5 Great Ways To Get Motivated When You’re Feeling Down

So, how do you stay motivated when you’re feeling down?

Here it is the fourth week of January already and it gets dark early in the evening or late afternoon.

Now, I know, it’s been getting lighter out every day since winter solstice or the first day of the winter, but it still feels like it gets dark so early and it’s those dark days of winter.

You get home from work and all you feel like doing is sitting on a couch, wrapping up in the blanket and “vegging out” and not doing anything until you go to bed.

And you don’t feel motivated to do ANYTHING!

Anybody ever feel this way? I know I do sometimes.

True; it’s more common to feel this way with the dark days of winter, but it can happen at any time of year.

So today I’m goin to talk about some great ways to get motivated when you’re feeling down.

If you’re feeling like you’re having one of those days, those weeks, those months even, when you’re feeling down and you just can’t seem to get motivated, what can you do about it?

You very often are looking for some spark of inspiration to help motivate you and move you forward.

But when you’re feeling down, it’s not easy. You need something to break that negative mindset loop you find yourself in sometimes and to help get you back on track.

Now it’s normal to feel down sometimes.  It’s only natural.  For whatever reason it is; whether it’s your family, your spouse, your relationships, work, the weather, or all of it seems to have you overwhelmed.  Whatever the reason is.

Now, motivation defined is …why a person does something or what are the driving forces behind our actions and very often there are goal-oriented behaviors.

Now, most commonly there are two types of motivations that people will describe.

The first one is extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is usually when you’re motivated by an outside force or person and it’s stimulated by either trophies or rewards or money or social praise to get us to do something.

And the other form of motivation is Intrinsic motivation, or some people call it internal motivation. And that arises from within us and that usually stimulates our emotions, whether it’s anger or fear or happiness. And it usually arises from our thoughts, our values and our goals that we have for ourselves.

So what we’re going look at here is intrinsic motivation.

We can look at different things that will inspire us to change our emotions.  To help motivate us to do something that is in alignment with our goals and what we feel about ourselves and what we believe about ourselves.

And what I want to show you is to …

focus on improving your mindset to help motivate you to move forward.

You see, your mindset is a way of thinking or a set of beliefs that determines your actions and behaviors.

And if your mindset is “off” and you feel like you’re stuck in this negative mindset loop, then usually what happens is you’re not motivated to do anything.

And for whatever reason, whether it’s the weather, a difficult relationship with our spouse or our family, whether it’s work related, or all of those things together can also overwhelm us.

How do we break this loop and help motivate us to move forward?

Very often we can be feeling down because we’ve lost sight of what our goals are and what we want to accomplish. And so when this happens, for whatever reason, we start to feel down.

But whatever it is that’s got us in this negative loop, we need something to break this cycle and get us back on track so we can focus on the things that we want to do.

Now, what I’m going to talk about right now is some simple things that will help you break this “down” cycle and get you back on track.

1.  Now the first one is to revisit your goals.

Now if you haven’t set goals, then it’s to actually sit down with a piece of paper and pen to write out and start with some things you’ll want to accomplish today and tomorrow.

Because if it’s the weather that’s got you down or the darkness (the dark days of winter), that’s has you down, very often it’s a matter of setting goals for what you want to accomplish after you get home from work and it’s dark.

It may be exercising, it may be weight loss, it may be doing chores around the house.  Whatever it is, but sit down and write specific goals for yourself.

Now, I could sit here and probably do a whole weekend course on just setting goals. I have my own PRIME Method of setting goals. But for now what I want you to do is list out some specific goals that you can do for yourself today, tomorrow, and for the rest of the week.

This will help you break that negative mindset loop that you’re in and help motivate you to move forward in a task-oriented way.

2. The second thing is to “Phone a friend”

Remember, “Who wants to be a millionaire?” Great show.   

The rules stated if you were stuck on a question, you could use the “phone a friend” option because a friend could help you out when you didn’t know the answer to a question.

With the “phone a friend”, what I want you to do is call somebody.

Either a really close friend, a family member, a colleague, or a mentor so that they can possibly help you to break the “down” cycle that you’re in.

It doesn’t mean that they’re going to solve your problems.  It may inspire you to move forward just by talking with somebody and catching up on the things that they’re doing that day.   What did they do over the weekend? Maybe talk about a trip that they went on or a trip that you want went on that you could explain to them.

And before you know it, you’re starting to get into a happier attitude and a happier frame of mind and it clicks you back into focusing on what your goals on what you want to accomplish. And then that gets you out of that down cycle.

3.  The next thing is to do some form of Exercise.

It doesn’t have to mean going to the gym. You might not have the option of going to the gym or be able to afford a gym.

There’s lots of things people you can do right within the comfort of your own home.

• You can stand up from the couch and do some squats standing in place, just squatting 10 times.
• You could lay down on the ground and do pushups. Now, if you can’t do a full pushup, do pushups where your knees are on the ground.  Do pushups where you’re standing up leaning forward to get against the couch and moving back and forth.
• Something to get yourself moving.
• Do a few jumping jacks.
• Do hands overhead and pulling back like you’re doing a lap pull down machine.

Exercise will help activate your endorphins and your enkepholins will improve your state of mind, breaking that feeling of being down.

4.  Get outside in Nature.

I went for a hike this past weekend up in Bear Mountain State Park in New York.  I try to hike every week if I can.

If I don’t hike often enough, I usually get the John Muir quote in my head that says, …

“The mountains are calling and I must go.”

But there’s something about getting out in nature, whether it’s just going for a walk  around your block, or going out into the yard where there’s trees and sunshine.

When you breathe the fresh air, there’s a calming nature from being outside in the elements. And this is a very good way of getting yourself to break that “down” cycle.

You get back from a brisk walk or being in the backyard or walking down by the beach or on the trail, and there’s a sense of calm that comes over you, a relaxation feeling. And this will motivate you to do more that evening or to do this each night or every other day.

And it keeps you on track for staying focused on what you want to accomplish.

5.  And another great idea is to read inspiring quotes.

They say a happy thought in the morning can change your whole day.  I find myself reading inspirational quotes on a daily basis. 

I very often post them and post quotes of my own, because if you hear the right thing at the right time from the right person, it can change your day. It can change your week, it can change your life.

So if you’re feeling down, a go-to place is to read some inspirational quotes that can change your attitude, remind you what you need to focus on, to switch from a negative mindset loop to a positive mindset loop.

And if you focus on improving your mindset, this helps you to develop what I call a Positive Proactive Mindset where you’re focusing on the positive aspects of your life and the fact that the world is not happening to you, it’s happening for you, and that you will start to make things happen.

And I know sometimes it’s simple as the dark days of winter getting you down, or it’s the the weather, or you just had a tough week at work. We don’t want a tough day to turn into a tough week, to turn into a tough month.

We need these things to help us break that negative cycle.

I’ll finish up with a few quotes to help inspire you and motivate you to get back on track.

First one here is Ramez Sasson says…

“Why quotes are important? They make you realize great truths, inspire you and encourage you.”

Winston Churchill said,…

“Attitude is the little thing that makes a big difference.”

Abraham Lincoln said, …

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Maya Angelou said, …

“We may encounter great defeats, but we must not be defeated.”

Zig Ziglar said, …

“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.”

Eleanor Roosevelt said,…

“With the new day comes, new thoughts and new strength.”

And my quote is…

“Awaken your mind and see clearly the path that leads to the accomplishment of your goals.”

Well, I hope this information helped you out.

Have a wonderful day and…

Remember…

Be Positive, Be Motivated, Be Focused and Be Well,

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