Motivational Thoughts
Motivational thoughts help you take action. I'm not talking about positive thinking or repeating motivating quotes. These have their place in shaping your attitude and thinking, but what motivates each of us is unique. You need to have your own thoughts - those which are most effective at getting you going.
"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity" - Albert Einstein
The above quote is a good one, and it may well help you look at the positive side of a situation, but what if it just doesn't get you excited? In that case, you need to apply a little brainpower and make the idea your own. You need to make it a truly motivational thought for YOU.
Your Own Motivational Thoughts
What does "making it your own" mean? It means experimenting with a good thought until you find a way to use it in your own recipe for motivation. For example, suppose you are in a difficult situation and you just don't feel like dealing with it. Then you play around with the idea of opportunity coming from difficulty, and you discover that it pulls you out of your slump to think about yourself in the future, explaining to a friend how you turned the difficult situation to your advantage.
That is making it your own motivational thought. Of course, it might be more motivating to imagine yourself being interviewed someday about how you overcame this difficult time. Whatever kind of thinking works for you is what you should be doing.
Self Motivation
Experiment and see what works. For myself, I find that more than just thinking a thought, if I explain it to someone, I get excited. This is my own recipe. If I feel unmotivated about writing, for example, all I have to do is explain an idea I have for some article to my wife. By the time I have done that, I am very motivated to work.
Get creative in your motivational experiments. If thinking about being poor makes you get up and get to work, then that is a great motivational thought. If a visual thought is more motivating than a mental conversation, then use that. See a picture in your head that gets you going. If when people say you can't do something, you do whatever it takes to prove them wrong, then think about them saying you can't.
If you have a truly uninspiring task you have to do, try promising yourself some reward for completion that means something to you. Hold that thought in your mind to keep you motivated. A bowl of ice cream or a trip to the beach may be more powerful motivational thoughts than any famous quotes.s