Part of staying motivated is being able to recover when you start to loose your drive.  It happens to all of us at one time or another.  Sometimes it’s just because we’re tired and other times we’ll find that we lose perspective.  Maybe you’ve just lost your vision of what you are trying to accomplish.  Either way, it is greatly important that you have a plan for recovery.  A motivational “first aid kit” as it were.  Here are 5 tips that always seem to help keep me on track.

1: Get some sleep.

There’s a good chance that if you are loosing your drive you may just be experiencing some form of burn out.  If this is the case sleep is the best medicine.  You may be thinking, “I get sleep every night.  What are you talking about?”  But I am talking a full night’s sleep.  Deep sleep.  You may be getting SOME sleep but if you are not consistently getting the kind of sleep your body needs to function at it’s best you will eventually start to loose your edge.  Sleep is what your body needs to repair itself from the abuse of the day.  Not only that, your “feel good” hormones are replenished when you get a good night’s sleep.  This is why you may feel much more optimistic after a good night’s sleep.  So go to bed early, listen to some calming music and try to clear your mind of the stress of the day.  But whatever you do, just get it done.  You positive, optimistic, motivated mindset depends on it.

2: Get some exercise.

We all know that regular exercise is good for our bodies.  But it is also one of your greatest assets when it comes to staying motivated.  Just like a good night’s sleep, regular exercise keeps a steady stream of that “optimistic juice” flowing throughout your mind and body.  Chemicals like endorphins are produced when you exercise.  These kinds of chemicals help you feel good about yourself and your situation.

Exercise does much more, though.  It helps you feel like you are treating your body right.  You feel like you’ve accomplished something good and, over time, you gain strength and energy.  And besides all of that, exercising is a great way to clear your head when you are stressed.  So make sure to get as much as your mind and body needs to stay driven to your goals.

3: Get away.

When all else fails you might just be in need of a healthy escape.  Sleep and exercise can be a form of this but physically going somewhere, preferably a place that helps you relax, can be a great way of clearing your head and re-energizing your soul.  There may be a great place in the country that you like to go and have time to yourself.  Or maybe getting together with family and just hanging out.  Just give yourself a break so that when you get back into the swing of things you will have a fresh perspective and, hopefully, a revived spirit of optimism and focus.

4: Look at the alternatives.

I find that often times the best medicine is a little shock therapy.  In this case it’s a matter of seeing what lies in store for you if you decide to give up on your dreams.  It can be quite scary if you really take a look at the mediocrity that is in store for those who give up and take the easy road.  Look at the average on the street who is just “getting by” and see that this may be you in the near future.  Remind yourself that this may be living but it is certainly NOT being alive!

5: Go back to the beginning.

Sometimes the problem is just that you have lost the vision that you started with.  In the beginning our dreams are very enticing.  But then that feeling starts to fade.  We quickly forget what our dream looks like.  We can’t see it, smell it or touch it.  Without this picture of what we are striving for we will most certainly loose the drive to seek it out.  So it is important to go back to the beginning when you first started your journey.  Try to remember exactly WHAT you are after.  Try to re-paint the picture of your dream with the same brush, with the same thoughts and feelings that you had when you first created this work of art.  There’s a good chance that you will start to see things that you had forgotten and remember exactly WHY you are seeking these upgrades to your life.

So when you find yourself losing your drive, when you loose site of what you are after, try the 5 tips and see if you can’t re-ignite your fire and get back on the road to success!