Getting and Maintaining Motivation
At this time of year, its hard to keep your motivation up, whether its for exercise and your health goal or just for life in general. Hopefully some of these tips will help you to keep going til the days get longer again…
Talk about your goals: Especially to people who will support you.
Use affirmations: Write down 5 affirmations and put them where you can see them every day, like on the fridge, bathroom mirror or your work station. Saying them out loud helps you to believe them more. The more you say them the more real they become.
Keep a log of your breakthroughs: You will see how far you have come, feel good about yourself and know you can go further than you thought possible.
Read success stories: There are great blogs out there filled with personal stories about overcoming obstacles. These people are just like you! Use them for inspiration. Even better start you own success story.
Assess your progress: Having regular check in sessions to keep yourself honest will keep you on the right track and show you how far you have come.
Reward yourself: Each small step you achieve is worth a celebration. Whatever floats your boat; a massage, facial, small shopping spree or guilt free sleep-in. Rewarding yourself keeps your spirits high.
Surround yourself with positive people: Positive, optimistic, energetic people will shift your vibrations in the right direction. Seek them out and become their friend.
Avoid your vampires: These people will be offering you a cake when you are on a weight loss challenge, talking you out of a run when you are aiming for an event and generally pulling you down. Don’t walk away from these people RUN!
Ignore the unimportant: This frees up energy that would be used for useless tasks and helps you focus on the task at hand. Ignoring is a great skill to have so practice it in the right context daily.
Difficulty is part of the game: If it was easy everyone would be achieving their goals. Accept that it is going to be challenging and meet it head on.
Accept failure: Is just part of the process, so don’t let it stop you. One of the biggest motivation enemies is fear of failure. Learn from it, write it down in your log book and move on.
Laugh more often: This releases serotonin, a feel good hormone. Much the same as when you have a good workout (or eat chocolate), laughing is a great way to lift your spirits. Rent a comedy or go to the movies.
Release your self-doubts: It’s all in your head. Creating brand new habits can be scary and the voice in your head will always tell you to be cautious. You need to learn to work with this voice and push your barriers.
Don’t fall into the productivity trap: It’s not how much you do, but how much of it really matters. Doing stuff just for filling up notebooks with tasks won’t make you feel motivated. When you do something that matters, your planning and organizing activities will just flow.
Understand what makes you bored: And avoid it.
Spend time outside: This makes things fresher and shinier when you get back inside.
Put on some good music: Music speaks to areas you can’t control with logical tools, yet is so powerful that can completely shift your mood in a second. The only thing better than silence is good music.
Clean up your house: This isn’t a chore, it’s a necessity. Your action paths may be clogged the same way your floor is sticky. And most of the time unsticking the floor will open your mind again.
If you need a little motivation, drop me a line and we can meet up for a chat over a cup of tea and see what changes you can make to keep you on track.
