Many people believe motivation is either something you have or it’s something you don’t. Some believe you’re born with it while others believe the right set of circumstances will motivate even the most unmotivated.

 

In fact, motivation is anything but either of those options. First, motivation is a choice that everyone makes either consciously or unconsciously. Second, it can be a learned skill that can be developed and enhanced.

 

As any top motivational coach or speaker will tell you, find someone who’s sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike and what you have is someone who has not made the choice to be motivated yet. No matter what your circumstance, you can always find ways to be positive and improve your situation if you’re willing to do the work. Or, you can just continue to complain about your situation and stay stuck exactly where you are.

 

Often, the hardest part of making this decision and taking the necessary steps towards motivation is it’s not always easy to see. It’s actually very easy to fool yourself into thinking you’re just one stroke of luck away from having your whole life turn around. No doubt this is the reason most people play the lottery.

 

However, using specific motivational rules can help create a positive mental space and framework in any situation allowing you to start being the change you want to see in your life. To help you to get started, here are some basic motivational rules that can be easily implemented in any situation and for any individual:

 

Find your passion: What do you really love to do? What really matters in the world around you? What do you see as your purpose or your cause? If you truly don’t know, then make the quest to find the answers to these questions your first passion. Even if you don’t find any obvious answers, just this process could form a new work habit that could become a passion. Having a reason to do what you’re doing is a key part of being motivated even if the reason itself is a less than serious one. Once you’ve found your passion, you need to choose activities that help you to follow it. Ask yourself this question, if you could do whatever you wanted and you were guaranteed success, what would you do?

 

Get rid of negativity: Negative thoughts and negative people are motivation’s kryptonite. It is important to get rid of them in your life even if it means finding a new group of friends to hang with. When you find yourself thinking you can’t accomplish something, look for ways to break it down into smaller achievable chunks and then start picking them off one by one. Soon, you will find the obstacle is no long there and you’ll have created a whole new habit of achievement and positivity.

 

Be self-competitive: While the proven and motivational coach extolled practice of writing everything down will certainly help with the first two rules on this list, it will kick into high gear with this rule. It’s critical you set goals for yourself that are daily, weekly, monthly and longer term. Write them down and use them to chart your accomplishments. By competing with yourself to achieve your goals, you will gain self-confidence and trust in your abilities.

 

Don’t just go after small goals and daily challenges. Setting long-term goals and dreaming big is hugely important. How many times have you heard a celebrity or a famous athlete say something like: “I never thought something like this would ever happen to me.” Well, they dreamed big, put in the work and got there anyway. You just never know how far you’ll go until you try.

 

Besides, having big long-term goals can motivate you to continue knocking the smaller goals off your list which in turn feeds your level of motivation creating an upward spiral of success.