Monday, May 30, 2011

Stay Motivated: Make a Contract With Yourself

Motivation is defined as, why people do what they do. Long-term motivation can be difficult when you do not make yourself stick to your goals. Most people make goals, but those who are successful have the discipline and drive to achieve their goals and dreams.

Different things motivate people. Some are driven by internal or intrinsic motivation. Others need extrinsic motivation, or outside forces, to help them stay on track. One easy way to help you achieve your goals is to make a contract with yourself and work hard to stick to it. Sign it, date it and keep track of it.

The first step in making a contract with your self to stay motivated is to make an outline. When you make an outline in your contract, you will list long-term goals, short-term goals, payoffs and benefits, rewards and a detailed action plan. By having everything you need to know about achieving your goals, you will stay motivated. Before making this outline, take some time and think about what exactly you want to accomplish. Maybe you want to reorganize your home, or maybe you want to try out a new fitness plan. Perhaps you want to go back to school and finish a degree. Whatever it is, you will need to do some research and understand each step you will need to accomplish.

When you list your long-term goals, you will make a list of the things you want to achieve within one to three years. Try to be very specific so you will know exactly what you are working towards. If you want to lose thirty pounds, your long-term goals will be to lose the weight through diet and exercise. Your long-term goals will be your final end result that you are working towards. This works for almost any goal and will help you in staying focused and motivated to reach your goals.

Short-term goals will be things that you want to accomplish within weeks or months. If you are working on going back to school, your short-term goals may be to request school applications and catalogs or to talk to a financial aid office about your payment options. Your short-term goals should be specific and should be something that you can accomplish in a short amount of time. Short-term goals are also important because once you finish one goal; you will feel motivated by knowing you are one step closer in reaching that long-term goal.

Your next step in making a contract with yourself is to list payoffs and benefits of your goals and achievements. While losing weight is a benefit, you will want to list the reason why you want to lose weight. Maybe the payoff is fitting into a certain size jeans again or looking great for an upcoming reunion. Maybe it is because you want to better your health by losing weight. Again, you should be specific when you set these benefits in your contract because it will help you stay motivated.

Now you can think about rewards. Rewards are important when you are setting goals for yourself. When you think about rewards, think about the fun things that you will accomplish by reaching your goals. Lose that weight and buy a new dress. Reorganize you house and get a new couch. Whatever you think it the best part about reaching your goals, use that as a reward to help stay motivated.

The last part in setting a contract with your self is to have a specific action plan. An action plan will tell you what steps you need to take to reach your final goal. It is here that you will list what you need to change, do, or accomplish in a day, a week, a month or a year. This action plan will help keep you motivated to reach your end goal. List your action plan and keep it in mind everyday you are working towards your goal.

When you take the time to make an official contract with yourself, you will stay motivated and ready to reach your goals. It will be easier when you can see your long and short-term goals in writing and know what rewards and benefits are waiting for you along the way. Your action plan will help you stay on track when you are working hard to accomplish your goals and dreams.

76 comments:

  1. Knowing the difference & keeping a reasonable expectation of the time it takes to achieve short term & long term goals is a big part of success. However, so few self-help gurus actually discuss that!

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  2. Totally agree with this. Every time I try to set goals just in my head, (ok, Im gonna work out every other day at 4pm) I can always push it aside or forget it. A framed contract by my door would really help.

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  3. Yup, definitely a good idea. I always set a goal that is obtainable and tell myself not to stop until I reach it.

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  4. Just talkng to my friend about short term goals last night. The best is to focus on the acheivable.

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  5. Interesting. Are these insights from a book, or from your own personal perspective?

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  6. Great advice as per usual. :)

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  7. i need lawyers to make myself a contract

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  8. making a contract with yourself is the key !

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  9. This actually helps me in the life.

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  10. I enjoyed reading this one! Thanks for the text.

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  11. Thank you. Thank you for this blog, truly thank you. I needed this blog to motivate myself to study a bit harder! I can't wait to read your future posts!

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  12. It's really hard to stay motivated if something fails.

    These days are a real pain. Too much change in too little time.

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  13. Very Insightful information, thank you good sir. Very useful in the real world :)

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  14. A very good article.Seems long but when you start reading, it becomes shorter!

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  15. really insightful. but the problem is i make contracts with myself all the time and never sign them

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  16. Motivation is everything to get something accomplished!

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  17. awesome tips! i'll take some of these to heart

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  18. A lot of people have been talking to me about motivation recently. The results are certain things should be enough motivation, in my opinion.

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  19. Motivation is the key to success in anything. It drives someone who normally wouldnt be able to do something to do it better than a talented, unmotivated person

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  20. I wanna learn a Tai Chi form from a book by summer's end. That's one of my goals I'm working on at the moment.

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  21. Thanks for those helpful and motivating tips

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  22. Man this is really helpful, i'm in some hard stuff these days and indeed, I need a contract with myself. I really appreciate the info, take care!

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  23. this is definitely true with any goal, it will help with my weight loss, definitely subscribing

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  24. This is really good advice. I've never tried this before but it certainly is worth the try. Might actually even get some work done!

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  25. Motivation is something that greatly effects everyone's lives. I for one know that if I myself was more motivated, I could of achieved much more by now. Nice post.

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  26. I wasn't even motivated to read this text :D

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  27. So inspiring, great read :)

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  28. Nice read again, you super self-aware bastard.

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  29. thank you for sharing.
    nice read

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  30. you should become a preacher ;)

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  31. So true about the action plan. If you don't have one, your chances of succeeding are much lower.

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  32. Great blog, has made me think differently about my personal goals. ... I just don't like the idea of making a contract with myself, i hope i don't end up taking myself to court. (joke) great thanks again.

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  33. Great advice, I love posts like this.

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  34. Great post, I really like the way you break motivation down into manageable ideas.

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  35. Very nice read, you certainly have a way with words.

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  36. Yes, motivation and commitment get things done. It's kind of hard to do either when the other is missing though.

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  37. Damn, thats quite interesting..
    Gonna follow you for future articles like this.. :)

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  38. Good read, yeah I lack in the motivation department. I think my main problem is that I want instant gratification.

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  39. Nice, its really food for your thoughts..

    Cant wait for your next post.. :)

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  40. Wise words. Thats what made me the man i am today. And i'm proud of myself.

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  41. love the blog mmmm

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  42. Good tip, who would cheat on himself?

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  43. I believe in this method, and I'm also doing it!

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  44. This will never work. I get angry and past and future me.

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  45. Another great post. Thanks for the advice!

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  46. This really does help. Just writing it down helps make it "real."

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  47. Good idea, I might be more motivated with this.

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  48. I agree with this. Thanks for being for inspiring. :)

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  49. Mental strengh is your key to all

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  50. I've actually been doing this for a couple months already ^-^ I guess great minds think alike.

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  51. This is really good advice keep it up!

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  52. Great advice, I'm going to make a contract with myself. Without goals we just stumble through life. Followed.

    http://hairypalmer.blogspot.com/

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  55. Nice post, but I would recommended changing the font color, because the words aren't visible.

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