Regain & Maintain That Motivation

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Summary

Motivation is hard work and must constantly be worked on to sustain it. With some habit changes and some refocusing it is amazing how quickly we can come around to that level of motivation that we know excites us about the future that we have and the goals that we are pursuing. Bring motivation back into your life by spreading the word.  Think back to a time when a friend or family member has shared a goal or vision that they had with you.  Don’t you want to help them get there and aren’t you constantly checking in on their progress?  Of course, you are because that is what friends do.  Having a big goal and going it alone is tough and is one of the biggest results in failing at a dream.  Tell the world what you are after and what you are doing to get there.  You will be amazed at the motivation that brings your soul.  We don’t like to embarrass ourselves or look like we don’t complete things in the eyes of others.  If we have people watching our progress it is a built-in scale of accountability that we didn’t even realize that we had, and they certainly didn’t realize they were giving.

You know the old saying, how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  The same can be true of things in our lives that motivate us.  It may be a project at home or work, maybe it's losing that 20 pounds or saving for the once in a lifetime vacation.  Whatever it is, when you set the goal and look at it from a distance it can seem very daunting and quite frankly too overwhelming to ever begin.     How can you break your goals into smaller more attainable pieces that continue to move you forward, while at the same time give you the pride of completing something and the motivation to continue? We all need to remember that there are many steps in reaching the big prize.  

Understand that we all have times when we will be at our highest and other times where we are on more of an even keel.  This is ok, we are designed to have those changes otherwise the world would be a boring place if you were always your most motivated or always in a slump. There has to be variance, the key is to recognize where you are at and keep those habits in place that will generate that motivation that leads to happiness and fulfillment.  We never want to get so out of whack that we must dig our way out of that slump. 

Full Transcript

I want you to think of the most motivated person that you possibly can.  The one that no matter what shows up ready and on fire to win the day.  That always seems like their level of accomplishment is sky high and even if they have a setback they use it as a positive and learn from it.  Ok, now that you have that person in mind, guess what?  Even they have days when they wake up less than excited about their day.  They may even go through what we would all call a slump…crazy I know but it happens to all of us, regardless of how naturally motivated someone can seem.  

Remember as we spoke about in an earlier lesson, motivation is hard work and must constantly be worked on to sustain it.

That is our topic today.  How do we regain the motivation when it escapes us? We know that when things are not going exactly how we would like them to be, we can lose that edge.  The good news is that there is hope.  With some habit changes and some refocusing it is amazing how quickly we can come around to that level of motivation that we know excites us about the future that we have and the goals that we are pursuing.  So let’s get moving forward and look at 5 different ways to get back in the groove. 

Number 1 – Pick one thing.  Have you ever noticed that when you have a number of projects going that you are spread so thin that none of them ever get completed.  This is the perfect set up for feeling inadequate as you never get that amazing feeling of accomplishment by reaching the end goal.  Now we all know that there is always going to be more than one thing on your plate that you want to get done, but if you can really concentrate your efforts on one thing that excites you and is a big rock in your world it will give you that satisfaction and triumph when you step back and admire your work.

2nd thing – Talk to yourself…yep that’s what I said.  We know that when we put goals in front of ourselves on a consistent basis they stay forefront in our minds and give us that push we need.  So whether you meditate and pick 2 or 3 words that remind you of your goal or you write it in lipstick on your bathroom mirror…remind yourself of what you want and where you are going.

Another idea to bring motivation back into your life is to spread the word.  Think back to a time when a friend or family member has shared a goal or vision that they had with you.  Don’t you want to help them get there and aren’t you constantly checking in on their progress?  Of course you are, because that is what friends do.  Having a big goal and going it alone is tough and is one of the biggest results in failing at a dream.  Tell the world what you are after and what you are doing to get there.  You will be amazed at the motivation that brings your soul.  We don’t like to embarrass ourselves or look like we don’t complete things in the eyes of others.  If we have people watching our progress it is a built in scale of accountability that we didn’t even realize that we had and they certainly didn’t realize they were giving.  Sing it from the mountains my friend.

Here is my next idea for you…bite size pieces.  You know the old saying, how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  The same can be true of things in our lives that motivate us.  It may be a project at home or work,  maybe it's losing that 20 pounds or saving for the once in a lifetime vacation.  Whatever it is, when you set the goal and look at it from a distance it can seem very daunting and quite frankly too overwhelming to ever begin.  Have you ever read about the climb up Mt Everest?  Do you think that those climbers just said “Hey Fred, what do you think about climbing Mt Everest''?  When Fred thought that seemed like a fantastic plan what do you think happened next.  Well, hopefully Fred and crew made a plan…they studied those that have both succeeded and failed before them.  They trained and practiced and in doing this they have measurable steps along the way, all that provided for small victories on the way to be the big kahuna.  This is what we all need to remember, is that there are many steps in reaching the big prize.  How can you break your goals into smaller more attainable pieces that continue to move you forward, while at the same time give you the pride of completing something and the motivation to continue?  So let’s take for example saving for the vacation that is going to cost say $15,000.00.  Likely this is not going to be something that you decide that you will just set aside out of the next pay period and then schedule.  You will need to break it down into smaller, more attainable amounts and in the meantime, you are planning the adventures that you will have.  I would even challenge you to book the reservation when you have the down payment so that you are committed and super excited to go because you have a date and a plan.  Time to start buying travel guides.  Anyway, you get the point…little bites.

The last idea I am going to share today to get that motivation back is to understand that we all have times when we will be at our highest and other times where we are on more of an even keel.  This is ok, we are designed to have those changes otherwise the world would be a boring place if you were always your most motivated or always in a slump. There has to be variance, the key is to recognize where you are at and keep those habits in place that will generate that motivation that leads to happiness and fulfillment.  We never want to get so out of whack that we have to dig our way out of that slump that has us watching Netflix and eating ice cream on the couch for a week.

You are an amazing individual with incredible goals and are so capable of doing crazy big things…if you were not you would not be listening to this and trying to become the best version of yourself that you could ever be.

Please do me a favor and share this with 5 of your best friends, hit like and put those questions and comments below for our amazing team to answer.

Life is grand…live a big life with big dreams and remember the choice is always yours to Focus Forward.