Motivation

For many of us, we have days when the motivation wanes. This can show itself in any number of ways-procrastination, anger, self-doubt and the inability to focus, though if you are like me, it will become all of these wrapped together. It may start as procrastination, but I always end up tumbling in to self-doubt. I think this is one of the worst places to end up when it comes to losing your motivation. Once you start doubting your abilities, it becomes hard to pull yourself back up, not impossible, but difficult.

There are some important things you can do to help keep your motivation from disappearing:

1) Make sure you are doing the job you should be doing. It's nearly impossible to stay motivated when you are chasing another person's dream. You can do work without being motivated, but you can't do your life's work without it.
2) Surround yourself with the right people (both personally and professionally). You need to be surrounded by people who are positive, upbeat and strive to do the best work they can. Plus, you need people you can trust when things get tough.
3) Keep it fun. Always make sure you take the time to have fun with anything you are doing. You are going to be more creative and driven if you enjoy what you do.
4) Get some exercise. If things start to get stressful or your feel your motivation start to wane, take a walk, go for a bike ride, jog...do anything to get your blood pumping. It helps to get those creative juices flowing again.
5) Allow yourself some time away. Every now and again, we need to get away to help regain focus and let our mind and body relax.

Even if you do all of these, there are no guarantees your motivation will always stick around. It can pull a disappearing act, often when you need it the most. In these cases, what do you do to get it back?