Keep going even when the going gets tough! The independent career path has a lot of challenges but that shouldn’t force you to stop.

Think about this: Millions of people decide on resolutions to improve their lives every year, yet many of them end up in the same place with the same goal over and over again.

The good news is that you can train yourself to use your motivation more effectively! It may just boil down to how you view your goals.

Read on and use these tips as a motivational guide to upgrade your goals for maximum success.

CEO, MBO Partners
Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

Keep going even when the going gets tough! The independent career path has a lot of challenges but that shouldn’t force you to stop.

Achieving your goals involves three important things: Hard work, dedication, and motivation to carry on even when things get tough along the way.

While motivation can sometimes get tricky, there’s actually a science behind it. You may even train yourself to use your motivation more efficiently!

If you’ve made a decision to reach for your goals, then give it your best shot and avoid looking at the process in a black and white perspective. Just because you step off the track once, that doesn’t mean you failed.

Instead of cultivating that mindset, focus on making sustainable progress towards the right direction… and don’t treat a momentary setback as a failure.

In doing so, your motivation will stay strong and you’ll be less likely to feel discouraged.

Ready to take your goal-setting to the next level?

Take note of these useful tips and tricks!

1. Beat brain fog.

   A sound goal requires a sound mind and a sound mind has to have bulletproof focus and motivation.

   What can you do to achieve that?

   Start with a healthy diet!

   A healthy diet isn’t just for helping you lose weight. It’s also a foundation for your mental performance, stress levels, risk of disease, physical performance, and willpower.

   So, even if your goals are set in stone, your diet and working environment might be sabotaging your motivation.

   You don’t want that, do you?

   That’s why you have to be mindful of the foods you eat. Some of my recommendations include:

   • Coffee
   • Green tea
   • Blueberries
   • Pomegranates
   • Red cabbage
   • Eggs
   • Fish/Krill oil
   • Grass-fed beef and lamb

   … and others.

   By having regular intake of these foods in your diet, you’ll develop a sharper and more resilient brain.

2. Dream big. Don’t settle for less.

   In one episode of Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof Radio podcast, former football player Bo Eason said it’s against our nature as humans to want to be second best.

   He said,

   “No kid has ever said, ‘When I grow up I want to win a bronze medal.’ But yet we accept a bronze medal years later when we don’t win the gold or we settle for some mediocrity or some average way of being. So that is what I’m against. I want to go back to our roots back to nature, where we said, ‘This is what I desire, this is what I want.’ And then there’s no way out of that option. That’s the only one you got and those are the people who do win gold medals.”

   The bottom line?

   Decide what you want to achieve, then work your way towards it. Stop at nothing to reach your goals.

   Besides, it’s in our primal instinct as human beings to unapologetically go for our dreams and visions in life!

3. Keep your motivational energy stable and on track.

   Motivation isn’t steady. In fact, the motivation you had when you were identifying and setting your goals might not be the same motivation you have as you work towards your goals.

   According to researchers from the University of Winnipeg and University of Manitoba, as you progress towards your goal, your motivation changes from promotion-focused (building habits or gaining skills) to prevention-focused (preventing relapses or setting up obligations).

   For example:

   If your goal is to improve your sleep, then you might start by implementing positive changes like buying a sleep tracker. Then, once you’re through that stage, your focus might shift to avoiding negative changes such as limiting electronic gadgets until 7pm only or refraining from eating foods that affect your sleep.

   If you want to be as excellent in accomplishing your goals as when you’re starting them, make sure you maintain a balance between promotion-focused motivation and prevention-focused motivation.

   As you do that, you’ll be able to focus your willpower on what you can do to maintain your momentum.

Beat brain fog. Dream big and don’t settle for less. Keep your motivational energy on track.

Three simple things that will make a HUGE impact on your motivation.

As a dreamer myself, I know how motivation can be quite hard to maintain… and that is why I’m writing these insights for you!

In case you feel like your motivation is waning as you do your work as an independent contractor, you may go back to this article and recall these effective goal-setting tips so you can refuel the flames of your motivation.

Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful.

Follow us on  LinkedIn.

Stay tuned for next Friday’s Everson’s High-P Fridays!

Those who exercise have better higher-brain functions like emotional regulation and flexible thinking!

Learn more about  the benefits of exercise you might not know about  on next week’s  Everson’s High-P Fridays !