Sometimes when we are struggling all we need is to ask some questions to keep you motivated!

From time to time I get these Brain Farts and I get some inspiration and decide I want to do something. Most of my Brain Farts now end up as posts on The Lemonade Kart as I use that process to work through information and in most cases learn something new.

And this is one of those such Brain Farts.

Keep Motivated

I wanted to do something to help keep me motivated. One of this things I wanted to do was have a bunch of questions handy. That I could ask myself regularly to help keep me on track and motivated.

When I started to look into this is wasn’t very surprised to find that this is a common thing. Research shows that people who are curious about a topic tend to learn faster. It’s this curiosity that gets the brain in gear and ready to take in more information. Not only does this mean that you are motivated to learn but you are far more likely to retain any information you read.

Steve Jobs

Some of the most creative people were known to regularly ask themselves questions to keep motivated. This is something that Steve Jobs used to ask himself. It’s said that if his answer to the question was repeatedly “no” – then he knew something needed to change.

It would also follow that by asking questions you get a better sense of clarity around a subject.

Why Use Questions?

There are a few other reasons why you would ask a question and they are:

• To acquire knowledge.
• To eliminate confusion.
• To move more in a direction we want to go.

In this case the reason for asking the questions is to keep motivated in achieving a goal that we have set ourselves. However in asking the questions we will also find more clarity around that goal.

SMART Goals

When setting a goal it is a good idea to make it a SMART goal. Where SMART stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Timed

The questioning process can help with getting the answers to these parts mentioned above.

Visualisation

So what kinds of questions can we ask ourselves to keep us motivated? You will also notice that the questions in themselves resemble “motivational quotes” that you might see. I find this visualisation particularly helpful.

Questions to Keep You Motivated

• What goal would I like to achieve?
• What are my reasons for wanting to achieve this goal?
• What one step can I take to get me closer to my goal?
• If I fail to achieve my goal – what consequences will there be?
• If I do achieve my goal – what will I feel like?
• What is my biggest challenge that I will face in working towards achieving my goal?
• How long is it going to take to achieve my goal?
• Who can support me?
• Do I employ the necessary habits to help me achieve my goal?
• What do I get if achieve my goal – what is my reward?

I have really enjoyed writing this short post. I do hope that in reading it you have also found it enjoyable!