it to set its course and decide which port you will go to.
Your informed planned decisions will guide you on the best course for you.
On the other hand, if the bar is set too high above our natural or learned capabilities, then you will subconsciously postpone things for later and procrastinate. You will be paralysed by fear and your subconscious mind will prevent you from acting. We must consciously program our mind that not such a bad devil as they paint him and doing something new does not have to be associated with danger.
LACK OF ENERGY TO ACT
Lack of energy and fatigue may be the reason why you might not want to do ANYTHING at all. When lacking energy, the very thought of new projects will be the last thing you will think about. It is worth examining what is the reason for the lack of energy in you. This may be due to an unhealthy diet, insufficient number of fluids you consume or lack of sufficient sleep and hormonal imbalances in our body. Undiagnosed depression is also a big reason why thousands of people suffer from a decrease in motivation now days. Then even the simplest desire to get out of bed and doing simple tasks every day becomes a chore.
From my own experience, I know how important it is to regularly visit a doctor and perform seasonal medical tests that can explain your lack of energy and constant fatigue. Deficiency of essential minerals and vitamins in the body can also affect depressive states and organ dysfunction.
Those in the long run can lead to serious diseases. Studies have also shown that stress is the leading cause of heart disease, diabetes, depression, asthma, and many other conditions.
WRONG REASONS FOR CHANGE
If your plan embarking on a new path, whether it is a new business, a change of place to live or a new hobby make sure you check with yourself why you want it. If the reason for the change (the so-called WHY) is not consistent with your beliefs and moral compass, then even if you stand on your head, none of those plans will come to fruition.
Your subconscious mind knows better. It might become a tiring and unpleasant process and your level of motivation to carry on with the change will be ZERO. Why? Because on a subconscious level, you know that it’s not something you really desire and want to do deep down. Think about whether the idea of change was your own desire or perhaps a suggestion of someone from your environment?
Very often it is the case that a family member a friend or our partner think that they have a golden answer for our problem. If on the other hand the reason for the change is consistent with our inner desire and belief system, then our level of our motivation will naturally be much higher. In t this case the whole process will be a fantastic experience for us, as if we were leaving for our dream vacation full of excitement before a wonderful adventure.
NO PLAN OF ACTION
It may be that you are 100% sure of the changes you want to make to your life. And you are fully convinced that it is consistent with your internal moral compass but simply in the world you do not know how and where to start! In this situation whether you want it or not, motivation happens to fly out the window. In theory, everything seems easy and in practice it is different.
A very useful tool in such a situation that helped me to make the whole process of change as easy and stress-free as possible was having specifically designed action plan. Personally, I am a huge fanatic of lists, notes, writing diaries and gadgets that can help a lot with creating an effective and solid action plan.
When working with my clients, I often suggest creating visual materials that can help in visualising the entire project. Its hugely useful knowing the steps from the beginning to the end using so-called timeline method.
“WHERE ATTENTION GOES, ENERGY FLOWS, WHERE INTENSION GOES, ENERGY FLOWS”
For example: a specified activity for each stage of the project with detail of the time and method of performing each task. It could be a 6 month or 12-month plan divided in milestones. It is even better if such a plan you created is turned into a vision board hanging in some easily seen place. Ideally somewhere where you spend a lot of your time (like your office or living room). This way your attention is always focused on your goal. And the probability of success is much greater.
Methods Of Supporting Motivation
Meditation
One of the best ways to start your day in a positive way is through meditation. If you want to start your day with the specific intention or plan for a given day or week, this is one of most effective tools. Meditation can help you by reducing the stress associated with negative thoughts. Those negative voices in our head very often lead to chaotic decisions that in effect lead to a chaotic day. Such a session does not take much time and already 5 minutes a day brings great results. Meditation is proven to improves memory, adds energy, and immunity against stress. There are many different types of meditation available for free on the internet so everyone can find something for themselves. I personally have been using free meditations available on YouTube for years.
Physical Activity
Any physical activity, be it dancing, walking, jogging or gym, is one of the best ways to improve not only physical but also mental condition. Exercise helps reduce the stress hormones of adrenaline and cortisol. It stimulates the production of endorphins in the brain that give us a feeling of euphoria. So as a result, they can increase our level of motivation for other projects. If your goal is to implement a diet and exercise regimen, in practice, the more regularly you maintain physical activity, the easier it is to continue them. Personally, I am a supporter of the Latin American style dance and I have been dancing regularly for the past 12 years. It has had a huge positive effect on my physical and mental state. I am more relaxed and happy thanks to the dance movement.
Reading Books
Another method of how to motivate yourself is reading books. Reading books can be a great motivator in any area of life. Imagine that you want to become a photographer. Just simply reaching for a book will not make us a photographer. But when we reach for a book and find it interesting enough, we might be inspired to pick the camera up and test what we have learned. There is an expression that says, we are the sum of five recently read books. Here I will jokingly interject – be a part of mine and read the book I co-authored called “Rebirth”. However, returning to the topic of reading, I have a few favourite books that really changed the way I perceive the world and helped me hugely in the process of self-improvement. The way I can go into the state of motivation through reading inspiring stories is one of my favourite things. I motivate myself, but also gain knowledge that I love so much
Activity Surrounding Yourself With The Right People
As with books, you can often hear a saying that we are the sum of five people with whom we interact the most. The right company can motivate us and support us on our path of life changes and success. Surrounding yourself with negative people on the other hand can cut our wings and effectively discourage us from any actions. When choosing people around us, it is worth paying attention as to who we want to let into our lives and why. Because it can have disastrous consequences. Ask yourself, are those people on similar path to building self-mastery and confidence like you? Or are they jealous of your desire to do better for yourself? Removing toxic friends from your life can create a space for people who support you on your journey and your visions and projects.
I Am Curious….
What ways of motivation are the most effective for you, perhaps you know other methods that are worth sharing with the readers of my blog. Let us know about yourself in the comments. I hope that this article will reach at least one person who will get inspired and motivated enough to implement the planned changes. See you soon, I invite you to follow the blog.