How to Keep Yourself Motivated after Temporary Defeat

This is my third speech delivered at a Toastmasters meeting. There you go!

Recently, I did some research hoping to find ways to keep myself going after a series of failures. And it worked. So I want to share with you three tips to keep you motivated when you are faced with failures.

First, the single most effective way to cheer yourself up is to do exercise.

Failure causes depression, and it reduces the ability of a brain chemical called neurotransmitter. This neurotransmitter fosters communication throughout the brain. Without it, you brain loses its ability to adapt to new situations. The depressed brain locked into a negative loop of self-hate, and it also loses the flexibility to work its way out of the hole.

Exercise counters that by boosting the production of a protein that helps neurotransmitters perform their function. So it helps you to adapt to new environment and feel more comfortable, and get out of the depression loop.

When you are depressed, think about when was the last time you do exercise. For me, I spent 30 minutes in the gym every two days and I suddenly felt myself a lot happier. Trust me, doing exercise works.

Second, doing something good for others will also cheer you up. You felt depressed because you lost all your self-confidence, so you felt like you are the most useless person in the world. That’s not true. To prove this you can do something for people.

For example, you can do volunteer work. You may join some communities to sell flags, or you can go donate money. For me, since I’m very lazy and I’m very stingy, I choose to go donate blood. Yesterday I donated blood the 4th time this year and I still feel very happy about it. I could just lie down and watch TV. Therefore, find a comfortable way for yourself to do something good for others, that helps to regain confidence.

Third, read some motivation quotes. They do help.

Winston Churchill, one of the greatest wartime leaders in recent history, has this quote: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” He basically said that the word failure is actually part of the definition of success.

Thomas Edison, who invented light bulb, says that “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” So as long as you continue doing what you do, success is not far away.

Christopher Gardner, a character played by Will Smith in the movie, the Pursuit of Happyness, sad: You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.

After reading this, I simply found out that quitting is not an option. I decided to get back on my feet and continue working hard. So as long as you continue doing what you do, success is not far away.

Over the last month, I was devastated because I bumped into so many failures. Everyone fails and feels depressed once a while in their life time. When you faced with failure again, consider it as a temporary defeat. Don’t quit. Do some exercise, do something good for others, and read some motivational quotes. These will cheer you up, then you can try again towards your goal.