I'm a very motivated person and I regularly get asked by friends and clients how I motivate myself. I usually say it's because I'm very determined and I won't embarrass myself by giving up, but I realise it's more than that. So after some thought I've come up with four ways that I motivate myself. Hopefully they'll be of some use to you at the beginning of this new and exciting year.
Focus on your goal.
When I plan to do something I get a clear picture in my mind of what I want to achieve and what it will be like when I get there. I go through what it will look like, feel like, and what I will sound like when I am living my goal. For example when I decided to lose weight some years ago I decided I wanted to get fit and healthy. I stopped thinking about losing weight because that had me focusing on my weight, instead I thought about how I would look and feel when I was slim. I'd imagine what I would wear and what I would do if I was at my goal weight and kept this in mind all the time. Once I was clear about that, I worked backwards from there to figure out what I needed to do now to get to my goal.
Commit to yourself.
This is really important for me when staying motivated. I make an unbreakable commitment to myself to do what I need to do to achieve my goal. For example when I decided to meditate everyday I made a commitment to myself that I would do it. I'm committed to my husband and my job so why not to something that I love and that makes my life and world better by doing it. It can be a challenge sometimes to meditate every day, especially on holiday or when you are tired but since making that commitment I haven't missed a single day. I also made sure to tell people about it, as I knew I wouldn't let myself down once I had.
Have compassion.
Compassion is vital component when it come to motivation. It is extremely important that you are kind to yourself when you slip up. On my journey to weight loss I ate several tubs of Ben and Jerry's ice cream but I knew beating myself up about it wouldn't help. If I had been able to resist in the
moment I would have but I didn't so, being unkind to myself or feeling ashamed wasn't going to do me any good. Instead I simply said 'ok so you messed up but I still love you and tomorrow is a new day, let's begin again', and I did. The next day I would start again as if the day before had never happened and I loved myself all the more for knowing that I was trying so hard.
Get help.
The final thing I do to stay motivated is that I enlist help. I get my friends on board. I tell them I am no longer eating dessert when we are out to dinner. I ask my husband to encourage me not to eat ice cream at the cinema. I get my coaching colleagues to help me clarify my goals and set a clear set of steps to achieving them. I acknowledge my achievements every day by putting them in my gratitude list and I use articles and inspirational books to keep me on track as I constantly reassess and learn about what I want to do, whether it's weightloss, meditation or exercise. Learning as much as I can keeps me curious and helps me re-evaluate when things aren't working.
I hope you find your motivation this year and if you ever need help make sure to give me a call 0868373582.