Amid the ongoing pandemic, at some point, you’ve likely felt unmotivated. I know I have. Zoom fatigue has taken over our lives while procrastination remains a daily struggle. Consumed by social media and Netflix, staying productive is a tiring task—but the media doesn’t always have to drag us into a slump.
For me, starting each day by listening to a podcast has become an uplifting habit. The Mindset Mentor, a podcast by motivational speaker and mindfulness coach Rob Dial, has been my favourite. It’s a podcast that everyone can glean advice from, whether you’re a student, a working professional, or someone who’s just trying to figure out life.
As Dial notes in his earlier episodes, he’s always enjoyed public speaking, but as a young adult, he struggled with his self-worth. To fulfill his passion for mindfulness and helping others, Dial created The Mindset Mentor in July 2019. With it, he created a podcast that helps others find focus, motivation, and structure in their lives—and he’s been publishing weekly episodes ever since.
Throughout his episodes, Dial encourages listeners to turn the negative aspects of life into positives. To do so, he encourages us to practice gratitude. In his wise words, Dial opens up our cluttered minds to make room for things that make us happy. By thinking positively and remaining grateful, we become more motivated to accomplish daily tasks. Of course, this is a practice that isn’t easy at first, especially during the pandemic. But Dial’s encouragement and daily tips have helped me stay more productive, and I’m hopeful you can benefit too.
Each episode of the podcast is relatively short. Within 20 to 25 minutes, Dial gives listeners an enthusiastic lesson and reveals simple steps that’ll lead to success. One episode I find particularly resonating is “How to Stop Being Lazy.” In it, Dial channels laziness and provides us with steppingstones to change. He says: “Stop lying to yourself.” There’s no shame in “admitting laziness.”
I’m sure we’ve all experienced laziness. I don’t know about you, but staying in bed until noon has been a constant temptation of mine during the pandemic. But through admittance, and a few other steps, we can work through our laziness and overcome it.
Alongside gratitude and admittance, Dial also advises us “to take our goals and make them bite-sized.” In other words, we should start focusing on short-term goals as opposed to long-term ones. As he explains, this action not only minimizes our laziness but also keeps us motivated. In all avenues of life, having goals pushes us to succeed. More importantly, it is the way we form our goals that’ll help us actually meet them.
By eliminating our constant focus on long-term goals, we gain opportunities to feel proud of ourselves. As Dial says, sometimes long-term goals are “out of our comfort zone.” We get scared by the thoughts of accomplishing something that, at the time, seems unattainable. Taking these large goals and splitting them up into “bite-sized” portions makes it easier to take action and puts us on the path toward achieving our goals.
For example, let’s say you have a 4000-word essay due at the end of the week. By splitting it up into 500-word portions, you’re creating “bite-sized” goals for yourself. This is the key to staying motivated: instead of tackling one giant goal, you continuously check off the smaller goals that amount to the same finale.
The “How to Stop Being Lazy” episode is just a glimpse of what Dial’s The Mindset Mentor podcast has to offer. Through the speaker’s engaging and encouraging words, we’re given valuable insight to get and keep us motivated. While focusing on your personal goals is important, at the end of each episode, Dial always says: “Make it your mission to make someone else’s day better.” We’re all in this life together, and through one another, we can accomplish great things. Check out The Mindset Mentor if you’re having a difficult time staying motivated. I promise you won’t regret it.
