4 Ways To Stay Motivated Through Hard Times

Discover how to stay motivated and positive even when the going gets tough.

No matter who you are, what your name is, where you came from, or how much money you have, pain is a part of life that you will encounter at some point or another.

Pain is universal.

We all struggle through hard times at different moments in our lives.

Dealing with misfortune is inevitable.

So attempting to run, hide, avoid, or escape from pain is pointless.

The best thing that you ever do to create a happy, fulfilled, meaningful, and successful life is to set yourself up with as many resources as possible to help you stay motivated in tough times.

Your ability to deal with pain is going to play a big role in your life.

So, it’s best to build up as many resources for overcoming tragedy as possible.

The following are four ways to help you stay motivated to follow through on your goals and dreams.

#1- Stay Positive

Pain is a built-in quality of life that all human beings suffer through at one point or another in our lives.

The universe spares no one—not even the wealthy, famous, fortunate, or well-off—from the tragedies and misfortunes of life.

So, you can’t control the painful situations that life puts in your path.

All that you can control is your mental response to the painful situations that you find yourself in.

Your mental response to the tough situations that you find yourself in is huge.

Whether you choose a negative mentality or a positive mindset to interpret your pain determines how well you fare in life.

The only difference between those who crumble into sadness, helplessness, depression, hopelessness, and defeat in tough times and those who rise above their pain is a positive mindset.

That’s right.

The only distinction that separates those who fall apart in hard times from those who persevere to the other side of their pain is a Positive Mindset.

Whether or not you rise above that negative situation you’re struggling through right now or fall into hopelessness is not pre-determined.

It’s completely up to you—totally on your shoulders.

It all comes down to a choice.

When you’re in that dark struggle of tragedy, loss, failure, disaster, or negativity, you have to have to make a choice.

Are you going to respond to your pain with a positive mindset that creates more growth, happiness, success, and motivation in your life?

Or, will you choose the pessimistic route and allow that pain to destroy your life more than it already has?

The only way to rise above your tragedy is the positive route.

In order to stay motivated through hard times, you have to stay positive.

You have to interpret that painful situation through a lens of gratitude, positivity, optimism, hope, and purpose.

Be grateful for your pain.

Keep in mind that everything happens for reason.

Only then, will you rise above it.

You will also enjoy our article on tough times.

#2- Keep Your Head In Self-Help, Positivity, And Inspirational Books

I developed all of my most useful, valuable, and important skills that I currently have through reading.

Using the Law of Attraction, I learned how to ask the universe for what I truly want.

Reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (see quotes from The Secret) was especially helpful.

I learned how to meditate by reading Super Rich: A Guide To Having It All by Russell Simmons.

The Now Habit, by Neil Fiore, taught me how to stop procrastinating.

I learned how to write self-improvement blog posts, articles, and books by reading dozens of self-help books.

I once saved myself from a sluggish period at work and earned a promotion by using valuable sales tips from a book called Secrets Of Question-Based Selling by Thomas A. Freese.

I developed almost every awesome talent or skill I have through reading books.

Reading about the lives of others gives you perspective on what’s going on in your life.

When you’re suffering through a tough situation, you have to keep in mind that—no matter how bad you have it—there will always be somebody out there who had it worse than you do and came out on top.

Educating yourself through reading will open your eyes to the fact that there’s no problem in your life that another person hasn’t overcome before.

More often than not—if you look hard enough—there is almost always a wealth of non-fiction, self-help, spirituality, and self-improvement books that holds the secrets you need to recover and grow from any negative situation you’re in.

Self-education is the fastest way to develop wisdom beyond your years.

It gives you the opportunity to tap into ancient and modern-day wisdom to overcome any problem.

No matter how bad your situation is, self-development books can give you the resources to rise above your misfortune.

#3- Surround Yourself With Positivity. Fill Your Mind With Motivational Audio And Video

Staying motivated is tough—especially when you look out at your surroundings and all you see is misery, pain, misfortune, and struggle.

When you’re struggling through those dark moments staying motivated feels impossible.

It’s never easy to stay optimistic when you look out at your environment and everything you see is pessimistic or negative.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be a victim of your environment.

Your life is under your control.

No matter how much negativity is around you, you always have the option of choosing to fill your mind with positivity.

One way is to listen to motivational audio tracks and watch inspirational content.

All you need to do is pop on over to iTunes and download the latest inspirational audio.

Or, hop onto YouTube and you’ll get access to thousands of motivational videos that can give you that lift you need.

I know this is hard to believe when you’re in the middle of a storm, but inspiration is everywhere.

Motivators like Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Eric Thomas, Oprah Winfrey, Prince Ea, and Elliot Hulse are all over the Internet.

Motivation is everywhere.

You just have to look in the right places to find it.

#4- Try Meditation

As an everyday meditator for three years now, I’ve lost count of the number of times sitting in the stillness of a meditation session has given me the mental fortitude I needed to rise above my pain.

Whenever people picture meditation, they have a tendency of visualizing an image of a compassionate monk sitting in the lotus pose and drinking tea.

We tend to associate meditation with compassion, peace, or tranquility.

Though all of that stuff is 100% true, meditation can offer you so much more than peace and tranquility.

Within a quick ten or twenty-minute session, simply sitting in the stillness of a session can erase the negative feelings of any situation that you’re experiencing.

When that negativity is gone, all you will have left is clarity and powerful solutions for how to fix your problems.

That’s what makes meditation so awesome.

Not only does it eliminate your negative feelings about your tragedies, it also gives you access to the clarity, creativity, and a positive mindset needed to bounce back from your pain.

It gives you space to come up with ideas for how to overcome your misfortune.

So the next time you’re in a tough spot, don’t drink your pain away.

Don’t smoke.

And please don’t eat away your feelings.

Before you do anything, just try meditation.

I promise you won’t be disappointed.