How to get motivated when depressed and frustrated

What do you do when you’re feeling blue? We all want to be happier, yet as a society depression is on the rise. As life coaches we believe each person has unique solutions to their problems. While antidepressants are the answer for some with clinical depression, others may seek natural methods in addition to or as an alternative to taking medication. While there is no cure-all for depression, there is research supporting several natural options that may help boost our minds as well as our spirits.

1. Get your hands in the dirt. Gardening has long been known for its meditative, relaxing, and grounding effects. Medical News Today reports that UK scientists have discovered friendly bacteria in soil that reportedly affects the brain in a way similar to antidepressants by increasing the release of serotonin. A great, easy to follow gardening guide is RHS Gardening Month by Month, by Ian Spence.

2. Meditate. Many of us have all heard that meditation reduces stress. Scientists are now beginning to uncover evidence that meditation has a tangible effect on the brain. Professor Mark Williams, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford conducted a trial study reported by the BBC News, indicates that meditation reduces the likelihood of depression by over 50%. “It suggests to people that they begin to see all their thoughts as just thoughts, whether they are positive, negative or neutral.” Get Self Centered offers meditation workshops and retreats across the US. Or, learn to practice from home with Jack Kornfield’s downloadable audiobook, Meditation for Beginners.

3. Burn Incense. Incense has long been used in religious rituals and hippy living rooms across the globe to create a peaceful environment. In a new study (that can be found at The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal an international team of scientists have discovered how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain that alleviate depression. Floracopeia provides high quality, organic frankincense available as incense and essential oil.

4. Ingest a yellow flower. St. John’s Wort is a wild yellow flower that has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. There is some scientific evidence that St. John’s Wort is helpful in treating mild to moderate depression. Two large studies, one sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), showed that the herb may be helpful for treating mild depression, however it may not be effective for treating major depression. iHerb provides several types of St. John’s Wart supplements.

5. Eat Sushi. Research has shown that fatty fish oil can actually improve wellbeing. People suffering from depression have lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood. One study (Nemets & Belmaker – American Journal of Psychiatry) showed that the lower the level of EPA, the more severe the clinical depression. In addition, fish oil supplementation reduced suicidal tendencies and improved the well being when 40 people were given fish oil or placebo for 12 weeks (Hallahan, Hibbeln, Davis – British Journal of Psychiatry). Fish oil can be found in raw and cooked fish and can also be taken as a dietary supplement. Zebra Organics is a great source for high quality, organic fish oil supplements.

6. Move your body. Talk a walk, ride a bike, hit the gym, or go dancing. Science indicates that people who regularly exercise benefit from positive boosts in mood and reduce the risk of depression. When you exercise, the body naturally releases chemicals called endorphins that trigger positive feelings in the body and mind.

7. Use natural sweeteners such as Agave Nectar or Maple Syrup. Some studies have linked the use of refined sugar to depression. Author William Dufty creates a strong argument for avoiding sugar in his book Sugar Blues. Another interesting book on the subject is Sugar Shock, by Connie Bennett with Stephen Sinatra, M.D. Natural sweeteners such as Agave (a sweet cactus nectar) and maple syrup (a sweetener made from the sap of maple trees) can be used as natural alternatives to refined sugar.

8. Get in the sunshine. Vitamin D has been shown to increase levels of serotonin in the brain. Researchers from the University of Toronto noticed that people who were suffering from depression, particularly those with seasonal affective disorder, tended to improve as their levels of vitamin D in the body increased over the normal course of a year. The recommendation is to allow yourself limited, unprotected sun exposure in the early morning and late afternoon (no more than 15 minutes for light-skinned individuals, 40 minutes for darker skin). Vitamin D is also available as a dietary supplement and can be found at ProHealth.

9. Have a good laugh. Have you ever noticed the physical response you sometimes have after a good laugh? Studies show that laughter fights the onset of depression by reducing stress hormones. The positive results of laughter may encourage people to relax and release the stress that often causes depression. Reading the comics, watching your favorite sitcom, or listening to a comedian may actually be a prescription for happiness.

10. Use depression to make you stronger. Can depression actually make you healthier? A recent article from the BBC News features Dr Paul Keedwell, an expert on mood disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. Keedwell says that depression is not a human defect at all, but a defense mechanism that in its mild and moderate forms can force a healthy reassessment of personal circumstances. “Don’t beat yourself up about being depressed, in most cases it will run its course provided you take yourself out of the situation that caused it.” Depression can actually serve a purpose, deepening and enriching the human experience. By overcoming challenging times in our lives, we can actually become stronger evolutionarily speaking.

Simply recognizing we are feeling depressed can be the first step towards changing it. We all experience difficult stages in our lives and while we recommend seeing a professional to help alleviate clinical depression, we also have found that little changes in our diet and lifestyle can go a long way. So the next time the blues get you down, you can try lighting up some frankincense, ordering a fish taco, and chowing it down in the sunshine. Hey, worth a try.

Depression is a difficult illness. Not only does it sink your mood and self-esteem, but it also saps your energy and motivation. It makes getting things done — everything from working to cooking to paying the bills to making decisions — incredibly challenging.

“I’m still depressed more than I’m well,” writes Julie A. Fast, in Get It Done When You’re Depressed: 50 Strategies for Keeping Your Life On Track, a valuable book written with neuropsychologist John D. Preston, PsyD.

She’s learned to work through her depression: “Depression may take over my mind, but it doesn’t have to take over my actions.”

When getting things done, Fast and Preston emphasize the importance of not waiting for motivation. Don’t wait until you feel like doing something because that feeling will probably never come.

In fact, they say that waiting for your motivation to return is the biggest mistake you can make when you’re depressed and need to perform.

According to Fast, “After years of waiting for the elusive good feeling that comes with wanting to do something, I finally accepted the fact that I’ve never wanted to do certain things when I’m depressed and I never will. So I try to do them anyway.”

Make Your Own Decisions

Depression sabotages one’s ability to make decisions. Even the decisions that typically take no time turn into “Herculean tasks” when you’re depressed, write Fast and Preston. Even when you finally do make a decision, depression can trigger feelings of guilt.

Since our daily lives are all about making decisions — what to cook, what to eat, what to wear, what project to tackle, what events to attend, and so on — this can become paralyzing.

To help with decision-making Fast reminds herself that: “Depression won’t make a decision today, but I will,” and “Depression tells me I made the wrong decision, but I didn’t. I made a choice, and it’s my own.”

When she does make a decision, she says, “Good for you, Julie!”

She also promises herself that she’ll pick something no matter what, and she won’t analyze her decisions. “Yes, there may be something better, but I’ve made my decision and I stick to it.”

The exercise: What’s also helpful is to have predetermined decisions for common situations. Fast and Preston suggest making a list of decisions that you have a hard time making on a regular basis. Then list the “set-in-stone decision” you can use whenever you’re depressed and that situation arises.

For instance, unless you’re too tired, you’ll always attend a party you want to attend. If you’re trying to figure out where to go for lunch, you’ll let others decide (and you won’t change their decision).

They also note that if you have to make decisions that affect others, go with what you’d choose when you’re well. And put off big life decisions until you’re not depressed.

Set Up Structure

Structure is key when you’re depressed. According to the authors, “When your life feels out of control and without structure, it’s natural to feel like you’ll never get your depression under control.”

Have a plan for all your days – like a child does. Kids have a structure for getting up, eating, going to school, playing and sleeping. This helps with promoting calm (instead of floundering and frustration with no structure).

Having structure helps you get out of bed, participate in enjoyable activities, and gives you something to look forward to. It also takes away the worry of figuring out what to do with your day.

Not having structure fuels depression. “…[Y]ou have more time to think about what’s wrong with your life instead of getting out there and living it.”

The exercise: Fast and Preston suggest asking yourself these questions and writing down your responses:

What did your school day look like in sixth grade?
Compare this to today.
How can you create a similar structure?
If your days are already very structured, is that helpful? If it’s not helpful, what do you need to change?

Get Help with Limits

“The depressed brain is a confused brain,” write Fast and Preston. This makes it tough to set and make your deadlines, and get to work on time. That’s why the authors suggest looking for outside support.

For instance, for one woman relying on just her alarm to get to work on time wasn’t helping. So she started carpooling with other people. She asked them to call her when they get up. She bought a really loud, old-fashioned alarm, and she asked her boss to hold her accountable when she has a deadline. “I don’t want to let down any of these people. This is not pressure for me but support.”

The exercise: Fast and Preston suggest finding a personal taskmaster. “Think about the people in your life. Who likes calendars, deadlines, watches, and handheld devices that tell them where they are every minute of the day? That person might be a very good taskmaster for you!”

List the tasks you need to accomplish, and show your list to that person. Take out a calendar, and go over it with them.

Ask them to call you on certain dates to check in. Schedule a time every week to review your progress. Fast and Preston also note that this “works especially well when you work with a therapist or group.”

Other ideas they suggest: When you feel like you can’t clean your home, ask someone to come over and help you focus, and then enjoy a coffee break after you’re done; ask a friend to take you to work and pick you up at a certain time; join a club where people do things in groups — anything from reading to running to writing to golfing — so they decide when you come and go.

Getting things done when you’re depressed is not easy. The key is not to wait for the energy, inspiration or motivation to start.

“Depression doesn’t want you to do anything and never will. It’s an inert illness, not an active illness.”

Instead, have structure and support in place, and start where you are. Take the first step. Today.

Telling a depressed person to get motivated is like telling a rock to dance. You’ll get the same result.

It’s not because depressed people don’t want to get motivated. It’s because getting motivated is an overwhelming task when you’re depressed. Is motivation impossible? Definitely not. You just have to find a process that works for you.

There is a saying: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” But many depressed people can’t get out of bed, much less take a thousand-mile journey. For many sufferers, medication is the first step.

There are those who scoff at the idea of medication as an answer. But for those in a major clinical depression, life is a dark place full of pain, hopelessness and insecurity.

Sometimes the blame can be placed on brain chemistry. Neurotransmitters don’t work right, and brain chemicals such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine — your feel-good chemicals — often don’t go where they’re supposed to go. Medications deal with chemical imbalances. Find the right one, and you may feel more like your old self again. Because you feel better, getting motivated becomes a little easier.

A good therapist goes hand in hand with medication. One without the other is kind of a half-solution. By talking to a trained professional, you’ll feel better because you’re talking to someone who knows how to listen.

Good friends listen, sure, but don’t forego a therapist for a friend. Well-meaning friends may tell you to just get over it or to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. This results in a vicious cycle. You may feel worthless and stupid because you’re finding it hard to brush your teeth, much less pull yourself up by your bootstraps. This leads to a deepening depression, which leads to more “helpful” remarks, which leads to even more depression. Unfortunately, the thick, ugly scars of depression aren’t outwardly visible, and when your wounds aren’t visible, sympathy from your friends is hard to come by.

There’s a method used in Alcoholics Anonymous that works for some, and that’s acting as if something were already true. For example, every morning when you wake up, pop up with as much vigor as you can muster. Don’t give yourself time to dwell. Get dressed immediately. It can be for the gym or dog-walking or some other form of exercise. Or, get dressed to go to the mall, the bookstore, or the theater.

Just get dressed. Do your hair. Groom yourself attractively, and do it quickly. Don’t give yourself time to talk yourself out of it. In other words, act as if you feel great already and you know for a fact that you’re leaving the house and will have a good time. At the very least, getting dressed and looking decent can go a long way toward giving you a mental boost. It may even give you enough motivation actually to go to the gym and exercise, which is great for alleviating depression.

If you’re not at the gym phase yet, however, walk the dog, or go into the yard and pull weeds for 20 minutes a day (assuming it’s spring or summer). This gives you the added benefit of sunshine. According to research, 20 minutes of sun a day will lift your mood. If it’s winter and you live in a cold climate, invest in a light box, which simulates full-spectrum sunlight.

Even if you can’t find the motivation to do anything, don’t berate yourself for it. You’re up and ready for the day, aren’t you? Do only what you can do, and let go of major expectations. If you brushed your teeth, that’s positive. Don’t be hard on yourself, or getting motivated to do anything becomes another chore to be avoided.

Depression whispers bad things in your ear about your capabilities. We hear, “You can’t do anything right. Look at the mess you’ve made of your life. Why aren’t you further along in your career? Why don’t you have a career at your age?” By consciously replacing the words on these soundtracks with positive words, we’ll be able to change our way of thinking. The brain is able to create new neural pathways. Change your way of thinking over a period of time, and a new neural pathway is created.

Use positive thoughts about yourself to create new neural pathways. Over time, the old, bad, unused pathways wither, die and fall off, much like the branches on an old tree. With some determination to stay on the positive path, you create a new soundtrack, which is filled with hope, giving you more motivation to keep stepping forward.

The same premise applies to self-talk in the mirror. Whenever you see yourself in the mirror, say something positive about yourself. Some people carry flashcards to remind themselves of their good traits when they’re feeling particularly down. This is a behavioral psychology method to get you to replace bad thoughts with good ones. Before long you are reminded of all the wonderful things that you have to offer, and you are motivated enough to take another step in the healing process toward rejoining the world.

Socialization is important. Make a standing appointment to have a friend or family member pick you up to go out. This way you’re held accountable to someone else. If there are no friends or family members available, don’t use that as an excuse. Going to the bookstore and people-watching in the coffeeshop is preferable to sitting home alone. Who knows? You may make a new friend. That is certainly motivating.

Give yourself credit for progress made, even if it seems tiny. Set small goals. Do what you can handle and nothing more. Are there seven loads of laundry to fold? Tell yourself you’ll fold laundry for five minutes, then do it. You’ll be surprised by how accomplishing one thing you said you were going to do can boost your spirits and motivate you.

By the same token, don’t set yourself up to fail by telling yourself you’re going to do something you know you can’t do. Because, when you do fail, your motivation to move forward stops. Try doing only one thing at a time, a little bit at a time. Five minutes here, 10 minutes there — each success makes it easier to stay motivated for the next step in your journey to feeling good about yourself.

Many people struggle with depression; you’re not alone. Take that first step. Find what works for you, and the motivation to continue forward will come. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.

Last medically reviewed on December 22, 2014

How to get motivated when depressed and frustrated

Depression makes people lose energy and zest for life. Find out how to get energy to do simple tasks and big goals. This post will give you ideas to help you figure out how to increase motivation when depressed.

Depression causes people to lose motivation to do certain tasks. Simple things can be hard to do. Challenging things are even harder to do. Being depressed stops you from trying out new things. However, sometimes you just need that extra nudge to help boost your motivation for life.

In this article, I’ll list the methods you can use to put depression in the back seat while you try to control your own life. We can trick depression and gain motivation to do the things we need to do without being dragged down. Read on to find out how to increase motivation when depressed.

How to Increase Motivation When Depressed

Here are 5 ways on how to increase motivation when depressed:

1. Start with the first step

When you want to do something but you feel depressed, the trick is to not think too much about it. Don’t over-think about what you’re going to do, how long it will take and all that extra information. Just do it. Literally everything starts with the first step. The first step usually takes the most effort. When you want to start the day, the first step is sitting up on your bed. When you have to write, the first step would be to open up your laptop. Concentrate on doing the least you can. Chances are, you’ll end up doing way more than you planned to.

2. You need the right kind of motivation

Some people motivate themselves from within. They can give themselves motivational talks that help them to burst out of bed ready to seize the day. Other people need external motivation. Motivation can come from things you never suspected. Watching a movie or reading a book can give you motivation. There are podcasts and YouTube videos that give you that energy you need to go after your dreams. You never know what’s going to give you motivation. That’s why you should try it all. TV shows, articles, documentaries; make sure to give yourself a diverse sensory experience. The things we do for recreation have the power to motivate us.

3. Talk to your close friends and family

Being stuck with your own thoughts can suck. Talking to other people can change your mood and mental state. Great friends and family have the ability to motivate you. They help you see things about yourself that you don’t. They can encourage you and provide support. It’s easy to distance yourself from others when you’re feeling depressed but a lot of people are actually happy to help. Send a message or call them and they can boost your mood. This can help you to increase motivation when depressed.

4. Small victories matter

When you’re feeling depressed, your thoughts can be very negative and destructive. You need to learn to fight these thoughts. Counter any negative thoughts with positive ones. Small victories matter. Getting out of bed in the morning is a great achievement. Don’t compare yourself to other people. The truth is that you can’t ever be them. You can only ever be yourself, and a better version of yourself. It can be hard to be positive but we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. You need to rebel against any thoughts that tell you that you aren’t enough. You need to believe that you are worthy of so many good things.

5. Write down your achievements

Depression makes you feel like you haven’t achieved anything in life. It can make you feel like you aren’t worthy. We tend to put less value in our achievements and abilities. Write down a list of your achievements, talents, abilities and strengths. People concentrate on their flaws. We should concentrate on the resources that we have. It’s easy to get sucked into a destructive cycle of noticing our flaws and mistakes. Experiment with positivity. It doesn’t hurt to try out what everyone is always telling you: Be positive.

Motivation Comes When You Try

Being depressed stops you from doing things. You need to try your worst. I know that sounds counter-intuitive. It can be hard to try your best. Sometimes your worst is good enough. I hope this article helps you to learn how to increase motivation when depressed.

Telling a depressed person to get motivated is like telling a rock to dance. You’ll get the same result.

There are those who scoff at the idea of medication as an answer. But for those in a major clinical depression, life is a dark place full of pain, hopelessness and insecurity.

Many people struggle with depression; you’re not alone. Take that first step. Find what works for you, and the motivation to continue forward will come. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.

Last medically reviewed on December 22, 2014

There may come a time in your life in which the days go by in a monotonous blur. None of the activities that you used to enjoy so much give you any pleasure; nothing excites you; no one makes your pulse race. You feel listless and empty, and perhaps plagued by a vague anxiety and dread. Family members may accuse you of being irritable and snapping at them for no reason, and it’s true that at present their demands seem overwhelming. Even the smallest task defeats you: All you really want is to be left alone.

Curiously, when we’re depressed, retreat may seem the easiest way out. But health care professionals strongly disagree. If you’re feeling hopeless and blue, they say, it’s the worst time to be alone with your thoughts. Your reverie will likely be peppered with stinging self-criticism and feelings of worthlessness. Not surprisingly, the increasingly bleak cast to your mental landscape will worsen your mood disorder and sap your remaining energy.

If the scenario above describes your mood and has lasted for two weeks or more, you need to seek professional help: You’re in the grip of a punishing depression. Both antidepressants and some forms of therapy can bring you relief. But say you’re in treatment and still find it difficult to even get out of bed. The pain of depression has diminished, but you’re still distant from your friends and family, since you want nothing more than to close the blinds, pull up the covers, and hunker down.

What can help pull you out of this vicious cycle? For one thing, you can learn to slow the stream of the negative thoughts that darken your mood. But just as important, you can find a way to stay active. Walk the dog, call a friend, work in the garden — almost anything will help distract you from your dark thoughts. No matter what you do, you can probably expect to feel better.

Choosing some activities that put you in contact with other people is especially important. In his classic book Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life, Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, a psychologist and researcher who is widely published in the area of work and creativity, explains the benefits of even the simplest encounter with a friend or stranger. “Over and over, our findings suggest that people get depressed when they are alone, and they revive when they rejoin the company of others. Alone a person usually reports low happiness, [little] motivation, low concentration, apathy, and an entire string of negative states such as passivity, loneliness, detachment, and low self-esteem. The moods that people diagnosed with chronic depression have are indistinguishable from those of healthy people, as long as they are in company and doing something that requires concentration. But when they are alone with nothing to do, their minds begin to be occupied by depressing thoughts. This is also true, to a less pronounced extent, of everyone else.”

“The reason is that when we have to interact with another person, even a stranger, our attention becomes structured by external demands. By contrast, when we are alone with nothing to do, there is no reason to concentrate. The mind begins to unravel, and soon finds something to worry about.”

When you’re feeling stuck

As anyone who’s been clinically depressed knows, feeling good doesn’t come easily — or quickly. As psychiatrist David D. Burns explains in his book Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (Little, Brown and Co.), depressed people often feel that there’s nothing they can do to feel better. Nothing seems fun anymore; nothing seems worthwhile. Or else there’s so much to do that it’s exhausting even to think about. To someone who’s depressed, these gloomy thoughts have the force of law.

Of course, some laws deserve to be broken. In Feeling Good, Burns has come up with a very practical plan for people so depressed that the smallest activities — from taking a shower to eating lunch — seem beyond their grasp. He suggests keeping a Daily Activity Schedule, a simple but effective tool that can help you organize your day and regain your motivation.

Here’s how it works: At the beginning of each day, write down what you’d like to accomplish in each hour. (A daily appointment calendar could be a helpful place to keep these notations.) And what you plan to accomplish, at least until you feel better, may be very basic. From 8 to 9 am, for instance, you may write eat breakfast, balance checkbook, or read the paper. At the end of the day, record what you actually did. Burns further recommends marking each productive activity with an M (for mastery) and each fun activity with a P (for pleasure.) According to Burns, many depressed people do not plan any activities that could give them pleasure; a mix of both practical and pleasurable activities, he says, is important.

After listing your activities you can score them on a scale from 0 to 5. Something really fun or challenging gets a 5; anything dull or simple gets a 1 or 0. You can set different goals that you want to reach each week, raising them slightly each time.

Czikszentmihalyi has also suggested engineering daily activities so that you reap the most rewards from them. Of course, he says, this is easier said than done. “This sounds simple, but the inertia of habit and social pressure are so strong that most people have no idea which components of their lives they actually enjoy, and which contribute to stress and depression,” he writes. “Keeping a diary or reflecting on the past day in the evening are ways to take stock systematically of the various influences on one’s moods. After it is clear which activities produce the high points in one’s day, it becomes possible to start experimenting.”

People with an artistic or creative bent don’t need to feel at all constricted by a schedule, he adds. “Creative people are especially good at ordering their lives so that what they do, when, and with whom will enable them to do their best work. If what they need is spontaneity and disorder, then they make sure to have that, too.”

If you keep your schedule for several weeks or so — and really try to stick to it — you may begin to regain a sense of control over the most basic parts of your life. According to Burns, you’ll see that you can enjoy yourself and get things accomplished. As he points out, life doesn’t seem so overwhelming when you take it one hour at a time.

Exercise: The original antidepressant

If at all possible, make some room in that schedule for some exercise. According to a report in The Physician and Sports Medicine, exercise is a potent remedy for depression. A walk around the neighborhood or a good swim can enhance self-esteem, provide a sense of accomplishment, and burn pent-up anger and stress. Exercise may also boost the brain’s supply of serotonin, mimicking the effects of Prozac and many other antidepressants.

If you haven’t had much exercise lately, take it slow at first. Your doctor can help you find an exercise program that’s right for you.

Whether you decide to go for a jog or read a book, remember: Something is much better than nothing. Whatever it takes, try to resist the temptation to curl up and hide. Depression may drain your energy, but it doesn’t have to bring your life to a halt.

Further Resources

National Institute of Mental Health 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857 Phone: (800) 421-4211

National Foundation for Depressive Illness, Inc. P.O. Box 2257 New York, NY 10016 Phone: (800) 826-3632

Beck, Aaron T., MD. Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. Penguin.

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. David D. Burns, MD. Avon Books9.

Artal M. Exercise against depression. The Physician and Sports Medicine. Vol 26(10)

How to get motivated when depressed and frustrated

“A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well.”

I’m great with short-term goals. In fact, I prefer them. Work my butt off for a few months to reach a goal? I’m down with that. I’ll give up a social life, down time, spending money, eating yummy food (read: sugar), drinking alcohol—whatever it takes, for the short-term. Long-term goals—ugh, not so much.

Despite this preference for pretty immediate gratification, I have followed through with many long-term goals in my life (school and various trainings, long-distance relationships, starting and re-starting businesses, to name a few).

There have also been quite a few of these goals that I’ve dropped that I wished I hadn’t.

I, like many of us, have noticed a pattern of finding it much more difficult to stay engaged once the initial excitement of starting something new has worn off.

Through this learning process of motivating myself to follow through with longer-view goals, I’ve come up with a few steps that have really helped me to stay focused and on track. Here are three steps that can help.

Remind yourself that you’re in charge.

There are loads of reasons we get off track with goals. Self-doubt, fear we won’t succeed, and concern that we are not setting realistic goals are just a few of them.

This is really important to remember: You can change this goal if you want. You can keep going, you can revise it, or you can dump it altogether.

When we are experiencing doubts, it’s easy to feel like we have no power; it’s easy to feel like we don’t have a choice. However, most often, we do.

I find it helps to simply remind myself that I’m in charge. Many times, when the going gets tough, we begin to feel like the choices we made (sometimes long ago) are not our own. Sometimes a reminder to ourselves that we are the ones who originally set this goal is a good way to rev the engine.

When I first started acupuncture school, I was pretty young, but it had been several years since I’d been in school. I’d been living on my own, partying it up, and doing whatever I liked.

I saw pretty quickly that I had to get serious, stop staying out late so often, and learn to organize my time and resources far better than I had been. In short, I had to get productive.

Well, the meltdown that ensued was not very attractive. I didn’t want to give up my young, single, and independent lifestyle! I didn’t want to trade late nights with my friends for late nights with textbooks and manuals!

That went on for about a week, until a wise friend (who was tired of my whining), said, basically, “You wanted this. Get with it, or quit school.”

It was the kick in the butt I needed to stop complaining and remember that I did want it. I was very driven to be an acupuncturist, because it’s an amazing modality. And I strongly desired (and continue to desire) to live a life of service.

I won’t say it was completely smooth sailing from there on out, but my productivity and focus were certainly much improved.

Look back at all you’ve already achieved.

If you have been taking steps towards your goal for a while, then it can be great to take some time to consider all that you have already accomplished. All long haul goals take multiple, incremental steps to attain. Pat yourself on the back, and remind yourself of these achievements.

The thing is, once an incremental step is attained, it can quickly feel like not quite so big of a deal. It becomes commonplace, and it’s not as exciting as it was when we first accomplished it. That’s normal, and understandable, and it’s great to look back occasionally and remind ourselves what a big deal reaching that step really was at the time.

When I’m frustrated about what feels like a lack of movement toward a goal, I sit down and make a list of the steps I have already enacted to reach it, and what the results of those steps have been. I am almost always surprised at how much I’ve produced. This clarity helps in releasing those feelings of frustration.

Explore the reasons you’re going for this goal, and remind yourself often.

While I was in school, there were many times when I simply wanted to quit.

I had student loans (that were growing!). As I mentioned, there was little time for a social and personal life. I was learning a technique that required a very different perspective (energy medicine vs. the physical body) than I had previously.

Besides that, I was starting to sweat the idea of running my own business. Would I fail? Could I make it work? Maybe I was nuts to think I could succeed at this at all!

When I’d start to get too caught up in all that noise, I would literally sit down and remind myself of the reasons I’d chosen the path I had.

I loved acupuncture; despite fear about being self-employed, I craved that independence; I resonated strongly with the concepts of energy I was learning, even if the vocabulary was new.

Taking the time to have these talks with myself helped to re-invigorate me, to renew my focus, and encouraged me to continue.

To really follow through with a longer-term goal, we have to have solid reasons that make sense to us.

That said, goals aren’t set in stone. Like everything in life, it’s good to approach them with flexibility and open-mindedness.

If you can’t successfully remind yourself of your initial reasons for going for the goal, and get re-ignited about those reasons, then it might be time to re-assess.

Only we can decide what is best for us, and that can change over time. It’s so important to give ourselves permission to go for goals with full-on focus and gusto, or to change them, or put them aside for a while, or whatever else we decide is right at that time.

What techniques do you use to keep yourself motivated on your goal-getting journey?

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(Sept – Dec)

6 Ways to Get Motivated When You’re Feeling Depressed

Getting Motivated When Depressed: Depression can creep up at any time of the day. It can hit you first thing in the morning or maybe you’re having the perfect afternoon, and something out of nowhere triggers you.

One thing is for certain, depression can turn into a downward spiral momentum if you don’t practice daily habits to keep those endorphins pumping & positive energy flowing! So how does someone find motivation when they are feeling like they aren’t good enough and their world is falling to pieces?!

Here are some habits that I practice daily to keep me going!

#1 Wake Up Early

#1 Wake up early – It’s a hard one to do at first if you are not a morning person, but the benefit of feeling like you are ahead of your day is worth it! Even if it’s only 20 minutes or an hour, this will give you the time you need to incorporate one of the other habits on this list!

#2 Make a Goal List

#2 Make a goal list – I’m a big fan of making goals for each baby step I take to get to the major goal ahead of me! Write down something you would like to achieve (as your major goal) and then list some baby step goals that will help you get there. Checking them off one by one is also a great feeling of accomplishment! This could be trying to get in shape or saving up money for a vacation! For things like this, I like to use an accountability journal of some sort… Check out this free printable you can download & start using today – Click here to get the 100% free, 7 Day Self Care Challenge. I made this printable to help me focus on what’s important and keep track of my daily progress! Maybe it can make a difference for you too!