How to Develop Strong Determination?

In simpler terms, it means how much of yourself you will put into making your goal a reality.

It’s always inspiring to observe a young athlete who is very determined.  This athlete can take failures, setbacks, and adversity and just does not give up on getting that goal which is usually getting to the next level of competition in the sport.

If you don’t know how to properly motivate yourself you probably find yourself in the following situation:

• You have a great idea, your excitement builds and you initiate your plans
• Things go well for a while, but then daily life starts to get in the way
• By now it’s difficult to remember and feel that initial excitement you felt when you had the idea
• Days go by without you thinking of your big idea at all…
• And now it’s just a memory of a great idea you once had…

So the big question is: How do you stay motivated on top of everything going on? How do we persevere? How do we become more determined?

The following five tips can help you avoid the above situation and see you through to completing your goals…

Define exactly what success looks like

It’s difficult to get where you want to go without first knowing where that is…

Before you initiate your plan, clearly define, in SMART wording, what your goal is, and what success would look like to you.

Map it out with a timeline 

They say you are your own worst critic, which is sometimes a good thing, but not when your inner-critic starts holding you up… Many of us get into situations where we listen a little too closely to our inner-critics, and that niggling self-doubt soon becomes crippling self-doubt. You can’t allow this to happen.

Leave the hating to your haters.

Don’t sweat the small stuff

Sometimes things go wrong, but it’s seldom serious enough to warrant us giving up. Yet many of us respond this way at the slightest sign of adversity. Instead, you should develop within yourself the ability to let the small stuff wash over you – it’s not important and probably won’t change the outcome of your goal anyway.

Be your biggest supporter

As we’ve mentioned above – you tend to be your worst critic, and you should try to hush that inner-voice when it starts getting too loud. Another approach is to replace that negative inner-voice with a positive one – your inner-supporter. We need motivation daily, but we can’t rely on that motivation coming from external sources. If we do, we end up being at the mercy of everyone else instead of in control, which is ultimately where we want to be.