8 Powerful Tips to Stay Motivated When You Feel Like Giving Up

  by Kyle Prinsloo       Last updated Dec. 5, 2018

 

As a developer or freelancer, there may be times when you want to throw in the towel and call it quits.

There could be many reasons for this and uncertainty is a big one.

Uncertain if your efforts will even pay off, if what you’re doing is right and if you will really reach your goals.

These are mind traps that steal our motivation and make us doubt the legitimacy of our own actions.

What's worse is these traps often come at us when we’re in the early stages of our web development and freelancing journey.

If you’ve been finding it harder and harder to stay motivated, in this article, I will share with you effective tips on how to stay motivated when you feel like giving up.

 

Find the Reason Why You're Feeling Beat

The concept of “the one thing” as proposed by Gary Keller, suggests how focusing on the most important thing in a project or in a situation can lead to breakthrough results.

It can be summarized in this single question:

What is the ONE THING you can do which will make everything else easier or unnecessary?

Think of the famous Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule which proposes that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Here's why it's effective:

Focusing on one thing lets you operate on a higher level of focus and resolve, which saves you time and effort in solving the problem.

How is this connected to your motivation problem?

It’s got everything to do with it.

The reason you feel like giving up is that you haven’t been seeing the results that you want.

So you need to ask yourself this very important question:

WHY HAVEN’T I BEEN GETTING THE RESULTS THAT I WANT?

• Are you blocked by fear?
• Are you suffering from imposter syndrome?
• Are you struggling to connect with potential clients?
• Are you finding it hard to negotiate?
• Are you lacking discipline and focus?

Find the ONE BIG REASON why you haven’t been getting the results that you want and you can then work out the solutions to solve it.

So let's say the reason you’re not getting the results that you want is because you’re afraid of increasing your rates, then maybe you need a coach who can walk you through the mental blocks that are stopping you from believing that you're worth a higher rate.

Or maybe you’re just tired and need a break to revitalize yourself and to gain your focus back.

Whatever it is, find the PROBLEM and work on a solution to stay motivated using these tips:

Go Back to Your “Why”

When we lose sight of the ultimate reason why we do the things we do, it’s easy to feel burned out.

What’s worse is if you don’t even know the BIG WHY of your pursuit of freelancing/web development.

Seriously, WHY are you doing what you're doing?

If you think it's only about money, you don't know your why...

When you’re starting to lose your motivation, it’s often because you’re starting to forget your big WHY – or you’ve never really known what it is.

Simon Sinek gave one of the best talks about the power of your why and gives examples of organizations and influential individuals that changed the world through the power of knowing their “why”.

He argues that these leaders know exactly why they do what they do, which sets them apart from the rest.

Here’s a visual presentation of Sinek’s “The Golden Circle”:

 

If we apply The Golden Circle to freelancing, many freelancers know what they do and how they do it, but not many know why they do it.

And this “WHY” goes beyond making more money. It’s a higher purpose, a cause or a belief.

Think about this and ask yourself these questions:

• Why did I start ['x']? What’s my biggest reason?
• Is it just about the money? What is the greater purpose here?
• Are the sufferings I’m facing now worth it if it means I will fulfill my greater purpose and goals?
• What would my life be like if I gave up now?

These questions are pretty powerful in reminding us of why we started and what we have to lose by giving up.

Learn more about the power of starting with “why” in Sinek’s TED talk here: How great leaders inspire action.

 

Don’t Cry and Spend the Entire Weekend on Netflix

When you feel unmotivated, it’s easy to let the entire day pass by while you’re on your couch in front of the TV.

If you let yourself fall into uncontrolled laziness, you’re making it harder and harder to get your focus back.

Have you ever heard of “the inaction effect”?

Psychologists Marcel Zeelenberg and Kees van den Bos conducted a study in 2002 to see how inaction affects the intensity of regret when the inaction leads to a negative outcome.

The result is as they predicted:

Inaction that led to a negative result leads to more regret than when an action resulted in a negative result.

In lay-man's terms:

It’s better to do something and fail than to not do anything at all.

Laying on your bed all day won't make you feel rested. It will make you feel helpless and guilty of not doing anything, which in turn will discourage you from doing anything.

Inaction breeds doubt and fear.

If inaction breeds doubt and fear, then action breeds confidence.

But “action” here is not equivalent to “work”. When I say “action”, I mean getting up and doing something productive, which leads me to the next tip:

 

Do Something Relaxing that Takes Your Mind off Work

I have a love-hate relationship with the word “hustle”.

Entrepreneurs (and freelancers, because you’re essentially building your own freelancing business) throw this word around like it’s a badge of honor.

The more you hustle, the more you win.

That definitely has its truths as you can’t get results without putting in the work.

I know this well when I had a full-time job and I worked on my side businesses when I got home until 2AM for months.

I sacrificed relationships, my health and more.

Having blinders on was important as I 'hustled' but at what cost?

'Playing' is as much part of the business as hustling is.

It makes sense logically as well. Try to run 10 miles without stopping for water or a quick rest. You’re going to tire faster and you most likely won’t reach your goal.

But if you take time to rest and refuel, you will regain strength and determination to finish the race.

It’s much like that when achieving your goals.

When you notice yourself waking up tired and unmotivated, losing passion for what you’re doing and doubting the process, it’s time to pause and rest.

Do something entirely unrelated to your business. The goal here is to relax your mind.

These are some activities to try:

• Meditate – meditation can be good for your brain and overall health. It’s been found to be effective in reducing stress. It also improves emotional health, attention span and sleep.
• Take a vacation – even if you can only afford one night away - do it. Take time away from everything and recharge your batteries.
• Go for a walk – walking often lifts your mood, clears your mind and reduces stress levels.
• Listen to soothing music – music is one of the most effective tools to affect one’s mood. Relaxing music like classical piano helps us chill and relax.

 

Reward Yourself for Everything You’ve Achieved so far

How often do you celebrate your small wins?

We often think that “success” and “achievements” are all about numbers.

How many clients you signed up, how much you earned in a month, your conversion rate and other things. In a culture of quantitative measurements, it’s hard not to fall into this mindset.

But it all depends how you see the word “achievement”.

Achievements are not just about the numbers. If you’re an introvert and you’ve now grown more confident in cold calling strangers, that’s a massive win!

If you’re a bad writer but have managed to write a decent blog post for your portfolio website, then that’s something to celebrate.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What new things have I learned so far?
• What fears have I been conquering?
• Is there something that I used to hate doing but am now actually pulling off?
• What was life like one year ago and how does it compare to my life at this point?

After answering these questions and feeling like you have acheived some small wins, now comes the celebration part.

Here are some celebration ideas:

• Treat yourself to your favorite restaurant.
• Buy that thing you’ve been wanting to get for months.
• Have a fine glass of wine or whiskey.
• Book a relaxing vacation.

Whatever it is, you have to believe that you deserve the reward for all the hard work you’ve been putting in.

Small celebratory wins are crucial to your mental and emotional well-being and it's something I do regularly.

 

Accept That Failure Comes Before Success

People only hear about the success but they don’t often hear about the series of failures that came before it.

Here are 2 big examples:

• Five months before their big break, The Beatles were told that they would never succeed and that guitar groups were on their way out.
• Sylvester Stallone was homeless and rejected 1,500 times by talent agents and scouts. He was told he couldn’t act and he talked funny. People loved the script for “Rocky” but hated him so much that he was even offered $325,000 for the script with the condition that he won’t star in the film. But he got a $35,000 offer + a percentage on the film’s sales and the film went on to earn $200 million in the box office!

On a personal-level, I was living with my grandmother and didn't have $1 to my name. I was broke and unhappy, but I didn't lose hope. I went from extremely low salaries to 6 figures and more freedom.

The point of saying all of this is to say that it's easy to just view people on top of the mountain peak, but you learn a lot from their journey to get there.

 

Get an Accountability Buddy

An accountability buddy is someone who is accountable to your progress towards your goal.

It’s someone who you can exchange ideas with, give you brutally honest feedback and they should hold you accountable to your commitments.

I've had an accountability partner for years now and it's really been useful.

When you’re starting to feel unmotivated, an accountability partner can keep your head straight and focused on the goal.

This can be anyone who:

• Knows you well
• Is trustworthy and can keep secrets
• Understands your work and motivations
• Can give honest, constructive feedback

If you don't have one yet, please seriously consider this.

 

Watch Inspirational Videos

We often need to be reminded to stay motivated and motivational videos help do this.

Here's a good one to watch:

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In concluding, the best way to think of motivation is like an emotion which means it goes up and down. This is NORMAL and it affects everybody.

Follow these steps to get your motivation back, create an action plan and be disciplined in setting out to achieve it.

I hope you found this article helpful :)