5 Habits To Help You Stay Motivated When You're Ready To Give Up

Being an entrepreneur is the American dream. It’s all about defining your success, paving your way, and living life the way you want. Many of us walked out of stable and comfortable jobs because we no longer wanted to be in the rat race fueling our former employers' dreams.

Though this seems like the dream. Sometimes there are days when you can't find the motivation to keep moving forward. Maybe you're a new entrepreneur struggling to stay focused and organized. Or maybe you've been doing this thing for a while but hit some bumps in the road.

Either way, as an entrepreneur, it's easy to lose motivation. The key is to not give up and to find ways to pick yourself back up on those long and grueling days.

To help you avoid giving up, burn out, and overwhelm, try these 5 practices:

1. Revisit your purpose

It’s important to constantly revisit the reason why you started your business. Make sure it’s still engaging. Decide if it needs to be altered or amended. Reflect on other compelling reasons for building your business. If you fail to do this on a regular basis, you can get hung up in the “what” and “how” of running your company and forget why you started it in the first place. Remember, if you have a strong “why,” you can get through the day's that make you want to give up.

2. Do something every day that moves you forward

One of the frustrations of entrepreneurs is that they feel like they are not moving their business forward fast enough. Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day. So just make sure you’re at least doing one thing daily that moves you closer to your goals. It will give you a feeling of accomplishment when the going gets tough.

3. Spending Time Learning from Other Entrepreneurs

This is not to say that you need to copy what others are doing, but simply get a sense for what keeps them going and motivated and share ideas. It can help you feel like you’re on the right track with support from others like you with similar goals.

4. Take Regular Breaks

Launching a new business is like getting on the freeway and putting the pedal to the metal. If you don’t stop occasionally, you run out of gas or burn out the engine.

If you don't take breaks, it's going to be hard to push yourself to be the best.

"When you are nourishing your mind, body, and soul, you refill your own wellspring of motivation," says Sowadski.

5. Write down no more than five things to do each day

Some of us have some outrageous to-do list. By having 10+ things on your to-do list it can cause you to feel overwhelmed. If you limit your primary goals to five things per day, you are going to be more likely to achieve them.

Life is a journey and so is entrepreneurship. The challenges we face as entrepreneurs only serve to make us stronger and better able to handle the storms we face on the sea of entrepreneurship.

Everyone experiences a lack of motivation from time to time, but knowing how to pick yourself back up can make all the difference in your success.

Remember the payoff is incredible! It’s the biggest gamble of your life but when it pays off, it pays off huge!

How do you stay motivated on a daily basis? I'd loved to know in the comment section.