Motivation plays a vital role in the life and career of a successful entrepreneur. It is natural to feel stuck and unmotivated when you have started on your quest to entrepreneurship and also later on when you are running a business and hit unexpected hurdles. Learning how to self-motivate and how to stay motivated throughout becomes critically important. You may find it hard, but you need to find personal, effective ways to stay motivated as an entrepreneur and we have tips to help.
Self-motivation helps us demonstrate commitment to ourselves, our dreams and our businesses. It gives us the desire and will to seek out and capitalize on opportunities, and it’s what drives us to keep going even when faced with setbacks. Our world and our consumer continually evolves, and keeping up is essential. Self-motivation provides the excitement and willingness to continually learn and adapt.
Why motivation is important in entrepreneurship
Taking continual steps forward is a given need for an entrepreneur. If you work for someone else, even if you had no desire to follow through, you obviously perform or lose your job. With no boss, no prodding, sometimes following a dream and the economic need to pay your bills, may still not be enough to get up and go, if there is no self-motivation within an entrepreneur.
Personal Motivation and Business
Motivation is not a quote. Motivation is not a book that you read entitled “Motivation.”
According to Wikipedia: Motivation is derived from the word ‘motive’, which denotes a person’s needs, desires, wants, or urges. It is the process of motivating individuals to take action in order to achieve a goal. The psychological elements fueling people’s behavior in the context of job goals might include a desire for money.
Entrepreneurs are driven strongly by their business dream. Sometimes that is enough to keep going. Sometimes a shorter term need to pay the bills equally helps with self-motivation on the daily basis.
You may have heard the term entrepreneurial motivation. Is that something you personally need in order to start a business or to run a successful business? Is a lack of something called entrepreneurial motivation something that will cause you to lose motivation? NO!
There is science behind self-motivation as related to entrepreneurs, and we can talk about it as related to local and global economics and how entrepreneurs contribute and why they do what they do. However, from everything I’ve read and experienced, self-motivation is self-motivation. You have it or you do not. As an entrepreneur, you need to have it.
It’s important to know: self-motivation is not a skill we are born with, but it can be learned.
How successful entrepreneurs engage in motivational activities
Self-motivation is more than dreaming of butterflies and unicorns, right? You can lie that meadow or visit a butterfly garden when you have the cash to pay for the days off and trip, so let’s get to it.
Start building self motivation by thinking about your vision. Envision growing your business and long-term success.
Knowing your vision, setting related goals, and breaking them down into smaller achievable tasks helps build a positive environment. Surrounding yourself with other successful entrepreneurs helps too. Self-motivation is something that builds. There’s no right path, but these steps encourage you to develop a growth mindset and remain consistent.
You will have to deal with failure and power through it. Throughout your journey, take care of yourself and maintain a healthy work-life balance. With dedication and a positive mindset, achieving your entrepreneurial dreams is absolutely possible.
Building your self-motivation is directly proportional to the habits of successful people.
- Identify your vision and goals
- Create a positive environment
- Develop a growth mindset
- Maintain consistent self-motivation
- Embrace failure
- Maintain a healthy routine
Successful entrepreneurs set realistic goals which lead to milestones!
Identify your vision and goals
Knowing your vision and setting SMART goals is important for building and maintaining self-motivation. You must have a plan. Your entrepreneurship journey depends upon it.
Think about your clear and compelling vision for your business. Then create your business plan with SMART goals; SMART goals are specific measurable, attainable, realistic, and timebound. It’s easy to lose motivation, and success lies within, right? Many entrepreneurs are staying positive by keeping their goals in mind.
Use our business plan or create your own. It doesn’t need to be complicated, but it needs to exist and include the following sections:
- Executive summary
- Opportunity
- Target Market
- Competition
- Sales & Marketing
- Operations
- Milestongs
- Company
- Financial Plan
Your business plan summarizes that dream and all you know – the reason you decided to make that dream a reality. The problem you are solving for the world.
Having goals, breaking them down into measurable objectives backed with consistent activity gets you there. You may feel like you do not have a thing today, but you will. Tracking progress and celebrating small wins along the way keeps you motivated and inspired to continue your journey and ultimately achieving success.
Start motivating yourself!
Create a positive environment
Do not underestimate the importance of working and living in a positive environment and surrounding yourself with like-minded, positive people. These positive people may be coworkers, friends, influencers. You may talk with a mentor or Join a networking group. Keep a small basket of stress balls on your desk or a picture or small reminder of a great experience.
What makes you smile? Nothing is too small to make a positive difference! For example, I keep a small thumb drive shaped like Cinderella’s coach on my desk. I use the phrase, “recreate your Cinderella story” all the time. It’s not about whether a princess is a great role model, and I don’t own a ball gown. That sparkly coach simply represents growth and never giving up on fairy tale endings. It’s a trinket, but it’s meaningful – to me. It’s inspiring – to me.
Sometimes an uninspiring environment results from:
- an introvert working in a house full of chatty people
- an outdoors person utilizing a small space as a bedroom, office and area to exercise and whose view is a brick wall
- it could be someone with college loans and a need to pay them, while dreaming big dreams requiring capital
If you are an introvert working in a house full of people who continually distract you:
- Set boundaries for them and for you.
- Go to a library to do your work.
- Wear noise cancelling headphones.
If you feel caged by your circumstances or working environment, control what you can:
- Create a dream board.
- Plan 10 minutes walking up and down steps or walking outside.
- Make light of the brick wall, knowing you’ll never hit it because it’s a view, not something you will every actually touch.
If you have serious financial realities, there’s no better time to plan out your time:
- Use the 8:8:8 method to maintain 8 hours of work, 8 hours of relaxation and 8 hours of sleep.
- Figure out where you can invest time into knocking out those bills while knocking out small goals that start your business.
- Start building your reputation as the problem solver for the product you are creating using social media.
Be creative. The solutions will be unique to you. Maybe you can work with a partner or develop a new computer or social media skill that you need for your business. Maybe you can focus on fun business building during half of your break or brainstorm as you walk.
What are your personal circumstances? What trips you up? Focus on positivity, rather than negativity and build 3 or 4 areas of positivity for yourself.
In business news, focus on your goals is a win!
Develop a growth mindset
A growth mindset is about using fear or hurdles or what you do not know in order to create your next step. Instead of allowing something negative to paralyze you or set you back, you use it the energy to move forward.
- Stay motivated is by visualizing and reflecting on your progress as part of your weekly planning.
- Note of your successes, and learn from your failures.
- Update your objectives and daily activities as needed.
- Attend networking events and conferences, and seek out mentorship and advice from experienced entrepreneurs.
Adversity is a natural part of the entrepreneurial journey, and it’s how you respond and learn from it that sets you apart. Remember that successful failure gives rise!
Set goals to start a business backed by consistent entrepreneurial effort!
Maintain consistent self-motivation
Consistency is key!
- Use and refer to your business plan as part of your routine and to guide your strategic decisions.
- Regular planning sessions help you stay focused each week and also highlight what’s working
- Continual learning and evolution keeps you motivated but ahead of the competition.
Growing a business cannot happen without experiencing failure!
Embrace failure
Tackle that fear of failure and use that energy for growth. Don’t let fear set you back. Instead, use it as a form of motivation.
Thinking of failure as something important for entrepreneurship may sound counter-intuitive, but it will help you maintain your self-motivation.
- know you are growing a business
- know pairing your long-term vision and short-term motivation is key
- know you are giving your best
- know you set goals that are realistic
- know all human beings need rest and relaxation
Know whatever it is that will keep YOU going is what is important!!
Find what works 4 you!
Maintain a healthy routine
It’s important to take care of yourself and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Incorporate these fabulous four areas into your self-care routine every single day.
- nutrition
- relaxation
- exercise
- sleep
A successful entrepreneur seeks inspiration.
Self-motivation is not about simply finding cloud formations inspiring. It’s about noticing those beautiful sites and being compelled to take action. Set goals, no matter how small, and know reaching each one is a source of motivation. Every goal you meet is a milestone along your way to entrepreneurial success. Lofty goals are fantastic, but so is breaking them down into achievable tasks, and celebrating your progress.
Go look at your pictures of unicorns and butterflies. Go read inspirational and motivational quotes. Get lost in them momentarily – then act with purpose. Read about ways entrepreneurs who achieved great success stayed motivated. They ALL hit bumps in the road too; every business does. Surround yourself with supportive individuals and continually learn from them, and adapt to your changing business needs. Above all, maintain a positive mindset, stay on track, and stay dedicated to your dreams. You got this!
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