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I once spent a year out of work. I spent some of my mandatory extra free time training for the Dublin City Marathon. I ran in the evenings or sometimes in the mornings after the kids went to school.
My motivation came from within, as I wanted to do something worthwhile with my extra free time without falling into a pit of depression.
Then I started training for the marathon with other local runners.
They were all faster and stronger than I was and ran longer and harder. My motivation became external because their athleticism encouraged me to run longer and harder and to get up earlier.
Behold the positive effects of peer pressure!
So how can you keep motivated?
Establish Your Why
If you're setting a goal or you're about to embark on a challenging project that will take several months to accomplish, write down five to seven reasons why success is important.
Are you seeking a promotion? What would winning new customers mean for your business? Is this a life-long personal ambition?
Keep your reasons in a file alongside the goal or details of the project itself and document what success looks like. It's good practice to combine internal and external reasons.
For example, “I want to write a book because it's a life-long ambition” is an internal reason. And “I want to find coaching clients because it will help us increase revenues” is an external reason.
If you feel unmotivated by your lack of progress, go back and read your five to seven reasons why the goal or project is important.
Invest In More Than One Project
Top investors like Warren Buffett recommend developing multiple sources of income. He famously said, “Never depend on a single income. Make investment to create a second source.”
In other words, if one source of income fails, you won't go broke because you'll have other sources to rely on. Having multiple sources of income increases your margin of safety.
The same principle applies to motivation. If you invest in multiple projects, you're less likely to feel unmotivated because a single project fails.
For example, let's say you want to write a nonfiction book and find 10 new coaching clients for your business.
On a given week, you might find two new clients but get distracted from writing and produce only 500 words.
The working week was disappointing from the point of w
