Every day we have certain small or rather big decisions to make. We all have goals in our lives, but reaching the goals is the trouble. Some people break through the goals and make their way to greatness while most other live that ordinary life full of disappointments. Motivation, confidence, and concentration are the key factors to reach any goal regardless of how difficult it may be. Trust and willpower can be improved by mental exercises which can help you gain your targets on a daily basis.
Scientists have done regular researchers to know the kick-starts of motivation and confidence. Here are a few tricks to increase your motivation levels which have been proven to be effective based on scientific studies.
10. Green Motivation
We are used to all the greenery around us. It gives a vibrating feeling in your body and refreshes you. But after several studies, it has been found that the same effect can be recreated by the green color and not just the feeling of being blended with nature. The fact has been proven by the experiment that was conducted at the University of Essex where 14 people were asked to cycle on stationary mode watching a video which displayed the environment in different colors. The colors were switched after every 5 minutes and the mood fluctuation was analyzed. The green color filter created a spike in the mood levels.There was also a rise in the anger levels noticed with the red color filter. They have attributed this difference to the wavelength while some explanations state that this might be due to an evolutionary instinct which has been passed on from early humans to relate greenery to abundance, food and water.
If you are feeling depressed, or you need a good start for your day, take a walk around the park, woods or even your garden to get some positive spirit.
9. Trouble Getting Started
Researchers have proven that the brain has a tendency to curl and back up when faced with a big challenge. The brain receives a distress signal and the supplies the reflux to abandon the activity as a whole. But, this can be overcome if the wall is broken by taking the first step. The human brain has a high level of procrastination, and it starts creating imaginations of the troubles that will be caused by the work, and this delays the brain functioning. It has a been explained as the Zeigarnik effect by psychologists. In the study conducted, people were given less time to finish a puzzle and thus creating a backward feeling initially. They were asked to start off, and it was noticed that majority of the people completed the puzzle in time in spite of the initial inhibition caused by the negative factor of timelessness.
8. Creating a Routine
There are several new functions and processes that you will have to add to your day which above the daily routines. We all start the day fresh and energetic, full of willpower. It is the time when the decision-making for the rest of the day takes place. With a proper routine and daily ritual structure, you can reduce the stress on the will power as you do not have to make decisions for the everyday activities. There is no perfect routine as such but according to researchers at the University of Nottingham, the best time to do the most focused work is in the morning. Your morning routine acts like your energy boost.
7. Eat that frog first thing in the morning
It is a famous phrase by Mark Twain and has been used to express that the big things should be done in the morning. When you have completed a significant task in the morning, it works like an automatic motivational factor. Research by Roy F Baumeister has backed this factor which explained that will power is a finite factor. It gets depleted towards the end of the day. When you start the day, the level of willpower is high, and your body and brain can process optimally to complete challenging tasks. It will work as a motivation for the rest of the day.
6. Exercise
The goodness of regular exercise can keep you physically fit with reduced body fat, cuts down your weight, increases blood circulation in the body and helps maintain overall body health. The benefits of exercise on the mental well-being was studied by providing people with gym memberships, and their mental changes were recorded over time. With a healthy body, the mind also gets invoked to a feel-good situation. The participants of the study reported an increase in willpower, confidence level, facing commitments in a better way and spiked up thinking capacity.
5. Meditation
Meditation has been acclaimed the world over as one of the best routes towards increasing willpower. Mindfulness meditation can be the best practice to increase the willpower early in the morning. Studies have shown that it can increase the gray matter of the brain which is concerned with the decision making.
4. Stick your goal with a commitment device
We set our goals to success and to achieve this goal you can use the commitment device like the ones provided at stickk.com. Take a pen and paper and put down your goals and a threshold time for it in a contract format. You can ask a friend or family to keep a watch over whether you are reaching your goal in the specified time. If you do not reach, you lose the amount entrusted to your friend, and he sends it to charity. If you reach the goal, you get back your $50. Such a commitment structure helps you place precise targets, and the fear of failing will make you put your maximum into achieving the goal.
3. Eat some dopamine releasers
We all love chocolates. Even though your dietician will ask you to go low on chocolates, the motivation expert will request you to have a bite into you most favorite chocolate when you are feeling low. Chocolates have been researched to contain serotonin releasing factors that keep you calm. It also provokes your brain to feel pleasant. Chocolates along with other foods like fish, nuts and seeds release dopamine which has a positive impact on motivation.
2. Set New Resolutions
When it's time for New Year, you have friends and family asking if you have made any New Year resolution. People relate January 1st to a new date and a new start, but if you have decided to create a commitment list, then you need not wait will the New Year, any day can be the new start for your life. According to a study by Wharton Business School, preparing for a new start can boost your motivation. This helped people by viewing the future at a wider angle and helped in forgetting the past bitter experiences. Writing down the commitments in paper and posting it on a place you see every day can be a great motive factor.
1. Practice the Power Pose
You may have never cared about your pose, but now be diligent of your posture. Professor Amy Cuddy revealed the factor at the TED Talk in 2012. She presented the results of her studies on body language and its impact on motivating the person.Power pose is a standing or sitting position with shoulders wide and arms spread. It's the pose of confidence. You can practice this in daily life and even in closed areas for 2 minutes every day to boost your spirits. A stooped and crooked posture will negatively affect how people perceive you, and it even makes you fell small and cringed.
We are living in an era of hacks, and there are hacks for almost everything under the sun. The above 10 points work like a hack towards optimal motivation. These have proper back up from scientific studies and psychological studies. So, make your goals, use a commitment device, breathe some fresh air in the green lands and get ready to achieve your goals.
