Drive and ambition are, naturally, critical components for success. Most successful people constantly strive to improve themselves, their skills, and their circumstances. A person needs a lot of drive and ambition to keep working when life is hard, or things are not going as expected.

People with no drive are bored by life and easily discouraged by obstacles. They give up easily because they see little point in life's struggles. They may even try to destroy themselves by abusing drugs or alcohol or spending time watching TV and never accomplish anything of value in their lives.

While these may be extreme cases of zero drive and ambition, we all tend to lose motivation from time to time.

Try these tips to help you regain your motivation and increase your drive:

1. Cultivate a growth mindset. People with a growth mindset believe they can grow over time with effort and practice. On the other hand, people with a fixed mindset think they are stuck with their limitations and unable or unwilling to grow or change through hard work or practice.

● You can cultivate a growth mindset by reading books and articles about successful people and learning about how they overcame obstacles to become successful.

● You can also practice thinking positively about yourself, even when you make mistakes or others criticize you.

● A growth mindset helps boost your motivation by reminding you that you can improve over time through effort and practice.

● The book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. is a great place to start.

2. Avoid procrastination. Procrastination is a major cause of low motivation and lack of success for most people. We all have certain tasks we put off because we dread doing them, but procrastination is self-destructive because it robs us of the opportunity to achieve our goals in life.

● To stop procrastinating, write down the tasks you want to complete and rank them from most important to least important. Then tackle the highest priority task and complete it before moving on to the next one until all of your high priority tasks are done for the day.

● If you have difficulty getting started on tasks, set a timer for 20 minutes and use that time to get started on the highest priority task on your list before you move on to another activity.

● When you feel productive throughout the day, you will feel more motivated and less stressed about accomplishing your goals.

● There are many other strategies. We created a simple guide, here:  https://briandoleary.lpages.co/time/

● For more help and resources on time management and productivity, go to  https://briandoleary.com/time/

3. Trick yourself into thinking you're motivated. Motivation is a feeling, so it may seem counterintuitive to create it artificially using tricks like wearing an outfit that makes you feel confident or listening to motivational music before a big meeting at work.

● However, if you think of motivation as a feeling, you may be able to trick yourself into behaving in a way that boosts your motivation and makes you feel more driven and productive.

4. Think of counterarguments for why you're struggling with motivation. People who lack motivation tend to focus on why they can't do something instead of all the reasons they can succeed at a task.

● For example, suppose you "feel" unmotivated to exercise. In that case, you're telling yourself that you have no energy after work to exercise and shouldn't bother going to the gym since you don't enjoy it anyway.

● This line of thinking often convinces you not to work out because you don't see any point in working out if you aren't enjoying yourself while doing it.

● Instead, you can reframe the situation by thinking of why you should work out even though you aren't feeling motivated at the moment. You love the way exercise makes you think, and you've always seen positive results from working out in the past, so you should push yourself to go to the gym!

Having drive and ambition is very important for success in life, but most of us struggle to maintain a high level of these attributes.

By cultivating a growth mindset, avoiding procrastination, tricking yourself into being motivated, and thinking about counterarguments for your lack of motivation, you can increase your productivity and start bringing your dreams to life.

As always,

Brian