Keep Your Motivation High With This Simple Technique

Summary – E & E Via 25% Technique

I once heard a saying, that staying committed to something is harder that holding a burning rock. You will most likely to let it go all the time.

Take exercising for example, one day you were watching a documentary on how overweight people exercise their way to fitness and suddenly you got that extra boost of motivation to start exercising. You ran for 1 hour immediately after work. This went on for about a week until one day you started skipping the routine. It is now thrice a week. In a month or so you find yourself not exercising at all. You are then frustrated and blame it all on your weak willpower.

Does this look very familiar to you? No worry, every person on this planet has experienced the same thing. Like I said, staying committed to something is always difficult.

I however have learnt a technique to keep the motivation high everyday. Trust me this technique is very effective and if you practise it today, you will be seeing the effect of your continuously high level of motivation tomorrow.

This is what I do.

Excitement & Embarassment via 25% Technique

Instead of running for 1 hour daily, I run for 15 minutes. Yes, only 15 minutes. Even though I know that my body can withstand running for 1 hour, I stop running after 15 minutes. I will usually end up enjoying every seconds of that 15 minutes and getting excited for the next 15 minutes session tomorrow.

One of the most reliable way to stay motivated is to keep the excitement level high. This is what I do when I run at about 25% of what I am capable of. I know deep down that I can always do more, so everyday I will challenge myself by saying “If I can’t even run for 15 minutes, I will be very embarassed with myself.”

I don’t know about you, but it works for me.

Why This Technique Works?

1) You know you can do it anytime anywhere. It is only about 25% of your limit.

2) You will feel embarassed if you cannot finish it.

3) If for some reason you skip a day, you can redo the two day exercise by exercising at 50% your limit the next day.

4) After a while your body will begin to adapt to the 25% limit you set. You will notice that running for 15 minutes is not making you sweat anymore. This is a sign that you need to change your limit. Maybe start running for 30 minutes.

In other words, you are actually seeing yourself getting stronger. Who wouldn’t want that?

Other application

  • Cleaning the house – Even if you can clean the whole house, try only vacuuming the floor every day.
  • Blogging – Instead of posting one entry everyday, why not make it once every 4 days. Even if you already prepared 2 entries, publish it only after 4 days.
  • Finishing an assignment – You can choose to work on your assignment all day long or you can set 2 hours everyday and finish it within a week.

Important Note

If you were to run only 15 minutes everyday your entire life, it will contradict with the whole idea of self improvement since you are not improving. This technique is meant only to help keep the motivation high every day. Once you are able to turn the exercise into a habit (action that comes naturally to you), you are free to stretch the limits accordingly.

– I Wonder –
How do you sustain your motivation? Any tips?

———- Personal Note ————
It is one of my resolution this year to reduce my weight to about 65 kg. Now that I have made this public, I will have to work even harder to achieve it. 🙂

Photo Credit – Eneas

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This post has 18 comments.


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  1. 01 Feb 09 10:17 am

    I never read tips like this..which is a great for motivation techniques..
    but for myself,i like to take everything to the max and i think your technique is to take it on the minimum and be on the safe side…but still,i believe it will work.Especially to someone who need to start something big in life..

  2. 01 Feb 09 5:21 pm

    Tipsgoda – Correct. The technique is more suited to kickstart your habit forming project. It should never be used for the finalized form of the habit.

  3. 02 Feb 09 5:06 am

    I’m going to try this technique – it seems to be too easy, but I’ll try… wish me luck and high motivation)))

  4. 02 Feb 09 10:23 am

    good luck anna…it is a good technique.

    and Banji..love your blog man..

  5. 02 Feb 09 11:14 pm

    Anna – Good luck Anna. Do share later how it goes.

    Tipsgoda – Thanks tipsgoda. Appreciate the support.

  6. 03 Feb 09 12:09 pm

    no problem bro.cant wait for your next entry..

  7. 13 Feb 09 11:52 am

    hi,

    theoretically, it is a good advice. to keep the spirit up. but u forget to add:
    add 1% as each day comes by… 🙂
    but then, when at 100%, r u sure u can maintain? unless it has already become ur habit.

    for me, i let someone (who is highly motivated) to always be near me. So i can consult he/she when my motivation is low, or i just learn from his/her motivational act/success. Then i motivate others (as u do), since at the same time, i’m also reminding myself (subconsiously) 🙂

    anyway, great blog. tq 🙂

  8. 13 Feb 09 7:12 pm

    Lelucon – Thanks for sharing. People who are motivated can become infectious at times. Unfortunately the same goes to unmotivated people, so we will have to choose our crowd wiser.

    As mentioned above, these techniques will only work to kickstart the habit forming process. Once it has become a habit, maintaining it will never be a problem 🙂

  9. Jeevana
    30 Jul 09 1:59 pm

    Yes 100% it’s a good motivation Technique. it’s Amazing.!!! 🙂

  10. 31 Jul 09 8:39 pm

    Jeevana – Thank you for reading Jeevana. Do tell us if you have tried it kay

  11. Randy
    12 Aug 09 10:57 pm

    how are you supposed to accelerate in stamina?

  12. 31 Aug 09 11:27 pm

    Randy – This is unfortunately a technique to sustain the motivation and hopefully once you solve that problem, you will be able to adjust the exercise accordingly to your goals 🙂

  13. julie
    18 Feb 10 6:11 am

    going to give this try used to be so motivated and excited about everything in life hope it works for me

  14. Tejas Harshe
    09 Sep 10 8:55 am

    Really a goog technique … very easy but very powerful … the most important can be used for any thing … right from study to exercise …

  15. 17 Sep 10 11:18 pm

    Julie & Tejas Harshe – I wish both of you all the best. Just like everything else, the first moment of change is always the hardest.

  16. […] Keep Your Motivation High With This Simple Technique […]

  17. ryan
    02 Apr 12 9:03 pm

    this is a strange ploy for my liking…..but i can try to see if it works or no…anyway something new to try….good

  18. v l khanna
    09 Mar 13 5:48 pm

    Amaizingly good ideas.Very helpful, I will practice , hopefully achieve good results. Thanks. V L khanna

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