5 Surprising Ways to Get Motivated

Psychological techniques to help you get more motivated

Motivation

Getty Images

Motivation gives us the drive to pursue our goals, but getting and staying motivated isn't always easy. Keeping yourself motivated can help in every area of life, from succeeding in school, meeting personal challenges, and sticking to your exercise goals.

There are plenty of theories and tips designed to help people get motivated, but some of the psychological factors that can influence motivation might surprise you. Sometimes, some of the tactics people use to increase motivation are less effective than we think. For example, sometimes visualizing success can backfire, and incentives can sometimes make people less motivated.

At a Glance

Motivation helps us achieve our goals, solve problems, deal with challenges, and change our habits. Getting motivated can sometimes be a touch, especially when you're dealing with setbacks or coping with a mental health challenge. Fortunately, you can take steps to build motivation the right way.

Strategies that can help with motivation include:

  • Use incentives and rewards carefully to avoid undermining intrinsic motivation
  • Introduce new challenges to build interest
  • Be cautious about using visualization
  • Be willing to take leadership roles
  • Focus more on the process than the outcome

Keep reading to learn more about helpful tactics that might help you build stronger motivation.

1

Use Incentives Carefully

If someone already enjoys doing something, then it stands to reason that rewarding them for the behavior would make them like it even more, right? In many cases, the answer is actually no. Giving incentives for activities that people are already driven to perform can sometimes impair motivation.

Researchers have found that rewarding people for doing things that they are already intrinsically motivated to do can actually backfire. Remember, intrinsic motivation arises from within the individual. It is essentially doing something for the pure enjoyment of it. Doing the task is its own reward.

Researchers found that when children are rewarded for doing something they already enjoy, such as playing with a certain toy, their future motivation to engage in the activity actually decreases. Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as the overjustification effect.

So be cautious with rewards. Incentives can work well to increase motivation to engage in an activity that is otherwise unappealing, but over-dependence upon such rewards might actually end up decreasing motivation in some cases.

How Can You Use This Concept to Increase Motivation?

  • Use extrinsic rewards sparingly.
  • Rewards can be effective if the individual truly has no intrinsic interest in the activity.
  • Try an extrinsic reward during the initial learning period, but phase out these rewards as the learner become more interested in the activity. 
2

Introduce Challenges

Motivated runners facing a challenge
Jordan Siemens / Stone / Getty Images

When facing a task, which do you find more motivating—doing something easy that you’ve done a hundred times and could probably do in your sleep, or doing something that is within the realm of possibilities but requires learning something new or stretching your existing abilities?

For many people, the first option might be the easiest, but the second, more challenging option will probably sound more exciting and motivating.

Motivation and mental energy tend to increase as the expected difficulty of a task increases. (However, this only works up to a certain point. Once a task gets too difficult, motivation drops).

If you are trying to increase your motivation to do something such as getting out of bed early for a run, breaking away from the same old routines and introducing new challenges can be an effective way to keep that motivational spark.

How can you make the most of this tendency? Challenge yourself. Sign up for a local marathon. Focus on improving your times or going just a little bit further than you usually do.

No matter what your goal, adding incremental challenges can help you improve your skills, feel more motivated, and bring you one step closer to success.

3

Visualize the Process Not the Outcome

Woman visualizing success
Daniel Grill / Tetra images / Getty Images

One of the most common tips for getting motivated is to simply visualize success, yet research suggests that this might actually be counterproductive. The problem is that people often visualize themselves achieving their goals, but skip over visualizing all the effort that goes into making those goals a reality.

By imagining that you have achieved the desired goal, you’re actually depleting the amount of energy you have available to devote to accomplishing the task itself.

Imagining yourself achieving your goals can reduce the motivation to actually attain those goals.

So what does work?

  • Instead of imagining yourself suddenly successful, imagine all the steps it will take to achieve that success. Researchers have also found that mental practice can have the same performance benefits and actual physical practice.
  • What challenges will you face? Knowing what you might encounter can make it easier to deal with when the time comes.
  • What strategies can you use to overcome those challenges? Planning ahead can leave you better prepared to overcome the difficulties you might face. 
4

Take Control

Group members feeling motivated
Tom Merton / Caiaimage / Getty Images

People often feel more motivated when they have control over what will happen. Have you ever been part of a group where you felt like you really had no personal control over the outcome? Did you feel particularly motivated to contribute to the group?

One of the reasons people sometimes dislike "group work" is that they lose that individual sense of control and contribution.

What can you do to take back control in group situations?

  • If you are working in a group (or trying to motivate a group of followers), finding a way to make each person feel empowered and influential can help.
  • Give individuals control over how they contribute to how their ideas are presented or used.
  • Allow group members to determine what goals they wish to pursue.
5

Focus on the Journey, Not the Outcome

Focus on the journey
Thomas Barwick / Taxi / Getty Images

Constantly fixating on the outcome, on success or failure, can seriously impair motivation. In her research on different mindsets, psychologist Carol Dweck has found that praising children for fixed traits (such as being smart or attractive) can actually decrease motivation and persistence in the future.

This type of praise, she believes, causes people to develop what is known as a fixed mindset. People with this mindset believe that personal characteristics are simply inborn and unchanging. They think that people are either smart or dumb, pretty or ugly, athletic or non-athletic, and so on.

How Can You Avoid Developing a Fixed Mindset?

  • Praising efforts rather than traits is the key, Dweck suggests.
  • Instead of just focusing on the outcome, on whether you will succeed or fail, try to focus on the journey toward reaching your goals.
  • What have you learned from the process? Remember, the journey is just as important as the outcome.
  • What actions have been the more effective and rewarding? By assessing your efforts, you can fine-tune your future actions to achieve better results.

Get Advice From The Verywell Mind Podcast

Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares an exercise you can use to help you perform your best.

Follow Now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts

Keep in Mind

Whether you are trying to lose weight, run a marathon, earn a degree, or complete another goal, motivation plays a critical role in your success or failure. Some of these research findings might contradict your existing ideas about what works and what doesn't regarding motivation. Try incorporating a few of these strategies into your daily habits to improve your enthusiasm and drive to succeed.

It's important to remember that what works for someone else might not work for you. For example, if you have a form of neurodivergence such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you might struggle more with motivation. That means you'll have to determine which motivation strategies are most effective.

Each person's brain works differently, so it's essential to experiment with various strategies to figure out what helps you the most. Strategies like adding challenges to change your routine, being careful with the rewards you use, and visualizing yourself working on your goals may be helpful.

If you are struggling with motivation and are experiencing other symptoms, such as a loss of interest, excessive fatigue, changes in sleep and/or appetite, and feelings of sadness, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional. Such symptoms may be a sign of depression.

4 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Levy A, DeLeon IG, Martinez CK, et al. A quantitative review of overjustification effects in persons with intellectual and developmental disabilitiesJ Appl Behav Anal. 2017;50(2):206-221. doi:10.1002/jaba.359

  2. Wang X, Janiszewski C, Zheng Y, Laran J, Jang WE. Deriving mental energy from task completionFront Psychol. 2021;12:717414. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.717414

  3. Kappes HB, Morewedge CK. Mental simulation as substitute for experience. Social and Personality Psych. 2016;10(7):405-420. doi:10.1111/spc3.12257

  4. O'Keefe PA, Dweck CS, Walton GM. Implicit theories of interest: Finding your passion or developing it? Psychol Sci. 2018;29(10):1653-1664. doi:10.1177/0956797618780643

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd
Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."