Advice Guru Liz Pryor Tackles Self-Motivation

April 12, 2011 — -- It seems as though some of the most sought-after advice from Americans today is in the area of self-motivation. People are asking how to motivate themselves in every area of their lives.

From losing weight to finding a job, to pursuing friends, hobbies, sports, going to the gym, reading more, saving money, quitting smoking, traveling, learning Chinese, cleaning, organizing, and on and on. And, in our society, we not only want to know how to be motivated, we want to know it quickly and easily; preferably, in fact, in three easy steps.

Common motivational tips that resurface over and over again don't seem to be cutting it. So besides focusing on why it is you want to do what you're trying to do, or engaging a partner for support and accountability, or rewarding yourself when you randomly succeed, what can we do to entice ourselves to effectively accomplish what we want?

Is it a discipline thing? A focus thing? A self-sabotage thing? Where is the golden key that turns the light on inside us and shows us the path?

Liz Pryor: Motivation Is Within Reach

If you break it down logically, what you might begin to see is that the areas of your life in which you do succeed and find motivation are often the areas in which you feel you have no choice. You don't have to ask for motivation to cook for your children, or go to work or help a lost dog.

These are the things that carry obvious motivators like money and staying alive. Why is it so much easier to be motivated for others?

Look at what we do for our children and the people we love on a daily, weekly and yearly basis. Rain, snow or shine, we drive, pay for, listen, encourage, feed, love and nurture. But when it comes to ourselves, we aren't quite there in the same way.

No one writes and asks how to be motivated to help other people. The pleas are for ways to help motivate themselves.

If you want to accomplish some goals and are looking for the true motivation, it is definitely within reach. Rather than looking for the shortcuts that aren't there anyway, the good old-fashioned, reach-inside-yourself advice is the one that might work if you let it.

Once you wrap yourself around knowing you deserve whatever it is you are trying to be motivated to do, you can begin to figure out the logistics. Indeed, your goals for yourself may move and change once you figure out how deserving you are.

Find Self-Motivation in the People You Care About

Most of the success we experience in life has to do directly with how well we know ourselves. It sounds so simple, but it's not. If you're failing when looking for this part of you, sit down and really think about the parts of your life that are successful, notice and remember what you do to make that success, and know that you can accomplish that in any other area you choose.

Things around us can be inspirational; many of us are inspired everyday. But motivation is a little different. While searching and drawing from life around you, don't forget that motivation or a lack of motivation is custom-made inside you and custom-made by you.

Liz Pryor: Treat Yourself as You Treat Others

The precursor to most of what is great in our lives is our ability to motivate it to happen. All of us know what it feels like to live up to it, even if just for a moment. Living up to our true potential is human nirvana.

So take the kind of time and care you take with all the people you care about in your life, and try to find a way to give the same to yourself. That is self-motivation.