Herein, we describe a method of potential-modulated stimulation of electrocatalytic activity (PSEA) and apply it to the electro-oxidation of formic acid in acidic (pH 1) electrolyte. Ordinarily, the reaction shows a rapid decay in steady-state current as a consequence of the accumulation of strongly bound adsorbates. PSEA leads to a high resilience against deactivation and an overall enhancement in rate. Results showed an similar to 30-fold increase in activity, compared to the reaction under similar potentiostatic conditions after a 1-h reaction period, with further improvement likely possible by optimizing the amplitude, frequency, shape, and bounds of the applied potential waveform. A microkinetic model was adapted to further probe the underlying mechanism responsible for the shift in activity; the resulting electrocatalytic cycle was found to not simply clear the surface of strongly bound species and provide a high proportion of free sites for the "direct" formic acid oxidation pathway (major route), but also to accelerate pathways thought to be less dominant under potentiostatic conditions.