Motivation helps us to make things happen, but how motivated are you? Let’s be honest, most of us feel unmotivated some of the time and sometimes we don’t feel motivated at all. As we look forward to a New Year, we thought we’d share some tips on how to get and stay motivated, as well as some of our favourite motivational quotes.

Set a goal. This will be something to focus on. Ideally choose a goal that interests you, as you are much more likely to stay motivated if you are working towards something that you really want to achieve. If you have a goal that doesn’t interest you, then find something in the goal that does. If you also make your goal public, by, perhaps, posting it on social media or writing it down, then you will be more motivated to achieve it.

Don’t try to do too many things at once; it saps energy and motivation.  Some say that the secret of getting things done is focus. Choose One Goal. It’s hard to maintain energy if you are trying to do two or more goals at once. Choose one goal, for now, and focus everything on it. You can get to the other goals once this one is done.

Even if you don’t feel like you are motivated, act like you do. Research has shown by acting as if you are a certain type of person, you become that person, happy, sad or, yes, motivated. Act as if you are motivated and pretty quickly you actually start to feel motivated and enthusiastic.

Try starting small. It is much easier to be motivated to do something if it is only a small task. Instead of starting with two hours of exercise a day, start with two minutes a day. It is much easier to commit to that and to stick to it. Two minutes is so easy, that you are almost certain to do it. Next week increase it to five. And keep doing it. It may take a while, but you will get to your two hours a day.

If you can’t get motivated at all, then do something – anything – just to get started. Clean your desk, or wash the dishes. Finish one small task and you will feel much more ready to do something else. Just getting started will boost your motivation. Have you ever thought that those really ‘productive’ days were sometimes started by doing one, small thing?

Look for inspiration and motivation wherever you can. Read books, blogs, magazines. Talk to other people about your goals. Google how other people achieved your current goal and maybe get some tips. (You can visit Infero’s social media every Tuesday to see the best motivational quotes!)

Think about benefits, not difficulties. It is really easy to focus on how hard something is and to convince ourselves that we can’t do it. Focus instead on what you will achieve at the end; how good you will feel at the end of the run and how much healthier you will be if you keep up with your exercising.

If you can, do the hardest thing on your to-do list first. Once it is done and out of the way, you will feel much better and more motivated for the rest of the things that you need to do.

Have fun. If you have fun doing a task, you will be far more motivated. And if there is no fun in a particular task, create some. And don’t be afraid of failing. Things will sometimes not go as you want them to go. Failure can be re-defined as feedback that helps you go on to bigger and better things.

Don’t give up. No-one is motivated every day, but even if you aren’t feeling inspired, remember that this isn’t the whole story. Stay with it for the long run and realise that there will be stops and starts and days when things don’t go right, but don’t lose sight of your goal and you will get there.

Finally remember that no-one is motivated all of the time. Don’t be hard on yourself if you are just not inspired today. Motivation is waiting for you, just around the corner.