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Staying inspired and motivated is not as easy as it sounds. We all feel discouraged from time to time and self-doubt is a real thing! No matter how creative, positive, or self-driven you are, anything can cause us to second guess ourselves. Let’s use my blog as an example. I’ve had my blog for four years and there were long periods of time where I felt unmotivated, uninspired, and I just felt stupid for doing it. Even my company, Bloguettes, I’ve felt discouraged so many times. Staying inspired and motivated means so many different things to everyone, but I wanted to do a blog post on how I personally stay inspired and motivated every day.
I’m going to start with the three important steps I practice every day when I’m feeling discouraged before I get into the details.
STEP 1 – Self-awareness.
The first thing you have to do is understand why you’re feeling uninspired + discouraged and WANT to do something about it. If you don’t, Debbie Downer is going to suck you right in and keep you staying down. Sounds pretty basic, but you have to be self-aware of your feelings + thoughts in order for you to take concrete actions towards it.
STEP 2 – Tell yourself everything is okay and that this will all blow over.
Feeling uninspired or discouraged can last minutes, days, months, or even years! That time is up to you, but you have to tell yourself that you’re just in this funk right now and everything is okay.
Step 3 – I do this because…
Having gratitude for things can change your everyday life. It completely changes your perspective on things. Since the beginning of the year, I have been writing 3 things I’m grateful for every morning and though I only write 3 things, it typically correlates to the big important things in my life (love, work, and health). When you do this, you end up telling yourself why it’s worth all the trouble that you might have when dealing with problems or issues.
alright, here’s how I stay inspired, creative, and motivated every day!
ONE – I let social media fuel me, instead of compare.
A lot of people say they hate social media because they’re constantly comparing their life to others, but I use social media to inspire me + motivate me to go on my day. One of my favorite things to do in the morning is to go on Pinterest and get all my creative juice going. I’ve curated my Pinterest so well to my liking that I ONLY see things I’m attracted to and like on Pinterest now. If you don’t follow me, you definitely should! FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST HERE.
TWO – I talking about my funk of feeling uninspired + unmotivated.
Pretty basic, but I think it’s extremely important to talk about it. When you talk about not feeling inspired or motivated, you’re being self-aware of how you feel and let your frustrations out. I’ve also found talking about it allows me to come up with ideas or actionable steps to get out of my funk. As being a business owner, this is when having a business partner is so nice! Lorena and I find ourselves picking each other up when one of us is down at that time, and it helps us really feel better when we’re feeling discouraged.
THREE – My mornings are very important to my day.
I know I’ve mentioned this in the past, but I dedicate 90% of my work time to my company, Bloguettes, and the rest of the 10% is on my blog. I work from 8am-5pm at the office, so I really only have either before work or after work or on the weekends to work on my blog. I was feeling unmotivated and uninspired with my blog for a long time, there were a lot of factors to this, but mainly it was because I felt like I “didn’t have time” for it and I was exhausted + uninspired at the end of my day. I knew I felt the most creative, inspired, and motivated when I had my quite “me” time, so I had to make time for it. I started waking up an hour early to enjoy my coffee, work on my blog, listen to podcasts, or even meditate. I’m not the best writer, so I especially like to dedicate my quiet mornings to actually write my blog post, so I can focus + concentrate.
I also like to listen to podcasts to motivate me in the morning!
FOUR – The hunger to learn.
No matter how much we think we know something, it’s always important to continuously educate yourself. I’m very limited on time, so I love to listen to podcasts in the morning when I’m getting ready for my day or in my car. I recently wrote a blog post on all of my favorite podcasts HERE, so definitely check them out. I think it’s also very important to have a mentor or people you can learn from. I have multiple mentors for different things, but I’ve learned a lot through their experience and it’s really helped me a lot. I also think my hunger to learn has helped me with different skills I have today and it’s also saved me a lot of money, so I can do things myself. When I want to learn how to do something, I really dive into it by either doing an online class or watch YouTube videos. Knowledge is power. I live by that every day!
FIVE – I sing // listen to music.
No, guys. I’m not a good singer, but I find singing in the morning or listening to music really helps me get into a good mood. Good mood = motivated + creative! I also find myself listening to music on my way home way more than listening to podcasts. I feel like, after work, my brain is just exhausted, so learning is the last thing I want to do!
SIX – I workout.
I feel like I don’t have to get too deep into this, but working out truly helps releasing those endorphins and I always feel so motivated after working out. Getting yourself to the gym is the hardest part, but after you work out, you feel so good about yourself and you’re in a happy mood! I really prefer working out in the morning, but I dedicate my morning time to the blog because I don’t need my creative juice to work out, so I have been working out after work.
SEVEN – I challenge myself by giving myself goals WITH deadlines.
We all love to be challenged, so why not challenge yourself. I started doing this last year and it has really helped me stay motivated for all things I do. I give myself goals for everything- work-related, personal goals, and more. The most important thing when it comes to setting goals is giving yourself a realistic + achievable goal and deadlines. Deadlines are so important because once you set it, you should work backward and list off things you need to do by when in order to achieve your goals. This has really allowed me to stay motivated, inspired, and have concrete action items!
EIGHT – I’m grateful for…
Staying inspired, creative, and motivated is all very important, but it’s extremely important to be grateful for the NOWs in your life. I started an exercise beginning of 2018 to write 3 things I’m grateful for every morning and I found this exercise becoming very inspiring + motivating to me. It also changes your perspectives on things and it’s helped with my day-to-day happiness!
This is all something I continuously work on every single day that’s worked for me, so I hope it works for you! Would love to hear what you all do to stay inspired, creative, and motivated! Comment below, friends!
