How to Find Your Staying Power When Your Enthusiasm Takes a Hike
Follow these tips and leave lethargy at the door
Staying power has a lot to do with resilience and motivation. It leads you where you want to go and helps you see plans through to the end. When you tap into your essential courage and tenacity, there’s no stopping you. You race ahead with light steps that barely touch the ground.
But your essential spark could be elusive at times. So, why isn’t your power always available? Once you find out, you can access that vital incentive and put it to work.
What is staying power?
The easiest way to describe your innate vital spark is to note the opposite quality. Let’s call that futility. Futility means you get nowhere fast. Try as you might, you can’t get projects off the ground, and everything you do drags like a weight. You’re at a low ebb, and from where you sit, other people seem to have the knack, while yours is missing.
You compare yourself and come off worse for wear, which makes you feel rotten. And you can’t get your head around the problem. Because you imagine the key to success is toil, you try harder, but to no avail. Your power eludes you, and you wonder whether it exists.
To find your staying power, it’s necessary to step out of a negative mindset and build the energy required for an elevated attitude.
Calm critical self-talk
Rather than fight inner disparagement, soothe it into submission. After all, it stems from fear. It makes sense to reason rather than battle.
When self-talk turns ugly and says words like “can’t” and “not good enough,” change the conversation. Think of three reasons you can achieve your goals and what makes you good enough. It will stop negative self-talk because it counters fear with logic.
Quit self-limiting beliefs
Limiting beliefs aren’t always easy to spot. Sometimes they are so familiar they seem like truths. If you imagine you can’t draw, for example, the idea stems from a self-imposed limitation. With enough practice and perhaps help, you can become a proficient artist. And the same is true about many other limits you’ve inadvertently set for yourself.
You might limit your ability to progress at work, within relationships, and in other essential life areas. While you can’t do everything, some restrictions are illusory.
You may need to study, gather knowledge, and practice skills to gain mastery. But it could be worth the effort, and you’ll never know how much you can accomplish until you drop those limiting ideas and adopt a growth mindset.
Rather than believe your abilities are static, recognize you can expand wisdom. You can learn how to meet your goals. With an expansive attitude, you’ll tap into your power and find the strength to grow.
Find out what gives you energy
Your staying power rises with motivation. And your enthusiasm grows when you single-mindedly reach for what you want. When you’ve stopped negative self-talk and developed a growth mindset, the next step is to fuel motivation.
Think about what makes you get out of bed in the morning. Then apply what you discover to your goals each day. If creativity increases your energy, use it. Or, when being around nature, people, architecture, or something else puts a spring in your step, consider how to add it to what you do.
Be a doer
Take action. Jot down three priorities each day and do them. Make creating a to-do list a daily habit. You’ll reach mini destinations that lead you to bigger ones. Moreover, you’ll have the mental energy to light a fire under your feet.
Your power sets you apart from folks who want to complete goals but struggle and fail. It gives you the tenacity to work through difficulties, conquer setbacks, and learn from mistakes. Most importantly, it makes you feel alive. Because you are motivated, you greet each day and leave lethargy at the door.
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Bridget Webber is a writer and nature lover, often found in the woodland, meadow, and other wild places. She writes poetry and stories and pens psychology articles; her love of discovering what rests inside the thicket and the brain compels her to delve deep. She's appeared in many leading publications and is the author of Nature Poems to Heal the Heart and Nurture the Soul.
