Keys to Motivating Yourself for Personal and Entrepreneurial Success

The challenges we face in both our personal lives and entrepreneurial endeavors means we have to find keys to motivate ourselves on a daily basis.

For entrepreneurs, the boundaries often blur for our family's needs and business demands and that can sap our personal emotions -- and our motivation to stay focused. During the past six years, I have worked in commission-only sales positions and started writing online. In that period, we have had as many as ten people living in our home and we've dealt with a variety of serious challenges relating to mental health and job stress.

I've had to find the keys for self-motivation and hope.

Know your why

Know why you have started on a new project, a new career, or an entrepreneurial venture. Many writers come on Hubpages with the goal of creating at least a small passive income. When you know why you are doing an activity -- and you know why intimately -- then staying motivated is realistic.

Let's say you want to lose 10 pounds before your wedding anniversary. And someone puts a chocolate cake in front of you. Uh-oh. What do you do? Maybe you can take one bite and then push it aside. But maybe you really need to say 'no' because taking one bite isn't realistic.

If your "why" is strong enough inside, then your personal motivation to follow through is stronger than if you didn't have a compelling reason why.

Know your goals

Now take your why and integrate it with your personal or business goals. Let's say you want to make an income from freelance writing, open a floral shop, or start an online business.

And let's say you've done your research on income potential and you know your next steps.

Create a long-term goal of what you want the business to achieve -- a residual income perhaps. Is it going to happen without struggle? Not at all. You have to be resolved that profit will result -- and you must take the steps to make it happen whether you feel like it or not.

If your goals are strongly formed inside you, then your motivation to work through obstacles will be much stronger than if you didn't have a compelling goal.

Know your who

We don't live for ourselves, do we? Even if we're single. There are others we care about and we can motivate ourselves by daily reminders that we also want to succeed for those we love.

If we succeed in a venture, we have a blueprint to turn around and help others learn to succeed. We can operate from our strengths. For those from a faith perspective, taking stock of God-given talents provides motivation.

• Get training or education -- knowledge can give confidence
• Find a personal or business mentor -- mentors provide support
• Don't wait for the right conditions -- forge ahead in all circumstances
• Do the most strategic task -- don't fight a whole to-do list. Choose the most important.

This is a motivational lesson I learned while running track in high school -- the mile and two mile.

I enjoyed those days when the gun sounded and I took off with legs moving smoothly and my upper body relaxed. It was great when conditions were perfect -- upper 60s, partly cloudy skies, and no wind to buffet me on the back stretch.

How often do you think that happened? Rarely!

I learned in my junior year that I had to prepare on non-race days, stretch well, and then ignore the cold wind whipping through my nylon tank top and running shorts when I got to the starting line.

Today, I have to keep my business and personal goals fixed firmly in mind even when the kids yell, the phone rings incessantly, and the dog takes off down the street or barks like crazy when the mail carrier walks on to the porch. Instead of getting down, I have to cling to what motivates me.

If you've found ways to motivate yourself, you're well on your way to achieving your goals.