When you’re an entrepreneur building a business, there are times when you might feel tremendous excitement, but there are other times when things may be slow or not happening the way you’d like and it’s easy to feel discouraged. That sense of discouragement may lead to a loss of motivation.
Remaining organized and productive can be done through technology tools, but motivation is a little harder to spark when you feel it waning.
The following are some things to keep in mind as you build your business if you feel those downturns in your sense of excitement and energy.
Give Yourself Free Time
One of the reasons you may lose your motivation and personal momentum in your business might be because you aren’t giving yourself free time or “me time.” You can get so wrapped up in the business that you put yourself on the backburner to the point that your business takes over your life.
Then, you become not only burned out but even potentially resentful of your business.
No one can be in business mode 24/7, no matter how much you love it.
Let yourself have downtime. If you need to, schedule your breaks.
Take vacations when you shut yourself off from your business and set boundaries with your clients and your employees.
Set a Manageable Goal
If you start to feel like you’re losing motivation, set a small, manageable goal. Then outline the steps you’ll need to achieve that goal. Once you do achieve it, you’ll feel good and that will likely help you build up your motivation again because you’ll feel like you’ve been successful.
You might repeat this strategy every week to keep yourself on track.
When we’re building a business we’re thinking about the long-term goals, but those are tough and can feel far off which mean they’re not always the best for keeping us motivated.
When you’re settling goals, you might want to follow the SMART model used by a lot of entrepreneurs.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Based.
Find Sources of Inspiration
The way we inspire ourselves can be different, but when building a business we should look to what to know inspires us on a daily basis. For some people, following aspirational people on Instagram can serve as a motivator.
Maybe for you, you like podcasts or talks by speakers on YouTube.
Whatever inspires you, make time for it. Maybe you set aside time for personal development each morning as well.
Reading or consuming content that’s inspiring can do a lot to change your mindset.
Have a Mission For Your Life
Your business should be a vehicle for other things you want in your life, rather than the business being your end goal in and of itself.
Create a mission that fuels why you ultimately want to grow your business and be successful.
Your mission could be to create freedom for yourself and a sense of financial security that lets you do things you love. Maybe your mission is to ultimately travel the world or even move somewhere else in the world.
You could be focused on changing the world, or making a social impact.
You need to keep your eye on that larger prize if you feel like your motivation level isn’t where you want it to be.
Hire the Right People
Hiring the right people is critical for the long-term success of your business, but also for your sense of motivation. You want people who are skilled, but also who have vision and keep you motivated. You want people who are positive and supportive and make you excited to work with them.
Hire people who are going to build someone along with you.
Then, as one of you succeeds you ultimately all share in that.
Think about the values of the people you hire to ensure they’re in-line with your own, as well as how you connect with one another and work with one another.
Finally, focus on how you can be more productive. When you’re more productive and getting more done in a shorter amount of time you’ll feel more accomplished, and then if you have any extra time you can do things you enjoy.
Don’t be a time-waster. If you’re looking back on your days and finding you didn’t achieve what you wanted to, you’re going to be less motivated and that can become a long-term feeling.
Cut out the social media and internet surfing. You’ll feel better all the way around.