Aug 15 2023

How to Successfully Maintain Motivation Despite Challenges

I’m a competitive person. I’m also stubborn. A great way to get me to do something is to tell me you don’t think I can do it. When challenged in this way, I can just hear Barney Stinson’s voice in my head saying saying – “challenge accepted!”

But having said that, I still have my days when I struggle to keep going when something feels incredibly challenging and I begin to doubt I can actually accomplish it. Which is why I’m really excited to share some of my favorite tips and techniques to help you maintain your motivation and drive in the face of challenges.

I’m going to cover several different techniques and mindset shifts to help you maintain your motivation and drive in the face of challenges in today’s episode. Don’t forget to grab them all in the companion worksheet which you can download using the box below.

And if you want to make sure you never miss a worksheet (or a podcast episode), sign-up using the link in the show notes at the bottom of this post to get any handouts delivered right to your inbox each Tuesday morning!

How do you define a challenge

Let’s start with the way you view the word challenge. Among others, Merriam-Webster offers these three definitions of the word challenge:

to call out to duel or combat;
to arouse or stimulate especially by presenting with difficulties; and
to confront or defy boldly

If you view challenges more in line with the first two – as something difficult you have to fight through or overcome, I’m not surprised you’d struggle to maintain your motivation when facing challenges.

But if you resonate more with the third definition – to defy boldly, you’re instead empowering yourself to rise to met whatever comes your way.

See them as opportunities, not challenges

A great way to shift your focus away from the difficulties a challenge presents is to change the way you define it. Instead of a challenge, what if you viewed it as an opportunity.

You’re being offered the opportunity to learn something new or to do something new. To step out of your comfort zone. And the opportunity to grow in one or more ways.

If you’re facing a challenge you’re struggling to maintain motivation to pursue, take some time to think about the opportunities it offers – both throughout the process as well as upon completing the challenge.

Focusing on the opportunities moves you from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset

Carol Dweck, is a psychologist who has researched the role perception plays in our ability to succeed. She notes that a growth mindset is marked by embracing learning opportunities, recognizing the power of hard work, and engaging in constructive self-talk. A fixed mindset on the other hand is marked by a belief that you are limited in your skills and abilities, your avoidance of challenges, and engaging in negative self-talk.

And her research shows that adopting a growth mindset makes you much more prone to success than a fixed mindset.

When you shift your focus from viewing the task in front of you as a challenge, to seeing it as an opportunity, you’re setting the stage to move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. And in turn making it easier to maintain your motivation and drive as you tackle the project or task at hand.

Build resilience to turn mountains into molehills

I’ve mentioned building resilience several times before – and we’re going to cover it again today. The reason resilience is so important is because when your resilience is low, even minor challenges can feel like too much to tackle. But when you’ve built up your resilience, suddenly challenges that once felt like mountains are transformed into molehills.

When you think about maintaining motivation in the face of challenges, a great way to do that is to minimize how big the challenge feels! If it feels like something you can tackle and succeed at, you’re much more likely to maintain your motivation and drive.

So how do you build resilience?

Resilience builds through self-care

Put simply we build resilience through self-care. This means creating a sustainable routine which allows you to get sufficient and consistent self-care each and every day.

When we’re talking about building resilience, that self-care is going to include a mix of activities. Start with the basics to provide you body with the physical fuel it needs – getting sufficient quality and quantity of sleep, eating a balanced and nutritious diet, and staying hydrated.

Next focus in on the things that refill your mental and emotional reserves. These activities are going to be different for everyone – if you’re not sure where to start, get your copy of my free Self-Care Toolkit.

And finally, double check and make sure the activities you’re calling self-care are truly self-care and not self-work or distraction! You can learn more about the difference between these three things in Episode 4 of the podcast as well as in the Self-Care Toolkit.

Focus on the why behind the task or challenge

Do you remember being told to do something “because I said so”? Or maybe you can think of a more recent task or project you undertook because you “should do it”. How challenging did you find the tasks or projects which fall into these categories?

Now think of the last time you took on a task or project that you felt really passionately about. How challenging did you find that task or project?

A big difference between these two groups – is a clear understanding of the why behind the task or project. When you can identify why you’re doing something, and that why resonates with you – often aligning with one of your unique priorities and values – it’s another way to turn those challenges from mountains into molehills.

Even if you haven’t identified your unique priorities and values, you’ll still feel the resonance when things do align with them as a lack of internal resistance.

Identify your why

So how can you use this knowledge to stay motivated when challenged? Even if it’s a project you don’t feel passionately about – identify and focus on your why.

I’ll be honest – editing my podcast episodes isn’t my favorite thing to do. It always takes way longer than I expect it to, and there’s so much mouse work I often find my finger cramping toward the end of the process. But here’s the thing – when I find myself struggling with the motivation to sit down and edit an episode I think about the feedback I get when people let me know how helpful they found a particular episode.

Being able to offer a resource that helps someone with a challenge they were facing in their lives – that’s my why. So when I consider procrastinating on the editing, I focus on my why – making sure you get the content that will make a difference in your life.

Notice my why isn’t simply the completion of the project – getting the podcast edited isn’t enough to motivate me to sit down and get started (or keep going when that finger starts cramping).

Think of a challenge you’re struggling with – and ask yourself why you’re even trying to do it. What is the reason you want to tackle this challenge. It might take you a few steps to get to a why that’s enough to help ignite your motivation and drive. If you need additional information on finding your why, check out Episode 2 of the podcast where we dove into tools to help you reach your goals – including identifying your why.

Break it down into small action steps

Breaking your challenge down into small action steps is another great tool to help you maintain your motivation and drive.

While the entire project taken as a whole can feel so overwhelming you find yourself stuck, breaking it into bite-sized pieces and focusing on just one at a time allows you to tackle it in a way that feels much more doable. Plus as you check off each completed action step along the way, you build momentum to keep you going.

Action steps vs. projects

It’s important to recognize we’re focusing on action steps – not projects. These steps should actually be actionable things – something you can actually take action on. For example – if you need to get the oil changed in your car, “get oil change” is a project. However, “call dealership and schedule oil change”, “add oil change to calendar”, and “take car into dealership at scheduled time and date” are action steps.

When you make sure each step is actionable, it allows you to know exactly what you need to do. Depending on the challenge, you might find you can only identify the first action step, or perhaps the first few action steps. You’ll need to undertake them to gather additional information before you can identify the subsequent action steps.

I like to keep a piece of paper with the project name at the top and add action steps as I identify them. You can also do this with a digital document or task management app depending on how you like to work.

Focus on only the next step

After you’ve brainstormed the action steps, focus only on the logical first step. Going back to getting the oil changed in the car – it wouldn’t make sense to block out time on my calendar until I’ve called the dealership, so there’s no point in worrying about it until I’ve completed the first action step.

By focusing on one clearly actionable step at a time, it helps to keep you motivated to continue to move forward toward accomplishing the challenge before you. And depending on the scope and scale of the project, be sure to recognize how much you’ve done as you move through your action steps. Even if it’s just taking a moment to celebrate all you’ve done each time you check off another action step. Celebrating your progress is another great way to maintain motivation and drive in the face of a challenge.

Make sure you’re still working toward your current goals

If you’ve tried several of these techniques and find you’re still really struggling, take a moment to check in and evaluate if this challenge is still in line with your current goals.

Especially if something has been on your to-do list for a while or you’ve recently experienced a change or shift in your life, you might find a task in no longer in alignment with your goals or unique priorities and values, and it’s more important to release it, than complete it.

I’ve taken classes at three different academic institutions I never earned a degree from (in addition to the several places I have earned degrees from). As I took those classes, I learned more about myself. More about the field of study. And from that additional knowledge, I came to the conclusion that my goals had shifted and completion of those degrees were no longer in alignment with my goals.

Evaluating challenges against current goals

Take a good hard look at any tasks or projects which have been on your plate for more time than it would reasonably take to complete them. Review one at a time and get super honest with yourself –

Is this task or project in alignment with your current goals and unique priorities and values?
Is it something that was in alignment with a past goal or priority you’ve since released?
Can you identify a why that brings it into alignment with your current goals and unique priorities and values?

If you need a refresher on goal setting and identifying your unique priorities and values, check out Episode 29 of Solicited Advice to Live Your Best Life.

Once you’ve run your task or project through these questions, if you find it’s no longer in alignment and you can’t find a good why – release it! Depending on the project or task you’re reviewing, releasing it could be as simple as crossing it off your list, or might involve donating or selling supplies and equipment for a hobby or other project, or could involve a larger life change like moving or changing jobs.

Creating a someday but not now list

One final note on evaluating stagnating projects or tasks. You might find something has been hanging out on your to-do list for a long time without any progress made on it. And you might even identify it as aligning with your current goals, or having a clear why behind it.

However, it’s important to remember we can’t do all the things at once. Take some time to review these projects and tasks and determine if they are perhaps a someday but not now item.

They could be things which you simply don’t have the bandwidth for. Or perhaps they are dependent on some other project being completed first. For instance – if you wanted to hike the Appalachian trail, you might need to reach certain physical endurance goals first.

When you identify these items, add them to a tickler list. This could be on a piece of paper or an electronic document. Or it could be an email you schedule to be sent to you once a month for you to review. However you track them, simply recognize that it might not be an issue of motivation or drive, and simply a situation of right project, wrong time.

Maintaining motivation and drive in the face of challenges

We’ve covered several different techniques and mindset shifts today. You’ve heard me say it before – you don’t need to implement every single one of these in every single situation. Pick the tool or technique which resonates most with you and start there. If you find you need additional support, add another one in.

You’ll find some tools and mindset shifts are more appropriate for certain challenges you face than others – and that’s ok – not every challenge is created equal, and having a toolkit full of tools and techniques allows you to adapt to meet the situation.

Don’t forget to get this week’s worksheet with all five tools and mindset shifts to help you maintain motivation and drive in the face of challenges. You can download your copy using the form below.

And a quick sneak peek at next week’s episode of Solicited Advice to Live Your Best Life. I’m answering the question of alternative tasks you can do when you lack motivation. Because the reality is that no matter how many of these tools and mindset shifts you use, there are going to be times when you just need to take a break from a particular challenge to clear your head and gain some perspective you can only get with a little time and distance!

So make sure you’re subscribed wherever you receive podcasts so you don’t miss next week’s episode which will include one of my very favorite productivity techniques – and one I haven’t gone into depth on in the podcast before!

And remember – living your best life isn’t about changing your life – it’s about changing the way you show up for your life!