Increase Motivation with a Visual Reminder

Often when people work towards their goals it can be difficult to consistently stay motivated. The ability of being able to push yourself day-to-day can make the difference in achieving success. Although there are tons of ways to increase your motivation, one of the more simple and effective ways is to create a visual reminder. These reminders can consist of photographs, a posters, and symbols. Here are some tips to ensure that your visual reminder is effective as can be.

1. Be Realistic
Make it as realistic as possible. Select a photograph or image that will visualize exactly how you think it will be when you’ve achieved it. For example, if you are working towards getting the finances to travel. Don’t put an image of money, dollar sign or a stack of cash. Instead select an image of what you will be doing when you get the necessary funds. If you plan to go on a vacation to Europe then put a picture of a how you envision yourself in your destination city. A picture of a café scene or a famous landmark of that city would be ideal because you can actually experience being in that location.

2. Evoke emotion
Okay, so now you have selected several pictures that show how you visualize yourself in achieving that goal. The next step is to select the images that will evoke strong emotions. This is something that will be hard to describe since ultimately you will be the one who will feel it. The point is, if the image makes you instantly feel inspired or passionate about your goal, then its a good image… Does it make you want to immediately take action towards your goal? Do you immediately re-focus and concentrate on what needs to be done? If yes, then the image you select will be more effective. A rule of thumb is if you have to spend more than 2 seconds looking at the image to feel something then its NOT a good visual reminder.

3. Display the image constantly and prominently
A visual reminder should be displayed somewhere you can see it daily if not hourly. This is to ensure that you are creating focus and drive. The more you see a visual reminder the more it will re-focus you and will lead to less distractions in the long run. Its also important to have the visual reminder in a places that are prominent. You want to avoid places where the visual reminder can blend in or get overlooked. It’s better to have it stick out, that it essentially commands you to take notice. Also, make sure to put this visual reminder in a couple of different places, such as one at your office desk and one at home.

Some examples of prominent places to put your visual reminder:

Bathroom mirror - Tape a picture to your home bathroom mirror, each time you brush your teeth you will be forced to look at the image. Its also great because since you brush in the morning and at night before bed, you will create a focused start and refocused ending of your day

The corner of your computer monitor - While some people like to put images on their monitor’s desktop wallpaper, it think its best to print out a small copy of that image. Tape it to the upper corner of your computer monitor. It will be more prominent than on the wallpaper background since it wont get overlooked while you are actually using the computer. Also its tangible, meaning that the you can touch the picture and it takes up “real” space.

Next to your kitchen table - It is common for people to put visual reminders in the kitchen and usually these end up on the refrigerator door. But how often do we stand in front of the refrigerator with its door closed? I don’t know about you but I usually have it opened and focused on looking for food. I think its best to put the visual reminder in a place where you actually see it, such as a wall next to your kitchen table. This will ensure that when you are eating can notice the picture. Instead of eating and staring at the wall, why not re-focus on your desired goal?