I just can’t seem to get motivated. I just don’t feel like it. Sound familiar?
In today’s episode, we are talking about how to motivate yourself based on “Secrets of Supermom” chapter Supermoms Can Go, Go, Go | The Secret of Motivation.
In this episode, we are sharing:
- How to motivate yourself using your personalized motivation style to kick start motivation
- Key factors to being motivated from within
- Three motivation hacks to keep you motivated every day
Ready to listen? Use the podcast player or listen anywhere you find your favorite podcasts. (Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode!)
Rather read? Check out the show notes and episode content right here!
Show Notes and Transcript:
Hey, hey friend! Welcome to Episode #10 of The Secrets of Supermom Show! I kind of can’t believe we are already ten episodes in! It feels like a big milestone and as such, I am going to do a giveaway. Stay tuned until the end of the episode for all the details!
Brendan Burchard said in one of his podcast episodes, “When we lack motivation, it is a slippery slope to suffering,” and it really stuck with me. Today, we are talking about motivation and how to motivate yourself. Chapter 9 in the book “Secrets of Supermom” is Supermoms Can Go, Go, Go | The Secret of Motivation and continues Part 2 of the book which is The Secrets of the Mind and Body.
See if any of these sound familiar…
- I just can’t seem to get motivated.
- I don’t feel like doing it.
- It is so hard to stay driven.
- I just didn’t feel like doing anything today.
- I don’t have the energy to put in the effort.
If you can relate, today’s episode is totally for you! Today we are going to talk about:
- How to motivate yourself using your personalized motivation style to kick start motivation
- Intrinsic Motivation: Key factors to being motivated from within
- Three motivation hacks to keep you motivated every day
Before we dive in, I want to remind you about Episode 02: The Secret of Habits. In this episode, we talked about how habits and routines make things easier, even when you don’t feel like doing them. Having a good routine in place or strong habits helps you to rely less on motivation and more on habitual action. If you missed that episode, definitely check that one out because it will make applying the strategies we talk about today that much easier.
First, I want to share a little bit about the motivation styles from the book and why it matters. When you know what types of things motivate you, you can tactically make changes to your tasks to make them more motivating. You can also use these styles to think about how other people are motivated to help motivate and inspire your teams or your family.
How to Motivate Yourself with Motivation Styles
There are five motivation styles:
- The Achiever
- The Team Member
- The Leader
- The Learner
- The Winner
The achiever is motivated by reaching the goal itself. The excitement of mastery, coupled with a healthy fear of failure, motivates the achiever to push harder when reaching for a goal or completing a task.
The team member is motivated by comradery, relationships, and affiliation. They like being a valued member of the team. When reaching for a goal, they are motivated forward by team building and connection.
The leader is motivated by being in control or having power over the situation. Leading a team, particularly if there is competition with another team, pushes the leader forward toward goals. They like to be in charge and like others to look to them for guidance.
The learner is motivated by their intrinsic curiosity for new and better methods to reach a goal. Learning the process is as rewarding as meeting the goal, especially if they improve along the way.
The winner is motivated by rewards. Winners like money, points, rewards, spotlights, and verbal appreciation from others.
Take a second to think about what is most motivating to you? Do you like rewards? Do you like to check a box? Do you like to be the one taking the lead? Now, how can you use these motivation styles to help you get going?
Let’s pretend you volunteered for a big project. It could be at work or at your kid’s school or as part of a committee you lead. You can’t seem to get motivated to start the project, but you know that if you don’t start, you will get behind, overwhelmed, and stressed out. As the achiever, you might make a list of all the tasks that have to be done, even the tiny ones, so you can see progress even when something little gets done. The leader might pull together some other volunteers and lead the team through all of the tasks. As the winner you might set up rewards you get when each milestone is completed.
Maybe your lack of motivation isn’t for the big things, but for the little things. Perhaps you simply need to clean the house. As the learner, you might come up with a new process to make house cleaning as efficient as possible so you can have more time to go on a picnic with the kids. If you are a team member, you might make a deal with a friend that she will help you clean your house and then she will help you clean yours since everything is better with friends (or maybe you just talk on the phone while you each clean…a friend of mine totally does this!).
How To Motivate Yourself with Intrinsic Motivation
Your motivation style helps you identify what motivates you from the outside: extrinsic motivation. Let’s talk a little bit about intrinsic motivation which is essentially motivating yourself from within. Brain science teaches us that there are four requirements to be motivated from within. You must feel autonomy, competence, connection, and purpose.
Autonomy means you are independently choosing the direction of your goals. If you feel like you don’t have a choice, it will be very tough to get motivated. Competence means that you feel like you have the skills to complete the task, even if you don’t know every step. You believe that you can learn it if you don’t already know how to do it. Connection simply means that we humans are social little things and that staying motivated to meet a goal is easier and more fun with friends. And purpose means that we believe in the reason we are doing what we are doing, that it is meaningful to us.
Is it possible that you are having a hard time staying motivated because you feel forced to do the task? Maybe you are scared that you don’t have the right skills to do it well? Do you believe that the task is necessary and meaningful? Maybe you are just feeling lonely and need to find a connection again.
How To Motivate Yourself with Three Easy Hacks
Hack One
A supermom in motion stays in motion. Simply, you need to just start. Take action. Do the thing. It doesn’t matter if the task is tiny. Just get started. Once you get started, it is easier to keep going. In the book, Better Than Before Gretchen Rubin says, “The less we do, the less we feel like doing.” It stands to reason then, the more we do, the more we feel like doing.
Take the smallest step to get started and the rest may just take care of itself.
Hack Two
Supermoms cultivate energy. The moms I surveyed for the book really struggled with energy. They mentioned exhaustion, being overtired, and lacking energy. They mentioned anxiety, stress, and overwhelming, all of which destroy energy.
By doing things that increase energy–eating well, moving your body, getting enough sleep, using high energy times of the day to your advantage–you automatically increase your capacity for motivation.
Hack Three
Supermoms hang out with supermoms. In the book Atomic Habits, James Clear says that we will act the way that those closest to us act, the way the majority of people around us act, and the way those in power act. This means that if you want to be motivated and energized and happy, you need to hang out with people who are motivated and energized and happy.
If you have been feeling super demotivated lately, take a look at who you are spending the most time with.
How to Motivate Yourself: One Small Step
Our one small step today is to identify an area where you are not feeling motivated or even tiptoeing around full burnout. Is it a big report, a massive pile of laundry, scheduling date nights, reorganizing the garage, flossing? Then, just get started. Pick one tiny task that will get you moving in the direction of your goal.
A Giveaway!
As promised, in celebration of 10 podcast episodes, over 1,000 friends on Instagram, and over 1,300 books out in the world, I am doing a giveaway (legally a sweepstake).
There are two ways to enter:
- Review The Secrets of Supermom Show on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it, and send it to me via email or DM.
- Screenshot you listening to The Secrets of Supermom show on whichever platform you use and share it to Social Media tagging me so I can see it.
Do both and get two entries!
When does it start? Now! The contest is valid starting June 17, 2021 through 11:00pm Pacific Time on June 27, 2021. The winner will be chosen at random on June 28, 2021.
What do you win? A hardcover copy of Secrets of Supermom (just released last month), The Secrets of Supermom Workbook in hardcopy, my absolute favorite Supermom mug for coffee, tea, or wine (I won’t judge), and a Supermom journal for all of your ideas, thoughts, goals, and dreams!
(No purchase required. The contest is valid from June 17, 2021 to 11:00pm Pacific Standard Time on June 27, 2021. The winner will be chosen at random on June 28, 2021 via live broadcast on Facebook and Instagram Live.)
I am super excited to see who wins! Good luck and see you next week, y’all!
(P.S. If you don’t have the workbook you can download it for free at secretsofsupermom.com/sosworkbook.)
