Motivation: keeping on track

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Most know that motivation is what drives us to accomplish our goals, but the hard part is staying motivated when we are faced with barriers, restrictions or simply feeling sluggish. Although it may take some extra effort in the beginning, making a realistic goal plan and sticking to it using the following tricks can help you stay motivated even on the laziest of days.

Setting a goal is the first (and likely the hardest) step in the motivation process. You need to have a clearly defined goal that is realistic and obtainable to work toward. There are five qualities involved in making a good goal, it is known as "DAPPS."

Dated: Be sure that your goal has a deadline. Without a set time period, you may lose motivation due to always being able to complete your goal at another time. Short-term goals typically last up to one year and long-term goals can be as far off in the future as you like — that's up to you. Try to make your deadlines realistic; trying to complete a goal with too little time can be discouraging, which can have a negative effect on your motivation and success level.

Achievable: Making sure your goals are realistic for your abilities and resources is probably one of the most important rules to follow. If you tend to make unrealistic goals, you've likely not had many successes in the past. Repeated failures can be really discouraging and result in low motivation and self-esteem. Setting small, easy goals can help improve your selfesteem and give your motivation that little boost it may need to get into gear.

Personal: Having personal goals that relate to your values and desires are great motivators. If you are setting goals based on other people's values or desires for yourself, you will lack the passion and interest that you get from trying to get where you want to be. In addition, when you complete small milestones toward your goal set by others, you'll likely not feel the full extent of pride and satisfaction that will keep you going strong.

Positive: Making your goals positive may be more important than you think. Negative goals aim to avoid unwanted outcomes, such as not failing a class. Making a positive goal keeps you focused on continually improving and having only positive results, like getting better grades. If you succeed, you could get an A; if you don't reach your goal, you'll at least still have a passing grade.

Specific: Making your goals as specific as possible is another key component in successfully completing your goals and staying motivated. General goals tend to get confusing and are eventually abandoned. With specific goals, you know exactly what you expect the outcome to be and won't get confused about whether or not you've achieved the goal. Being specific will sometimes mean you have to make many short-term goals that will add up to completing a larger long-term goal.