How to Naturally Increase (and Decrease) Motivation

Motivation fuels everything we do, making it the most powerful force in the world. What I love most about studying motivation is recognizing how much more control we have over our motivation than we often think. Motivation isn’t accidental or random - you can maximize and harness its power. 

Sometimes, leveraging motivation means increasing motivation to perform certain tasks. Other times, you may want to decrease your motivation so that you can break habits that are bad or destructive. Let’s dive into a few effective ways to increase or decrease motivation, depending on your needs.

How to Increase Motivation

1. Think long-term. When I’m struggling to find the motivation to perform a difficult task, I think about how the decision could impact me in the future. Often, the choices with the greatest future leverage are the ones that require the highest upfront cost. Invest in yourself and your future by making the hard decisions today.

2. Create accountability. I’m way more likely to take action when I’m responsible to someone besides myself. Even telling a friend you plan to do something can push you to take a step you would have otherwise ignored or skipped. 

3. Make it enjoyable. When you make a goal fun, the benefit doesn’t just come from completing the goal. Instead, you receive a reward from the process itself, making it more likely that you follow through on your plan. 

4. Break a big goal down into smaller goals. Creating small steps toward a big goal helps your desired outcome feel more attainable. For example, setting a goal to write 100 words a day for five days a week is way easier than setting a goal to write an entire book. 

5. Celebrate milestones. Celebrating milestones reinforces your progress and builds a positive habit loop that makes it more likely you’ll repeat the action in the future. 

6. Practice positive and constructive self-talk. How you see yourself and the world around you impacts your decisions and your belief in yourself. Find ways to train your brain to think positively and constructively, and you’ll find it easier to keep making progress. 

How to Decrease Motivation

A quick note before we get into the individual tips. I imagine someone is reading this and wondering why on earth they would want to decrease their motivation. It’s a fair question because we tend to associate motivation with only positive tasks. The truth is that motivation is neither inherently positive nor negative. In fact, since motivation comes out in every decision we make, sometimes motivation leads us to do things that aren’t beneficial or productive. Motivation is why we eat ice cream every night, stream one more show than we were planning to watch, and procrastinate on doing uncomfortable or challenging things. By decreasing your motivation in these areas, you can increase your chances of personal growth and development (not to mention giving yourself a better chance of reaching your goals). 

1. Create distance. When I don’t want to use my phone, I turn it off and put it in another room. Because accessing my phone is harder, I spend way less time browsing social media or checking for new text messages. As a result, I’m more focused and engaged with tasks and people. 

2. Analyze the costs and rewards. Every action includes both a cost and a reward. If you’re trying to avoid a certain action or decision, make yourself vocalize (in real-time) what you are getting and giving by making that particular choice. Imagine you’re planning to go to a workout class at 2pm but decide to stay home because you’re tired. You make yourself say out loud, “I’m choosing not to go to my gym class because I’m tired. I’m getting an extra chance to rest, but I’m giving up the opportunity to burn some calories and see my friends in the class.” Once you understand the pros and cons of either option, you can make a more intentional and well-informed decision. 

3. Find alternatives. Quitting something cold turkey is not always the most effective approach. When we’re trying to change our behavior, we do better when we have a reasonable alternative. For example, I’m less likely to crave dessert if I can have a piece of fruit because the natural sweetness satisfies my craving. Rather than suppressing your motivation and hoping it will go away, you’re simply redirecting it to a similar endeavor (but not identical) to the activity you’re trying to avoid.  

Final Reflection Questions

Like any good coach, I don’t want you to leave with only good information. I want to help you think about how you can take action based on what you’ve learned. So as we wrap up, let’s consider what you will do next. Here are two questions for you to answer:

1. What’s one area in life where you need to increase motivation? How will you use the information in this article to help?

2. What’s one area in your life where you could benefit from decreased motivation? What step will you take based on what you’ve learned in this article?