The essence of success in life is to get enough motivation to do something. We don’t get rewarded for good intentions, knowledge or just for great ideas. If that were the case then the most successful people would be philosophers and professors. While we all need good intentions, knowledge and ideas they just ain’t enough unless you are motivated enough to do something about them.

There is power in action otherwise it is just a dream. So if you want to get more motivation in your life here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Get a big enough Why. We all do things for a reason, whether it is through inaction or action they are all a choice. Unless we have a big enough reason “Why” we need to take action then there is just to much momentum to keep on doing what you always have been doing. A great way to get a big enough “why” to take action is doing a writing exercise where you spend some time to write out all the benefits you are going to get if you take action. Picture what your life would be like if you were to take action today. Then write out what your life would be like if you didn’t take action, what would you miss out on and what would you lose. By giving yourself enough reasons to take action you will also give yourself the conviction to get motivated.

2. Get started today. A common problem why people have difficulty to get motivated is that they always postpone what they need to do today till tomorrow. Have you ever heard someone who is all excited about changing their diet and introducing an exercise regime so that they can lose weight. Only to hear at the end of the conversation that they will start it first thing Monday morning. The best time to start something is yesterday. The second best time is today. Stop putting off what you need to do until sometime in the future because the future never comes, you only have control over your present.

3. Be accountable. A great way to get motivated to take action is to tell someone what you want to do or change in your life. Tell them the details and when you will actually do it by. That way you now have someone who knows about your plans and deadlines. We all don’t want to disappoint people in our lives so this is a great way to get motivated to get things done.

4. Set a deadline. Deadlines are a great way to get you motivated especially when it starts to loom closer and closer. We have all gone through those times during school when you had to do an assignment only to put it off until the deadline drew closer. Eventually we ended up cramming to finish it till the wee hours of the morning prior to it being due. Deadlines can get you motivated when nothing else seems to work. Of course this is not the ideal way to get yourself motivated but if it gets you doing or taking action it is better than nothing.

5. Create urgency. The reason most people aren’t motivated to make changes in their life is because there just ins’t enough urgency in their life. They have a false sense of belief that tomorrow will always be waiting to get started. It wasn’t until the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York did many people wake up and realize that there just isn’t any guarantee that tomorrow is going to come for them. Many people got enough of a shot to take action and reviewed their lives. Many ended up motivated enough to drastically change many areas of their lives and put a sense of balance into their world.