When you don’t see much instant progress, it can be difficult to maintain long-term changes. When improvement isn’t happening as rapidly as we’d want, it can be incredibly discouraging. How can we stay motivated then?

You can maintain a number of significant long-term improvements over the years, including weight loss, strength training, and many others. But still, this thing can be difficult!

Let’s take a look at some of the strategies to stay committed to long-term changes even when we don’t see instant benefits

The Mentality

Knowing when we have a fragile mindset which may be expressed as something like, “If I don’t see improvement immediately, I quit “is crucial. This causes fragility, which is a characteristic of humans, but it’s important to be conscious that this is happening.

A more resilient way of thinking might resemble:

• I’m motivated by the things I wish to accomplish.
• I’m committed to doing this for as long as possible since I value the work I do.
• I also enjoy the task I’m performing to move closer to my long-term objective.
• I simply need to start over since getting stopped is a necessary part of this growth process.

To be clear, developing a growth mindset takes time. We don’t suddenly decide to adopt a new perspective. We have to work at it. The practice is to recognize when the old attitude has taken over and to switch to the new one.

How to Motivate Yourself

If your goal is better health, acquiring a new skill, and influencing people’s hearts and minds doesn’t materialize this week, then what? Then, where do we obtain inspiration?

To keep our long-term encouragement going, we must look for more direct means of reward.

The following methods would be useful:

• While engaging in the activity, look for enjoyable aspects. Can you enjoy the run as you go if you’re preparing for a marathon instead of concentrating on wanting to be able to run further?
• When you’re through, reward yourself with something: cross it off a list, attach a sticker on your calendar, record it in an app, etc. Being able to award oneself feels amazing!
• Join a group that holds you accountable. This enables you to share your accomplishments and makes you feel good.
• Look for uplifting things to say to one. We seldom ever acknowledge ourselves and tend to tell ourselves depressing or negative things instead. Change that up! What could you say to yourself to be kind and supportive?
• Every day, remind yourself of the possibilities you’re generating. Why are you acting in this way? Why does it matter to you? When you’re done, what will be so fantastic about it? This is the possibility you’re building with this effort; always remind yourself of why this is important to you.
• Can you establish small goals for yourself during your long run as part of your training for a marathon and view each goal as an accomplishment along the way? Can you listen to music while running and allow you to feel funny and happy?
• Consider how your actions are expanding the potential you are fostering. While performing the task it’s a symbol of the increased strength you are developing for yourself.
• Who is on your side? When times are tough, who is rooting for you? We need others; we cannot accomplish this on our own.
• Because we are so focused on the long-term result, we want it to become a reality NOW. But what about the incremental victories? Instead of waiting till the end to celebrate, find a method to do it now.