So it’s the New Year! Everything feels new and fresh and I’ve promised myself I’m going to be healthier. I’m going to make better meal choices, exercise at least three times a week, and be in the best shape I have ever been! I’ve got this! I make a fitness and meal plan, get new workout gear and start a fitness journal.
Day 1: Went for a run! Woo! That was tough, but it felt good.
Day 3: Look at me! I’m still going! Working out like a boss! This isn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
Day 8: Sigh. Tough day with the kids. I’m exhausted. Running again? Ugh! Maybe tomorrow. Must get sleep.
Don’t act like we all haven’t been there! It’s a universal glitch in our hardware. Most (like 99.99%) of us, at some time or another, have had problems with keeping motivated. We all, of course, have different goals. Whether it’s finishing a paper, eating healthy, spending less time on social media, making repairs or major adjustments to that house; the list is endless. Sometimes though, what we want doesn’t translate into what we do, and that’s where the problem lies.
So, how do we stay motivated? How do we snatch success out of the clutches of failure?
You know what you absolutely must do first? Remind yourself that everything begins in your mind. I know it sounds cliché, but there’s a reason people keep saying it. Think about you achieving your goal in clear definitive pictures. The clothes you’re wearing, the cut and style of your hair, the things you’re now doing because your goal has been accomplished, the way you feel, everything that you can think of. It’s your dream so you can embellish and make it as fantastic as you want it to be.
Okay, so now you ‘know’ what it would look and feel like to have this goal accomplished. The next thing you need to do is write it down, being as specific as you can about your vision. Once you do that, your vision has become your mission. Look at your mission and speak it out loud every morning when you wake up and every night before bed and keep visualizing your end goals regularly too.
Another practical thing you can do is just be positive about what you’re working towards. Keep referring to your goals in positive terms even when you don’t feel all that positively about it. Watch motivational and inspirational videos. YouTube is your friend in this. There are hundreds of motivational videos free and readily available. Seek out success stories on the internet about people who have done what you are trying to accomplish and read or watch their stories over and over and imagine what you will say and do when you have accomplished your goal.
Also, be excited about whatever you accomplish on your journey. Set smaller milestones and celebrate them! Make sure you schedule specific times for working towards these milestones and the milestones themselves. This helps you to create a rhythm and that helps you create consistency which is a goal accomplisher’s best friend. Be sure to find little ways to reward yourself at the end of every milestone as well. This will encourage you and help you think of the journey in more positive terms.
Another thing that helps when you’re ‘going for the gold’, is to have an accountability partner; someone with a goal similar to yours that checks up on you and vice versa. This technique helps me a lot. For instance, say I have a deadline at work; the other members of my department usually have the same deadline. What we do is set little tasks that break the ‘mountain’ we have to get done into little ‘hills’. Whenever someone successfully defeats a hill, they tell everyone else on the team. That way we celebrate the other person’s accomplishments and it reminds us that we also have a ‘hill’ to tackle, so if we’re diverting from that task, it helps us refocus.
So I’ve been saying a few things that you should do, here’s one that you shouldn’t do. Do not get distracted! I know it seems a little obvious but trust me on this one; it’s a potential goal killer. Stay the course. Do not let any distractions derail what you have set out to do.
When you feel like you want to give up, remember why you started in the first place. You know why this thing is important to you and if it deserved to get started, it deserves to get finished as well.
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