Staying Motivated
If you ask me, I think the ability to stay motivated is a continuous event. It’s not something you implement once and forget. It’s not something that, when done, is performed the same way every time you do it. I believe staying motivated is something that you do often and the way you go about it changes based on the timing or situation. I know there are several times throughout the year when I am downright lazy; where I’d rather sleep in, skip the gym, and lie around doing nothing. So yeah. I have my moments. Sometimes I need to find the motivation to move forward, to start a project, regardless of if it’s a major or minor project. Heck, there are times when I need to find motivation several times throughout the day. The thing to recognize is that being demotivated is not a YOU thing. But the thing to remember is that when staying demotivated lasts for a prolonged period of time, that’s a problem.
Every morning, for the past two years, I have made it a habit to find a motivational / inspirational quote and post it to my social media. Sometimes the quotes I post relate to things I am currently going through. Other times, the sayings make me smile, give me pause, or make me realize that I am not alone in this great big world; that someone, somewhere was going through exactly what I was going through and took the time to write it down. As humans, we tend to think that our situations are unique and that no one else could possibly be going through or experience what we are going through and that’s not true at all. As Ecclesiastes 1:19 states:
What has been will be again,
What has been done will be done again;
There is nothing new under the sun.
When I was searching for a quote to share, I came across this motivational quote that talks about ten ways to stay motivated. As I read through them, I realized that many of them were pretty straightforward and relatively simple to carry out. So rather than post this one on social media, I figured I’d share them with you and provide you a synopsis of what I thought about each of them.
Take It One Day At A Time
Raise your hand if you’ve ever set a goal to lose weight. Keep your hands raised if that goal was in excess of five pounds. I, for one, have more than five pounds to lose and for some reason, that number seems to go up with age. In any case, setting the goal, outlining the steps to reach that goal, and setting an end date are fairly simple. But it’s the journey of reaching the goal that can be daunting. You start out strong and say to yourself, “This time it’s going to be different!” And then it happens... You get off track and fall off the wagon. You feel defeated and quit the goal entirely. If you find yourself in this predicament, remember this: It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. You’re going to gain weight and then lose it. You’re going to have great days and days where you may slip. It’s all part of the journey. So take it one day at a time.
Start Your Day With Affirmations
Affirmations are simply the practice of positive thinking and self-empowerment. Be picky about the affirmations you choose. For instance if you struggle with your looks, perhaps “I am beautiful!” is not an affirmation you should start with. An affirmation should be something that you can believe in - like, “I am doing my best.” or “My thoughts become my reality.” In the example of falling off the wagon with your weight loss journey, perhaps say, “I am not a quitter!”
Believe In Yourself and Be Kind To Yourself
When in comes to staying motivated, I think these suggestions are the harder ones to carry out - especially if you are one who is continually falling off the wagon.
How could I possibly believe in myself when I have been struggling with this goal for how many years?
To this I say, “Be kind to yourself.” The fact that you keep coming back to this goal means you haven’t given up. Recognize that you are only human and that you will fall short from time to time. But pick yourself back up. Assess what you’ve done in the past. Identify what worked well and what didn’t. Scratch those thing off your list that didn’t work well and capitalize on the things that have made you feel good. Just promise me that if you fall short, don’t beat yourself up. You’re so good at showing love and kindness to others when they make a mistake or fall short. Shower yourself with that same kindness. Get back up and start again. Believe in yourself. YOU are your biggest asset!
Recognize Your Progress and Reward Yourself
Staying motivated for a goal with results that don’t appear for more than a few months can be difficult. One of the best ways to stay motivated for things like this is to identify key milestones, such as finishing the first semester, second semester, etc. of a two year program. By doing this, you are creating small wins for yourself, which in turn makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something. So recognize the progress and be sure to reward yourself for these accomplishments as this is no small feat!
Create A Vision Board and Visualize Accomplishing Your Goals
While some of you may find it silly to create a vision board, there really is some merit to doing this. Vision boards are effective because they are a visual reminder of your intentions and they shape your thoughts and actions. Not only do vision boards give you a clear direction for where you want to go but they also allow you to visualize what goals you want to achieve. Once you you’ve created your vision board, visualize yourself accomplishing your goals. When I was actively practicing my S.A.V.E.R.S. (Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod), I would visualize my log home on my 10 acre farm. I would picture driving up our long driveway, seeing our three vehicles parked in the garage while on the other side of the field I could see the dogs running around, the sheep baa’ing and cows moo’ing. As I walked in the from doors and made my way into each room, I saw my family in the various rooms - cooking, playing, and chatting. In the large Titan Properties Group (TPG) office down the hall, various members of our family gathered. Steve, Alex, Dawid, Emmanuel, and Todd all gathered to discuss the next commercial deal. Courtney and Brittany were getting ready to purchase another Airbnb unit, while Ricky and I were getting ready to finalize the plans to build out another residential living space for seniors. Later, I walked through the kitchen, the dining room, and the atrium and made my way out to the patio, past my art studio. As I walked towards our home gym off in the back I smiled as I saw the grandbabies playing in our kidney-shaped pool. As they splash me, I closed my eyes and opened them again. Only to find myself here. By myself. Not at the farm but on my back patio where my home oasis is set up. Sigh. That visualization exercise sure did feel real!
Surround Yourself With Positivity and Acknowledge Your Positive Attributes
More often than not, you ever notice when someone is happy and you spend some time with them, you end up feeling happy? Conversely, when someone is down or just spews one negative thought after another, you start to feel negative? And depending on the degree to which they are negative, you can actually start to feel yourself getting toxic. These feelings are contagious. When you surround yourself with positivity and acknowledge the positive attributes you possess, your outlook on things, on life start to change. When positivity is around you, you tend to look at things differently; grateful for the air you breathe, for the eyes to see the multitude of stars in the sky, and for having a warm, soft bed to sleep in. That neighbor down the street who’s grumpy and mean, well you realize he’s like that because he lost his wife not too long ago and he’s really just lonely and sad. And that asshole who cut you off? Well, he just found out that his best friend was in a serious car accident and he was on his way to the hospital. As you start to see things in a new light and you heart and mind become less judgmental, you find that you can be gentle with yourself and that the motivation to move forward will be there when you need it.
I hope that one of these suggestions resonated with you. Maybe you won’t implement all of the suggestions that I shared. But I do hope that you implement at least one. If you have a suggestion that is not listed here, please comment below and share it with the other Wayward Lasses.
