How To Motivate Yourself for the New Year (in 6 Steps)

Usually, I suggest building habits and routines. And I think they will remain a big part of anyone’s growth. But we are not the same. And what works for me might be impossible for someone else.

Some people are consistent. Others overwork one day a week and achieve the same results. And if you don’t experience both systems, you will never know what works best for you. So, let’s dive into it and see how to overcharge and motivate yourself for those days.

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Tom Rath says you can recognize fully charged days by three things:

• meaning
• interactions
• and energy.

And you want to maximize each of those parameters to peak performance and build your future. Here are 6 steps from the author (with a bit of yours truly) that might help.

First, you must create meaning.

It should be simple, right? Not really.

You can’t wake up one day and decide you will find purpose in life. No, not even on the 31st of December. It can happen, but you won’t know until it becomes your purpose.

Creating meaning is an evolutionary process that takes ages. And you can only proceed with daily improvements:

• grow purpose every day
• and enjoy the small successes of life.

Soon, you will realize that small actions create a strong drive and purpose in your daily life.

I know it’s not Christmas yet. And it might be too late for you to behave so Santa would come. But for the next year, focus on others’ happiness more than yours.

In life, you can see happiness from two points of view:

• When you focus on yours, you will see your flaws and be unsatisfied with your current position.
• But if you focus on others’ happiness, you will care less about yours and enjoy life more. And as a side effect, those good vibes will return to you.

Usually, you can only experience two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. But if you don’t know, you might only try to improve one and lose the benefits of the other.

• Extrinsic motivation makes you do things because of a reward. No matter the type, you work because you want a salary.
• Intrinsic motivation makes you do things no matter the returns.

In my experience, extrinsic motivation pushes all activities in the beginning. But intrinsic motivation will kick in as you get to the benefits and build purpose with daily successes.

If you love what you do, you won’t work one day of your life – you must never forget it. Therefore, find at least one thing you love about what you do, and you will always find the energy to do it more and more.

Make a job out of your dreams – this is the only goal you need for next year if you don’t have one already.

• Spend a few daily hours doing what energizes and motivates you the most.
• Search for growth opportunities even in the worst situations. Simple to say, try it. It will change your perspective.
• Create meaning in your free time even if, for the moment, your job doesn’t reward you as you wish.

Social interactions might achieve a negative or positive result. And the sum of interactions has a powerful influence on your motivation.

Therefore, you must:

• Control your social circle to achieve a positive sum of interactions. Next year, remove toxic people from your life, and you will see the improvements.
• Be positive 80% of the time. Usually, negative interactions outperform positive ones (negative bias). And since you can’t control other people, at least keep up your mood.

High levels of energy often translate into high levels of motivation. But people often ignore how they could energize themselves more.

For many years, I thought buying new gadgets would help me write more. So, I bought a Mac, a Kindle Scribe, and an iPad. But those materialistic rewards only give you temporary energy. And once you justify your purchase, you will start procrastinating.

So, how can you solve this next year?

• Spend your money on new experiences (better if with many people).
• Also, practice sports that make you feel powerful and refill your dopamine levels.

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