5 Steps For Staying Motivated

Emotions play a big role when it comes to motivation. You have to decide that what you want is worth working for. If your heart isn’t in something, it’s hard to keep your eyes on the prize. Ask yourself what is it that you want to change. Maybe you want to eat better, become more physically active, be less tired or stressed, or live a healthy lifestyle. This change can be anything, big or small. Even small changes can have big results (you can read more about that in our article here). Knowing that you want something different than what you have is the personal self-motivation that will get you started on your journey.

Everyone has a personal reason for wanting to make a change, including you. We refer to this as your “why.” This is the driving factor and fuel that keeps your motivation running. Write down why you want to make your change. Having a strong “why” will help you get started and stay focused on your goal all the way to the end. For example, if your goal is to have a healthier lifestyle, your why could be because you want to lose weight. But if you dig even deeper as to why you want to lose weight and be healthier, the message will be stronger and truly resonate within you. Your true “why” for having a healthier lifestyle may be because you want to live a long, healthy life and have the energy to spend time with your loved ones. Compare that with the previous “why” and it’s easy to see which one will fuel your motivation to keep going.

Deciding that you want to make a change and determining why is just the beginning. HOW you’re going to make that change is where things become challenging and where many never start. The key here is being honest with yourself. If you can’t visualize yourself committing to the methods on how you’re going to reach your goal, it’s going to be hard to stay motivated. You need to find the best approach that works for YOU.

It’s ok if you don’t know how you’re going to act on the changes that you want to make. Research potential steps and tools that may be useful to you. It could be a home gym, local gym membership, personal trainer, or a food program like Weight Watchers. Don’t be afraid to look beyond traditional solutions. There are other proven approaches available to you including fitness and weight loss retreats that provide an immersive and personalized experience that can provide you with the knowledge and tools you need to achieve the goals you set for yourself.

While these solutions may work for some, they aren’t one-size-fits-all. As you do your research, create a list of potential solutions that you find. Then ask yourself, “Can I visualize myself doing this? Why or why not?” Answering these questions will help you decide if you can commit to the approach.

Society hasn’t made it easy on us mentally when it comes to wanting to do something for ourselves. There’s often a stigma that we’re being “selfish” if we make this decision on our own. That’s why we turn to others to give us a “permission slip” to validate and remove the guilt from our want. However, you shouldn’t feel selfish for wanting to better yourself. In fact, dedicating time to self-care benefits you and those around you.

In order to give yourself permission to take that first step towards a healthier life, it’s important to acknowledge the circumstances that brought you to this turning point. Whether you started and were on track to reach your goal and lost motivation, reached your goal, and then life brought you back to where you started, it was never a priority before, or life dealt you a bad hand, those demons are hard to overcome. There may be difficult emotions involved and you may feel the urge to avoid your feelings or run away altogether, but you must stand strong as this is also part of your journey. Writing your feelings may help you understand why you may be experiencing any negative emotions or resistance in giving yourself the “ok” to start.

Failure is a common fear that prevents us from making that first step. Too often is it perceived to be more public than success but know that no great success was ever achieved without failure. If you don’t give up on yourself and give it your all, you’ll realize that each step forward, no matter how big or small, is another victory towards your overall goal.