You’re sick and tired of the way things are and, this time things are going to be different.
You feel incredibly motivated. You can’t wait to get going and see results.
You write out your SMART goals and follow all the goal setting rules. You visualize and get an accountability partner.
The first few days or even a whole week goes by and you’re fired up, following your plan and maybe starting to see your first few results.
Then reality sets in. You get busy. That fire that got you going starts to fizzle. Everything required by your goals starts to seem harder and harder to fit into your life.
You start to slip back into your old routine and decide that your big goal, like all the others that you’ve tried, isn’t going to happen.
You completely lost your motivation.
What Was Your Motivation?
What exactly was your motivation in the first place? To get in shape, lose 15 pounds, finally start your business, make more money?
If any of those sound like your motivation, it wasn’t enough to keep you going. You need to understand WHY those things are important to you.
If you don’t have a strong enough ‘why,’ it will be an uphill battle to achieve your goals.
Motivations that don’t work (source is outside of yourself):
* My doctor/partner/friend/kids/whoever told me that I should lose weight/improve my health.
* I know I should lose weight and start eating better.
* I need to make more money to pay the bills.
* I want to make more money to buy more of the pleasures in life.
Motivations that work in the short term (source may be outside yourself or internal):
* I want to fit into my little black dress for a big event (success depends on how important it is to impress certain people at that event).
* I want to run a certain race on a certain date (are you doing this for yourself or someone else?).
* I want to prove to someone that I can do it.
Motivations that give lasting results (source is internal and aligns with your values and beliefs):
* Heart disease runs in my family and my mother/father died at my age. I don’t want to die.
* My child came to me, knowing how unhealthy my habits are, and said in a frightened way that they didn’t want me to die. They want me around for a long time for them.
* I don’t want to be that kind of person (i.e. unhealthy, overweight, poor, etc.) anymore. That’s no longer who I am.
* I know that my children emulate me. I don’t want them to develop the same unhealthy habits I have had that have led to my health and financial issues.
* I want to have enough energy to play with my kids/grandkids and create amazing experiences with them.
* I want to make enough money to live a fulfilled life and contribute to others in a meaningful way.
What Is Motivation?
As defined by Wikipedia, motivation is the process used to allocate energy to maximize the satisfaction of needs.
This begs the question: What needs do you most want to satisfy?
Why is it important for you to make a change now?
How important is it to you? Not for anyone else.
If you don’t make changes now, what will your life look like in one, five or ten years? What will be different?
How will you feel if you put this off again?
How do these answers compare with your need to keep things in your life the same?
Think you don’t have time?
How much time does it take to make a choice?
Notice how you feel in the current moment and make a conscious choice about your next action. Consider whether your next action, regardless of how small, will take you closer to or farther from your goal.
Most of us run through life making unconscious choices, and we wonder why we have the results we do.
We spend time on what’s important to us.
Stop for a moment and think about where you spend your time and energy. Do you realize that you’re making those things very valuable to you?
If you like how you feel about those thoughts, then there’s not much of a need for change.
If those thoughts are a bit of a wake-up call for you, then it’s time to be more intentional with how you spend your time.
It doesn’t take any extra time to simply make a different choice.
It’s time to find your personal motivation that will help you to make those different choices on a consistent basis, even when things get tough.
Find the Motivation That Works for You
Write down why it’s important to you to make the changes that you’re seeking right now. Write down all your reasons.
Make absolutely sure that whatever you write down makes you feel really good or really bad. This is essential!
No negatives: not, never, should, shouldn’t, can’t, won’t. No doing things to please other people. This is just for you.
Your motivation has to be a “must,” not a “should.” Why MUST you make this change NOW? No excuses. No “yeah, but…”
Must means 100% commitment. Don’t give yourself any back doors. You’re not committed if you say anything like, “I’ll do it until…” or “I’ll keep up with it unless…”
With 100% commitment, you leave yourself no options.
“There are only two options regarding commitment; you’re either in or you’re out. There’s no such thing as life in-between.” – Pat Riley
Keep Your Motivation in Front of You
Write down your reasons for changing on six pieces of paper (six copies of the same answers) and put those pieces of paper on your:
* bathroom mirror
* refrigerator
* credit cards
* computer monitor
* bedside table
* dashboard of your car.
Find an image of your ‘why’ and use it as your screensaver and desktop image on your computer, phone and touch pads. This could be an image that conveys how you’ll feel when you’re healthy and happy and feeling amazing.
Your ‘why’ must have an emotional charge for you.
Avoid comparing yourself to others. Everyone is unique. By comparing yourself to others, especially using the comparison as ‘motivation,’ you will inevitably begin to judge yourself as better or worse than the images of others in your head.
Judgment and self-criticism will reverse any progress you make.
As you read the pieces of paper and see the images of your ‘why’ throughout your day, feel the feelings of your ‘why.’ Visualize and feel what your life is like when you’re living how you want to live, when you’re making choices throughout your day that support your vision of the new you.
Doing this in small increments, even for a few seconds, many times throughout your day will help to reinforce your drive, your motivation. When things get tough, this will support you to keep going.
Every moment is an opportunity to make a new choice. As you feel your motivation, ask yourself if the choice you’re about to make will bring you closer to your goal.
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Paige Burkes inspires her community at Simple Mindfulness to see the world in a new light through mindfulness. Download her FREE Mindful Living Guide to discover the simple steps you can take to create more joy, peace and happiness in your life. Check out her new Mindful Body Program, a comprehensive program that uses mindfulness to transform your health and generate more happiness.
-what was your biggest takeaway from the ideas above?