Do you struggle with making progress?

My friend Sanya always complains about her weight.

She’ll start a diet, stay consistent for three weeks, lose six pounds… and then one morning, the scale shows +2 lbs.

Instant meltdown.

She gets so discouraged she grabs the nearest chocolate bar, and, boom – all her progress goes out the window.

Sanya is constantly frustrated with herself:

“Why can’t I just keep up? I don’t get it! I take two steps forward, one step back, and end up right where I started!”

How to Avoid the Demotivation Trap

Here’s what you need to understand: motivation is finite.

When you start something new, you feel fired up, inspired, unstoppable. But that feeling fades fast.

Why?
Because motivation, as powerful as it is, fluctuates.

You’ll have great days and awful days. And the only thing that keeps you moving when motivation dips is persistence.

Persistence isn’t some magical trait you’re born with, it’s a skill.
You build it through hard repetition.

And here’s the good news – once you learn how to feed it, it becomes your greatest strength.

How to stay persistent

• Document your progress

Most people want instant results, and when things don’t happen fast, they panic.

That’s when the self-doubt voice kicks in:

“What’s the point? I’ve been trying so hard, and I’m still nowhere near my goal…”

Sound familiar?

Here’s the fix – track everything.

When motivation drops, go back and look at where you started.

Pull up that list of completed tasks, old photos, or journal entries, whatever proof you’ve got that you’ve moved forward.

You’ll see it clear as day:
You’re not stuck.
You’re just impatient.

Reflecting on your progress is a reality check – a reminder of how far you’ve actually come since yesterday, last week, or even last month.

• Monitor and readjust your SMART goals

Check in with yourself every month to make sure you’re still headed in the right direction.

When you first set a goal, you can’t possibly know every step that’ll get you there, and that’s okay. Life changes. You change. The plan should too.

Say your dream is to land a high-paying job in the creative field. You start with SMART goals: finish courses in Graphic Design and Digital Marketing. But halfway through, you realise marketing just isn’t your thing.

That’s not failure, that’s self-awareness.

Don’t fall for the trap of thinking that changing direction makes you unreliable. It makes you smart enough to stop wasting time.

Be bold enough to quit what doesn’t serve you, and flexible enough to keep steering your path where it feels right.

• Use motivational media

Feed your mind the right material – photos, movies, interviews, and podcasts that program your brain for success.

Hop on Pinterest and find images that capture your goals. Print them out and create a vision board you’ll see every morning.

Watch movies about people who made it happen – especially those who started late or failed often. If you think you’re too old to start a business, look up Ray Kroc, the man who founded McDonald’s at 52.

Here’s the magic behind it: when you’re emotionally absorbed in a story, your subconscious takes notes. It starts scanning for similar opportunities in your life, even when you’re not aware of it.

And when you hit those “I’m such a failure” moments (because we all do), don’t compare yourself to your successful friends.

Instead, binge on stories of people who failed spectacularly before they made it – Jack Ma, J.K. Rowling, Colonel Sanders.

• Surround yourself with people who made it

You are the average of the ten people you spend the most time with, so choose wisely.

Hang out with people who are already where you want to be. Entrepreneurs, creators, doers. Ask questions. Watch how they think, how they move, how they react when things go wrong.

Successful people train their brains by stacking small wins, daily. They’ve made success a habit.

If your circle is full of friends who eat clean, exercise, and live intentionally, it’ll be 10x easier for you to do the same.

But if your crew eats 20 candies a day while complaining about their weight… well, you’ll probably be reaching for a candy bar, too.

• Build powerful habits

Habits are your brain’s automation system, a collection of small, repeated actions that save you energy.

Think about it: you don’t decide to brush your teeth every morning; you just do it. You don’t consciously think through every turn when you drive; your brain’s already got it on autopilot.

That’s because habits live in your basal ganglia – the oldest and most stubborn part of your brain. Once something becomes a habit, a single trigger can activate it instantly.

Now imagine turning the actions that lead to your dreams into habits. You’d need less willpower, less motivation, less “get up and go.” Your brain would handle the doing, automatically.

That’s how successful people get ahead. They don’t rely on motivation – they rely on systems.

• Create a reward system

Rewards keep your brain hooked on progress.
Every time you achieve a goal, (big or small), celebrate it.

The harder the goal, the bigger the reward.
It doesn’t have to be extravagant. It can be as simple as a long candlelit bath, a day off with zero guilt, or as bold as buying yourself that new car you’ve been eyeing.

Rewards create a dopamine loop – your brain starts to associate effort with pleasure, and that’s how persistence turns addictive.

• Hack for days you feel demotivated

Let’s be real, you won’t wake up inspired every day. Some days, your motivation will pack up and go on vacation.

Here’s a fun hack for that:
Grab a whiteboard and draw two future “YOUs.”

• One is the version who gave up on their goals.
• The other is the successful you who pushed through and made it.

Make it ridiculous. Give them funny names. Add doodles.

Now, on the days when you want to quit, look at that board and ask yourself:
“Which version am I investing in today?”

You’ll be surprised how quickly that little visual trick snaps you back into action.

• Never quit when you experience a setback

Persistence is like a muscle: it only gets stronger the more you train it.

Whatever happens, even if every table turns against you, make quitting not an option.

When things fall apart, that’s usually the universe testing how badly you really want it. Most people quit right before their breakthrough. Don’t be one of them.

Keep going. Adjust, learn, rest if you must, but never stop.

Read more on how to become powerful and succeed in everything:

Why should you keep your plans secret

Why some people succeed and not others

How to tell if someone’s lying based on science

How to build your self – confidence from scratch

TheThinkAbout is a website based on psychology in practice and experience.

Like the articles? Subscribe to never miss anything. 

Your contribution matters! If you find this website helpful, please support our work. Thank you for visiting!