HOW TO KEEP YOUR MOTIVATION UP IN ADVERSITIES
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
We have all heard a very popular proverb at some point in our lives – “Life is not a bed of roses.” Well, this proverb, enduring centuries, actually points out the realities of our lives. It reminds us that life is not always easy going and many times we have to go through a lot of adversities, just like the thorns of roses that prick our skin, causing sharp pain with drops of blood oozing out of it. Sometimes these adverse situations compelled us to give up without trying. These are the times when motivation steps in to help us fight back. Here we will explore how to keep our motivation up in all adverse situations and move ahead.
WHAT IS MOTIVATION?
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
The term “motivation” has been derived from the Latin word “motivus” which means motion or action or a moving cause such as intention, aim, or spur. Motivation is the psychological energy that propels an individual to act or behave in a way that achieves a specific objective.
It has some important attributes:
Initiation: The decision to start a behaviour or an action
Perseverance: The persistent attempts to reach your goal despite adversities and obstructions
Zeal: The immense effort and energy you are putting into achieving your goal.
Example: The decision to get first class with a target of nearly eighty percent marks in your graduation so that you will be able to pursue your Master’s in your chosen subject in one of the best universities of your country. So, you are attending your regular classes at college, spending at least one hour in the college library and searching the internet to prepare reference notes, attending extra tuition classes and giving preliminary exams at a coaching center to prepare well for each semester exam despite adversities like extreme temperatures during summers and heavy monsoons or sickness.
TYPES OF MOTIVATION
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
Motivation can be classified into the following types based on its specific impact on a particular behaviour or action carrying a special trait.
1. Extrinsic Motivation: Doing your task sincerely to avoid adverse or undesired results or to achieve tangible and intangible things such as gifts, benefits, bonuses, awards, rewards, public recognition, etc.
Example: Working overtime at the office to get a promotion.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
2. Intrinsic Motivation: Involving yourself in tasks for the sake of your happiness and pure satisfaction.
Example: Trying your hands at acrylic painting recently besides oil painting during off-time out of curiosity, peace and contentment.
3. Biological Motivation: Motivation propelled by inborn biological drives of humans for survival and maintaining homeostasis.
Example:
Hunger and Thirst: Compels a person to take nutrients and fluids to keep up their energy levels and maintain hydration in their body.
Rest and Sleep: The biological need to re-energize and maintain your cognitive functions.
Prevention from Pain and Sufferings: Motivation triggered by your instincts to keep yourself away from things that are harmful and injurious to your body.
Controlling Temperature: Motivation triggered by the necessity to maintain a stable internal temperature.
3. Accomplishment Motivation: The drive to excel in your work and accomplish your tasks successfully to set a benchmark to meet your personal goals and ambitions.
Example: A local body builder trying to win national-level bodybuilding championship.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
4. Social Motivation: The enthusiasm to interact with the members of the society, creating long-lasting relationships with them and getting accepted by the society.
Example: Becoming a member of a sports club to upgrade your status in society.
5. Power Motivation: The drive to control, impact and inspire people and social environments. This drive can be positive, such as leadership and inspiration or negative, such as manipulation and domination.
Example: A coach is preparing and inspiring his team to win the championship.
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ADVERSITY?
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
We all have heard the term “adversity” and experienced it in our lives at some stage. Adversity is the prolonged misfortune, obstacles and difficulties a person faces that test his capability to endure it by remaining resilient and maintaining emotional strength.
Based on the challenges, adversity can be classified into the following types:
1. Physical Adversity: Going through unwanted physical sufferings and pain, such as serious injuries, chronic illnesses, physical disabilities, severe physical weakness and fatigue and the daily struggle to overcome these physical challenges.
2. Mental Adversity: Sufferings from anxiety, depression, traumatic feelings caused by threatening events, emotional distress, mental anguish and psychological hardships.
3. Financial Adversity: Facing unexpected job loss, economic hardships, poverty, insolvency, bankruptcy, etc.
4. Social Adversity: Includes racism, discrimination, bullying, violence and poverty that create extreme physical and mental distress.
5. Structural Adversity: Long-term hardships and struggles caused by societal, political, systematic and economic disadvantages that restrict opportunities to a distinct group of people or community. Structural adversities are the prolonged injustices generating inequality in basic facilities like education, housing, job opportunities, income, security and safety.
WHY IS KEEPING UP YOUR MOTIVATION ESSENTIAL IN ADVERSITIES?
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
Adverse situations can bring endless hardships in your life at any time. But these adversities should never affect you in a negative way, control your mind, or derail you from your path. In these situations, motivation comes as a saviour to help you face the challenges with strength, grit and determination. So, let’s discuss why staying motivated is essential in adversities.
1. Motivation Makes You Optimistic: A motivated mind always keeps you optimistic in all situations. Whatever difficulties may come, you always find some positive aspects in every negative situation. So, you find the objective behind your struggle.
\
Example: As your family is facing a financial crunch, you decided to pay your college and tuition fees by working as a part-time waiter at a pizza shop to ease some burden. Though working at the shop after attending college and tuition classes makes you feel tired at the end of the day to study and prepare for the semester exams, you see a silver lining. Graduating with good marks will help you land a better job, by which you can assist your family in getting financial relief in the future.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
2. Motivation Helps you stay Focused: Motivation increases your determination level to reach your goal at any cost and thereby you remain focused on your work despite several distractions and hindrances.
Example: The non-cooperation from some of your professors at your institute has never distracted you from your studies. You remained fully focused in preparing for your competitive exams to achieve your dream job.
3. Motivation Enhances Your Controlling Power: When you are motivated, you become brave enough to combat any difficult situation as you feel that everything, including your own self, is under your control and you have the capacity to change the situation for good. So, without sitting helplessly and feeling a prisoner of circumstances, you jump into action mode and make things happen.
Example: You have been selected for an executive post in a company where one has to serve in a temporary position for the first 6 months before being made permanent. Despite facing bullying and non-cooperation from some senior colleagues as you belong to a backward class, you kept yourself calm and never gave up. By working extra hours at the office, you honed your skills to such an extent that you proved yourself to be perfect for this post after 6 months.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
4. Motivation Makes You Resilient: Motivation increases your power of resilience since you achieve the ability to withstand any kind of pain and difficulty in adverse situations. You bounce back every time you fall down. Resilience makes you strong, patient and determined enough to fight out all obstacles and stay in your path to reach your goal.
Example: An athlete was forced to leave the district-level sprinting championship last year due to a hamstring injury. But his motivation didn’t let him lose hope. He had undergone surgery and rehab by remaining resilient and patient. This year he has been selected for the same championship.
5. Motivation Encourages Growth-Oriented Attitude: A motivated mind is always eager to learn from struggles, experiences and obstacles. Failure can’t limit their urge to learn and grow in adversities since they turn every challenge into a possibility for growth.
Example: A motivated person, after failing the UPSC exam twice, got selected in his third attempt with an all-India ranking below 100 because he learned from his experiences and tried to outgrow them.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
6. Motivation Helps You to Stick to Your Goals: A motivated mind always reminds a person of his goal in any circumstances, including adverse situations. Even if you are progressing slower, you should remain very clear about your objectives and work with full determination and concentration to achieve your goal in the future.
Example: A former salesman of a local mall had a dream of opening his small grocery store near his place of residence. Although it seemed nearly impossible initially as he came from a humble background, this man would do odd jobs after working hours. Not a single challenge or financial difficulties could deter him from his goal. After 10 years of hard work, he finally bought a small space with his savings and opened his shop.
STRATEGIES TO KEEP YOUR MOTIVATION UP IN ADVERSITIES
By adopting certain strategies, we can easily keep our motivation level up in adversities:
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
1. Remember Your Reason for Staying Motivated: During continued adversities, you sometimes lose hope or feel like giving up as it becomes very difficult to sustain yourself in such circumstances. But before doing so, just remind yourself of the reason you have started or why you have started. It can be chasing your childhood dream or following your passion. Again, it can be doing something for your family or for a community. Reminding yourself of the reason for your struggle will always instigate you to keep yourself going until you reach your goal.
Example: The salesman went through extreme hardships while juggling between his 8-hour duty in the mall and doing odd jobs after working hours. He struggled for 10 long years to save money to buy a shop of his own. He reminded himself of his dream whenever he felt weary and apathetic, which motivated him not to give up.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
2. Break down your Objective: To accomplish your bigger objective, break it down into smaller, achievable goals. Otherwise, you may feel overwhelmed with the enormous pressure that tags along with bigger objectives and eventually lose interest. Accomplish your tasks one by one according to their importance, starting with the most important one, followed by the ones with lesser importance.
Example: At the office, among all other tasks, the manager’s assistant first drafts the agenda of the meeting, just one hour prior to its start. Then he designed the monthly expense report for the manager and ordered snacks for the team meeting. In the last half an hour before the start of the meeting, he attended some important phone calls.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
3. Develop a Routine: Create a daily routine and follow it not only during challenging times but also throughout your life. A proper routine induces discipline that doesn’t let you go off-track from your goal and helps you to control yourself from procrastinating. It gives you immense strength and motivation to carry on with your work in adverse situations without worrying.
Example: You are living alone and going through non-cooperation from your seniors at your office, where you have joined as a fresher. You can’t quit the job immediately, as it is difficult to get another job soon. You are also trying to gain one year’s experience from this company to search for a better job afterwards. You have set a daily routine to remain motivated. Every morning you go for a morning walk, have breakfast, and prepare your tiffin before going to the office. After returning home in the evening, you rejuvenate by either reading a book or watching television for an hour. Afterwards, you prepare and have your dinner. Before going to bed, you listen to slow and melodious music to relax your mind and have a peaceful sleep.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
4. Create a Support System: In adverse situations, remain close to your support system, like your parents, family, and friends, who will uplift you. They form a positive and supportive environment that surrounds you as a protective shield against negativities and toxicities. Thus, it keeps you motivated to fight until the end to fulfill your objectives.
Example: You faced tremendous non-cooperation from some of your jealous seniors at the office as you had been given the responsibility to lead a team to complete an important project for the first time. As a result, you felt pressurized and anxious all the time and lost your confidence and enthusiasm. But after confiding your issues with your parents, they counselled you by saying that it is the time to prove your capabilities without getting disheartened and thereby you must work harder with grit and determination. It increased your motivation level with renewed energy.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
5. Envision Your Success: During adversities, negative thoughts should never overpower your mind. You must always visualize positive outcomes for being resilient and hardworking when your situation throws challenges at you. Envisioning your success will actually motivate you to attain it at the end.
Example: The poor salesman, while juggling between his job in the mall and doing odd jobs after working hours, visualized opening his shop, which seemed impossible at that time. But his motivation never broke since he was hell-bent on fulfilling his dream. Eventually, he tasted success after 10 long years amidst hardships.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
6. Celebrate Every Small Win: You may have a bigger objective in your life, which you are trying hard to achieve by going against the tide in adverse times. But this doesn’t mean you won’t acknowledge every small milestone or small win you are creating in the way to achieve your main goal in the future. These small wins are worth celebrating as they indicate your progress, which means positivity in negativities.
Example: Celebrate small achievements with your family and close friends. You can give them an ice cream treat, or prepare a special dish for them, or go for a movie, or do anything to make these celebrations joyous.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
7. Have a Growth-Mindset: One of the best ways to keep up your motivation is to have a growth mindset. Challenges should inspire you to learn from your experiences, whether good or bad; mistakes and failures. There are sayings like “Learn from your mistakes” and “Failure builds success” since we must learn the things that are lacking in us. We can only identify these from our mistakes, failures, and experiences. Your sincere efforts for learning will push you step by step ahead in your progress. No matter how many failures you face in adversities, you should believe in your abilities and have faith in your ideas and thought process, thereby continuously gaining knowledge in your field and honing your skills. Silent progress keeps you motivated and builds you to shine brighter when your day comes so that you gain more control of your profession.
Example: i) You can take an online course or a part-time offline course that you can easily balance with your work.
ii) You can attend webinars, seminars and workshops.
iii) You can read more books and reference materials about your field to enhance your knowledge.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
8. Prioritize Self-Care: While fighting adversities, you must not ignore your health because a fit body and mind will help you remain motivated and fight amidst adversities. You should prioritize proper sleep, exercise, and a healthy diet to remain physically and mentally strong and maintain your focus throughout your life.
Example: i) Eat home-cooked and routine food most of the time and be very mindful of what you are eating.
ii) You can go daily for morning or evening walks.
iii) You can join a gym or group workout studio.
iv) You can join a yoga class.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
9. Prioritize Self-Compassion: Not every single day will you be 100 percent motivated, since you are a human being and not a machine. Some days you won’t feel physically fit, while some other days you will be emotionally disturbed. But don’t self-talk or think negative things about yourself, as it completely demotivates you from your path. Instead, think about how much you have progressed in your life and all the small wins you have achieved in the process and how much you are benefited due to these achievements.
Example: i) Practice positive self-talk about yourself.
ii) Take a rest if you are not feeling well
iii) Read your favourite book or listen to music or watch a movie.
iv) You can practice meditation.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
10. Be Adaptable but Know Your Boundaries: You must remain adaptable throughout because situations can change any time and challenge your worth. Be flexible enough to change your strategy if your situation demands it, as you are very well aware of your ultimate goal. But remaining adaptable doesn’t mean bowing down to demands that you feel are morally and ethically wrong. So, you must set healthy boundaries. Refuse tasks that don’t fit your values, principles and objectives. Emphasize the tasks that will be beneficial in your profession and well-being in the long term. So, keeping a balance between your adaptability and your boundaries is very important.
Example: i) Keeping your nerves strong and finding solutions to unpredictable challenges at your office, like a sudden staff shortage or introducing new software, tools, or systems like a project management system, which they expect you to learn and deliver a project based on the new technology at an unexpectedly short notice.
ii) Not participating in conversations that damage your colleague’s reputation, as you feel gossiping is unethical.
iii) Saying no when asked to fabricate information for stakeholders or clients or conceal defects in a product or inflate results because these are against your values, morals, and principles.
Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Stock Images & Copyright Free Pictures · Pexels
11. Avoiding Negativities and Embracing What Inspires You: In adversities, avoid the negativities that are going around you. More precisely, the negative conditions that include social and economic upheaval in your country or around the world may affect you since they will put pressure on your nerves and not let you be in your fighter mode. Instead, search for positivities like the inspiring people and their stories that motivate you. These people can be well-known figures or ordinary people whom you see in your day-to-day life. Consider these people as your role models.
Example: 1) Limit watching news channels and reading newspapers to a maximum of 30-45 minutes during war-like situations going on around the world affecting the economic growth of your country to a great extent.
2) Draw inspiration by reading motivational stories of notable people around the world. You will discover many gallant, unheard stories of common people you meet every day—such as the courage and perseverance of your maid, your colleague, your friend, or any other person you are related to.
3) Consume inspirational stories of people on platforms like Humans of Bombay Inspiring Stories from Human of Bombay, Daily Good DailyGood | News That Inspires, The Better India Media for Good News and Positive Stories – The Better India, Good News Network Good News, Inspiring, Positive Stories – Good News Network, Optimist Daily The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News, Success.com, etc., to keep up your motivation.
CONCLUSION
Circumstances change without any intimation. A positive situation can change into a negative one in a moment. So, we can perceive how unpredictable situations are in our lives. It is extremely hard to keep on going in adversities and even harder when they are prolonged for an uncertain period of time. Often people lose motivation to continue, as they can’t bear the unending hardships. But one must not forget the profound proverb, “Night hath succeeded day, and day hath succeeded night,” which means that the darkness of hardship will be succeeded by the light of relief, hope, and good times. All we have to do is remain hopeful and keep our motivation intact by adopting these simple strategies during adverse times to reach our goal. Remember nothing is stronger than our motivation.
Artistic soul 