MOTIVATE YOURSELF

MOTIVATE YOURSELF

Motivate yourself. 

What do you do to motivate yourself?

Maybe you listen to a motivational podcast or you call a friend. And these things are good, because they can help. But, today I want to talk about understanding what it means to motivate yourself.

Motivation. You often need motivation to complete a task or a goal. Motivation coincides with consistency.

A goal is something you aim to achieve, with a deadline. Yes, I said deadline. There’s needs to be a deadline on your goals. And with a goal, you must have a ‘why’ factor. Why is this a goal for you? Why is it important for you to reach this goal? Notice that I emphasized the word you. Why? Because each goal starts and ends with you and you alone. 

For example, let’s say you have the goal of losing 20 pounds. And you say to yourself that you’re going to go to the gym three days a week and you’re going to make sure to bring a friend to motivate you. The first couple of weeks were good, in fact, they were great! You didn’t miss day, especially because your friend was there to motivate you. This week though, your friend is leaving to go away for a month. And all you can think about is how you’re going to have the motivation to go to the gym if your friend isn’t there? Weeks later, your friend comes back from the trip and they ask you whether you went to the gym while they were gone. And you tell them you didn’t because they weren’t there. Your friend then tells you that they continued to work out three days a week on their trip. Then they ask if you’ll be working out with them this week and you tell them that you’ll let them know. But guess what? You never let them know, you lost motivation and never ended up going. 

In this scenario, this is a great goal and a common one. Although, it is a great goal, can you spot what’s missing? 

Remember, a goal is something you aim to achieve, with a deadline. This goal was good but there wasn’t a deadline. Also, the motivation to complete this goal relied heavily on the friend’s support. Remember, each goal starts and ends with you and you alone.

When you add a deadline to your goal it allows the goal to become more real to you. Also, you add value to your goal because the goal becomes a priority, rather than a hope or a dream. 

Also, when you stop heavily relying on other external factors to motivate you to complete your goal, and realize that your goal starts and ends with you and you alone, it will be much easier to stay consistent and complete your goal.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have any external factors to support you in your goals. It just means that it shouldn’t be your main support system. You are your own support system. The external factors are there to support that support system. 

So, when you have a goal, write it down. Write it down with a deadline. After that, write down the ‘why’ factor. Why is this a goal for you? Why is it important for you to reach this goal? I guarantee that when you do this, it will much easier to remain consistent and complete your goal. And most importantly, remember that each goal starts and ends with you and you alone.

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