motivation tips for entrepreneurs

When starting out as a small-time entrepreneur, your motivation and will power are sorely tested. There will be days when you wonder why you started it in the first place and will want to give it all up. Here’s how to inject a little positivity into those days.

1. Keep your vision in sight

You started this for a reason. Remember how excited you used to be at the beginning? Never lose that fire and that passion, by constantly reminding yourself of why you got into this in the first place.

2. Know that you will encounter setbacks

Being prepared for the worst, helps cushion you against the crushing pain of failure. When you know that failing is an inevitable part of success, and are prepared for setbacks, they won’t hold you back.

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3. Keep loved ones around

When you are disheartened and in danger of giving up, your loved ones will keep you motivated and keep your spirits high. Never underestimate the power of those who love you.

4. Take constant breaks

Nothing is a motivation-killer like exhaustion is. Taking regular breaks will keep you fresh, recharged and ready to take on new challenges.

5. Celebrate every milestone

No matter how small, every victory is well-earned and deserves a celebration. Don’t say that it is too small; it does not matter. Every little bit counts.

6. Enjoy what you do

This goes without saying. If you don’t take pride and joy in your work, you shouldn’t be an entrepreneur anyway.

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7. Create schedules, not deadlines

Instead of putting pressure on yourself to have achieved something by a certain date, create a schedule to do it. And stick to it.

8. Sort out your priorities

Sometimes you have to let go off the less important things in life to make time for what really counts. Know what is important to you and what isn’t.

9. Know why you’re doing this

If you never lose track of your vision, and what drives to, you can’t lose your motivation easily. You are sure to succeed.

10. Tell yourself everyday that you are awesome

Sometimes, in all the buzz, we tend to forget to appreciate ourselves. If no one is around to pat you on the back, do it yourself! As a solopreneur, even what little you have accomplished is praise-worthy and significant. Never forget that.

When you feel down and low, remember you are not alone. The livelihood of so many people depends on you. And whether or not your business makes big bucks, it makes a big difference in the lives of your employees.

Image credit: www.vision-framework.com

An entrepreneur’s day is not a smooth sail, it is a combination of rough patches and great highs. Some days might be difficult for an entrepreneur. He might be drowned in stress and on such days, s/he requires more motivation than ever. Motivation hacks help you reach your goal faster and keeps procrastination in check.

Here’s a list of motivation hacks that entrepreneurs can use:

Trick the mind

When you want to achieve or believe in something, you need to trick the mind into actually believing it. Focusing on the positives actually helps you to not procrastinate. In this way, an entrepreneur is able to get more stuff done in lesser time. Keep repeating a sentence in your mind and after sometime, you start believing it and are able to focus solely on it. This can be used by entrepreneurs to trick themselves to eliminate the negatives.

Break down the final goal

As an entrepreneur, your final goal might be achieving a certain amount of profit and sales. However, it might seem like a huge task to accomplish. To focus on that better and motivate yourself, break it down to smaller fragments such as the marketing plan, risk and contingencies, first sale etc. Smaller tasks seem easier to do and like dominoes, you accomplish all the tasks in no time.

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Draw inspiration

Sitting in board meetings for five continuous days might seem boring. To break the monotony, take a break from your usual life and do something to draw inspiration. It can be something as simple as watching an inspirational movie or reading a motivational book. It could also be something like taking a walk and observing nature which refreshes your mind and helps you focus on things better. Once you start drawing inspiration from things around you, you tend to be motivated and do well.

Set a performance bonus for yourself

Like children love prizes and rewards, we can also motivate ourselves to do better and complete the task in a stipulated time frame by offering ourselves bribes. The rewards can be something minimal like a dinner at a fancy place or karaoke with friends. You’ll observe that things and tasks are accomplished a lot faster with this motivation hack.

Involve the whole team and publicly announce your goal

Have a team meeting in the beginning of the week and assign tasks to each employee and make them repeat their goal for the week in front of everyone. This is helpful because it adds public pressure on each employee and inspires him/her to complete the task within a stipulated time as s/he has made a public commitment and it is very difficult not keeping up with it as no one wants to look like a public fool.

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