Written by Jim McNerney Coaching Team
Change is inevitable. You may one day decide to change careers, move to a new state, or start a family. Other changes may happen without your choosing, such as losing a job due to your company going bankrupt, natural disasters, or deaths of friends and loved ones.
When change happens, it can seem to spiral out of control and touch every facet of your life. It can be very easy to feel overwhelmed and despondent in the face of massive life changes. Learning how to derive motivation during these transitional periods is essential to your future success.
Finding Your Motivation
Many things can motivate you to take action. Survival is one of the most prevalent; you need to take control of your circumstances to pay your bills and stay alive. Success is another major driving force; you may not have a desire to become the top performer in your field and simply want to succeed enough to live a comfortable life, but either route requires dedication and hard work.
When life throws your plans into upheaval or presents you with a seemingly insurmountable challenge, the pressure to give in and give up can sometimes overshadow the drive to overcome this new set of circumstances.
Motivation begins in the mind. It’s essential to examine your current scenario and determine all the variables you must address. This process can help you put things into a new perspective. Suddenly, the new circumstances that seemed so devastating are simply a new problem that needs solving, and now you’ve determined the steps you need to follow toward solving it.
Adjust Your Attitude
Major life changes can be emotionally tumultuous, and it’s easy to fall into a slump when you feel as though the walls are closing in around you due to your new, unforeseen circumstances. Changing your perspective and your attitude is much easier said than done, but anyone can do it by finding the right catalyst for an attitude adjustment.
Ultimately, you choose the lens through which you view your circumstances. If you continue to assume things are hopeless, you will certainly lose hope. However, if you adjust your perspective and start viewing this major change as an opportunity, you’ll undoubtedly feel a surge of motivation once you start taking steps toward seizing this new opportunity.
Take Action
An object in motion will stay in motion, so you may need to simply get yourself moving (literally) to find the spark of motivation to tackle your new circumstances. When we feel hopeless, it’s easy to fall into lazy comforts like couch time, television, and junk foods.
However, these things erode your physical health which in turn subdues your motivation. Getting outside to enjoy fresh air, exercising, and starting a new, more physically active daily routine can help you build energy, physically and mentally.
For example, starting a new daily routine that includes a morning run may feel like a chore at first, but once you start noticing higher energy levels throughout the day, this can inspire you to channel your newfound energy into tackling life’s most recent surprises.
The search for motivation in the face of trying circumstances is a very personal one. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to finding motivation when you need it most. However, most people tend to have the best results when they change their perspectives, adopt healthier lifestyles and habits, and commit to doing the work required to overcome difficult circumstances and the unexpected.
