IntroductionMotivation is literally the desire we have to do things. It is the differencebetween waking up before dawn to get started on a particular project andlazing around the house all day watching TV. It's the crucial element insetting and attaining goals. Research shows you can influence your ownlevels of motivation, but far too often, we fail to do so. Staying motivatedcan be a real struggle. When trying to maintain motivation, our drive isconstantly assaulted by negative thoughts and anxieties about the future.Everyone faces doubt and depression at one time or another. Whatseparates the highly successful from those who fail is the ability to staymotivated and keep moving forward. There are three major reasons peoplefail to maintain motivation. Lack of confidenceSimply put, if you dont believe you cansucceed, whats the point in trying, right? When this happens, itsusually because youre focusing entirely on what you want andneglecting what you already have. Because of this, your mind createsexplanations for why you arent getting it. This creates negativethoughts about how you feel about yourself. Your mind is dominatedby past failures, bad breaks, and personal weaknesses. You canbecome jealous of your competitors, which causes you to start makingexcuses for why you cant succeed. When you try to function underthese conditions, you can make bad impressions, assume the worstabout others, and lose self confidence.Instead, you should try to focus on gratitude. Take time to focus allthe positive things in your life. Prepare and refer often to a mental listof your strengths, past successes, and current advantages. Peopleoften tend to take their strengths for granted and dwell on theirfailures. If you focus on feeling grateful, youll see how competent andsuccessful you already are. This will restore your confidence and getyou motivated to build on your current success.It might be difficult to understand how repeating things you alreadyknow can improve your mindset, but it can. The mind can often distortreality to confirm what it wants to believe. The more negatively youthink, the more examples your mind will discover to confirm thatbelief. When you believe you deserve success, your mind will generateways to achieve it. You will need to have belief you'll achieve yourgoals. Faith will unlock the doors. Numerous individuals come acrosschoices but never take action considering that they never believe theymight succeed. Lack of focusIf you dont know what you want, is there anythingreally want? Many times, people focus on what they dont want,rather than on a concrete goal. They normally think in terms of fear.You may be afraid of being poor, afraid no one will respect you, orafraid of being alone. The problem you face when thinking like this isthat fear alone isnt actionable. Instead of doing something about yourfear, the fear feeds on itself and usually drains your motivation.If you become caught up in fear-based thinking, you should tryfocusing that energy on a well-defined goal. If you do this, youautomatically define a set of actions. If youre afraid of being poor,create a plan to increase your income. It might be going back toschool, obtaining a higher paying job, or developing a profitablewebsite. The key is moving from an indefinable desire to tangible,measurable steps. If you focus your mind on positive goals instead offear, you put your brain to work creating a plan for success. You areno longer worrying about the future. Instead, youre beginning to dosomething about it. Lack of directionIf you dont know what to do, how can youpossibly be motivated to do it? When youre focusing on having anultimate goal, direction means having a day-to-day plan to achieve it.Not having direction can destroy motivation, because without anobvious next action we succumb to procrastination. The key to findingdirection is identifying the activities that lead to success. Make a list ofall your activities and arrange them based on the results you achievefrom each activity. Then make a make an action plan that focuses onthe activities pay off. When you keep track of your most importanttasks you will direct your power towards success.You have to possess specific targets if you wish to remove confusion.It's like attempting to carry out a number of things at the same time.You'll certainly not get anything done trying to complete everything.When you feel yourself losing motivation, you can regain direction bycreating a plan that contains two positive actions. The first one shouldbe a small task youve been meaning to do, while the second shouldbe a long-term goal. When you immediately do the smaller task, youcreate positive momentum. Then its easier to take the first step toachieving the long-term goal.Its practically impossible to avoid periods of low energy, bad luck, and eventhe occasional failure. Motivation can be difficult during these times. Thereis no simple solution for a lack of motivation. Even after beating it, theproblem reappears at the first sign of failure. This book will give you tips youcan use to help pull yourself out of a slump before it gains momentum.