Every business has its high and low periods. We all wish for our businesses to make a lot of money and succeed. Unfortunately, it can take new businesses a number of years before they finally see any major profits. As a business owner, you may feel discouraged at waiting for your business to take off because you’re working 12+ hours per day and seeing no results. This may make you want to give up and throw in the towel, right?

Do you believe in your business idea? If so, then you should not give up unless you have no other choice. If you have the financial stability to sustain your business and its operation, then keep it going for as long as possible. Some businesses take longer than others to get off the ground. You simply need to increase your motivation so that you’ll work harder toward making it a success.

The big question is how do you stay motivated as a business owner? Below are 5 highly effective strategies for staying motivated so that you don’t give up prematurely:

1. Create Goals

Business owners tend to lose their motivation whenever they fail to create goals for themselves. After all, if you don’t have any goals to work towards, then how will you ever get the motivation to do anything? You can’t expect your business to succeed if you don’t know what you want to accomplish with it.

There are three different types of goals to set. You can set short-term goals, mid-term goals, and long-term goals. Short-term goals take between 2 weeks and 2 months to complete. Mid-term goals take between 12 months and 24 months to complete. Long-term goals take over 24 months to accomplish.

For example, short-term goals could include purchasing supplies or leasing a building. Long-term goals could include expanding the business to a second storefront or achieving one million dollars in net revenue after 3 years. With goals like these, it is easy to stay motivated and push yourself to achieving them.

2. Avoid Things That Waste Your Time

It is so easy to waste time in the 21st century. We have access to smartphones, laptops, virtual reality devices, tablets, and smart “IoT’ technology that keeps us plugged into the internet. You can watch television and movies or listen to music with just a few clicks or taps. Unfortunately, this can limit the productivity of an undisciplined person.

If you find yourself watching too many pointless videos or browsing social media when you should be working, then do whatever you can to avoid visiting these time-wasting websites. When you wake up in the morning, you should immediately become productive and then continue that productivity until you go to sleep. If you must take breaks in between, then do so without subjecting yourself to a distraction. Read a book, eat your lunch, or anything that won’t make you lose track of time.

3. Keep Track of Your Achievements

Does it seem like you work endlessly without any reward? That is how running a business feels to many new entrepreneurs. Don’t let this feeling drain your motivation because there are little rewards you probably don’t notice. Keep track of your achievements no matter how big or small. When your business makes its first sale, write down the date and time in a journal. When you receive your first positive comment from a customer, write that down too. By keeping track of the smaller achievements, you will notice a pattern of accomplishment. This will fuel your motivation to achieve much bigger things.

4. Set Deadlines

You must set a deadline for everything you want to accomplish. It is not enough to create goals if you don’t have a deadline for them. Otherwise, they’ll just be looming in the air without knowing when you’ll complete them. A deadline helps avoid procrastination and encourages motivation so that you can get more work done. This not only applies to you, but everyone else who works under you too.

5. Maintain a Positive Environment

Negativity is the killer of motivation. You cannot stay motivated and grow as a person if you have negative people in your environment. This applies to both your home and work environments, but especially in business. If you have employees who are not committed to the job, then get rid of them immediately. A positive environment makes you feel more enthusiastic so you’ll try harder. That is what you should strive to achieve within your organization.