How Do You Stay Motivated?

Do you struggle with motivation? I usually don’t struggle too much with motivation when it comes to exercise, but I do struggle to stay motivated with clean eating. And with staying organized. (And with lots of other things, actually.) But I think a lot of people struggle with motivation. The question, “how do you stay motivated?” is probably the question I get asked the most.

Well, to tell you the truth, I’m not always motivated. And you probably won’t be either even when you get motivated. Your motivation will, you know, ebb and flow. You’ll have amazing, fired-up days and crappy, I’m a lazy sugar-craving slug days, and everything in between.

But I think the most important thing to remember is that you have to do stuff to keep you motivated. You can’t just get motivated, have a great day, and expect it to last. You have to look at it as anything else. Motivation and staying motivated is almost like a habit. You have to put things in place that make sure you stay motivated.

So I try to keep up a steady stream of motivation. And a big part of the motivation is the mindset.

Outside and Inside Motivation

Finding something that will really inspire you is a good place to start. That fired-up feeling of inspiration can get the ball rolling. (Maybe it will come from an Insanity infomercial or a conversation with a friend or an ad on Facebook or a book or a podcast)

But you need to figure out what inside you is calling you to make the change too. What inside of you is touched by that inspirational thing?

Find Your Reason, Your Why

Let’s think about the change that you want to make. A lot of times, what I talk about here is health and fitness related. But it could be a career change, a relationship change. Anything really.

(I feel like there are a lot of parallels in whatever area of life you’re looking to make the change in.)

One of the biggest parts of all of it is mindset and knowing why you want to make the change. Having the reason be strong enough and meaningful enough.

One helpful thing that I found has been to flip motivational sayings that you hear a lot upside down. Like I’ve read this great quote in this book by Gary John Bishop, Unf*uck Yourself. He has a whole chapter called “I Am Willing.” And I get that.

And then sometimes it’s what are you not willing to do? And being honest with yourself about what you’re not willing to do.

What will it feel like at the end?

Not long ago I posted the quote above from Tony Robbins. People who fail, focus on what they have to go through. People who succeed, focus on what it will feel like at the end.

I read a lot of these quotes and I post a lot of these quotes and some are better than others, but some of them really make me feel something and this one did.

It’s true. Sometimes you get bogged down in the how – how are we going to get there? And we think about all that it’s going to take to get there. We don’t allow enough time for the feeling that we’ll have once we do get there.

Of course, when I say get there, once we get there, it’s going to keep going, right? We’re not just going to get there and throw everything out the window and expect to stay that way forever. And you know, we have to do the work to keep up with what we’ve accomplished.

But thinking about how you’ll feel when you get there is so important.

So if we’re talking about weight loss and, you know, say you need to lose 20 pounds and you have good reasons. Because you want to be healthy and you’re afraid of getting diabetes or your knees hurt, or you can’t play with your kids or whatever your reasons are. And they’re good reasons. They’re strong reasons. And that’s your motivation.

So you feel like you’re ready to go, but then you get bogged down in the how. You know, for example: I’ve never done it before, nothing’s ever worked before, what am I going to do, how am I going to do it, it’s too hard, I can’t.

Before you jump to those thoughts, jump to the end.

And envision yourself in three months, six months, a year.

And think how you will feel if you do what you want to do. If you make the change you want to make.

Give yourself a minute to think about it, how good that would feel. How good it would feel to go to the doctor and get a great checkup, how good it would feel to play with your kids or your nephews or whoever. How good it would feel to be able to go for a walk with your friend down the street, who walks every day and you’ve often looked at her and thought, why can’t I do that?

Look at you in your new career feeling so fulfilled and happy and loving what you do and feeling so proud of yourself and thinking, wow, my kids are going to see me going to a job I love every day. And my kids are gonna see me make a change that I feel good about.

Picture yourself in a healthy relationship or a beautiful home or a rewarding hobby. Don’t think about the how and the hard work just yet. Think about what success will look and feel like for you.

So if you think about how that will feel and really try to like close your eyes and picture yourself on a day, three months, six months, a year, five years down the road, and feel how you’ll feel if you make that change.

You can flip this one too…

And then flip it around and think, how would you feel if you don’t make that change?

I went through an online workshop a couple of months ago and they asked that- if you don’t do what you came here to do, if you don’t do it, how will you feel in five years? And imagine how you’d feel looking at your kids if you didn’t make this change in five years.

It’s not that we need to shame ourselves or, you know, put too much pressure on ourselves, but there is something to thinking about that end, even if it seems really far away or really impossible. How would you feel when you get there?

And then, at another time, how would you feel if you don’t get there?

And find what motivates you.

Maybe what motivates you is going to be that good feeling that you want so much.

And maybe what’s going to motivate you on another day or some other time or during some rough patch is how you’ll feel if you don’t get there. How you’ll feel if you give up or don’t even get started.

Feed your motivation daily…

So that was my little motivation Monday tip a few weeks ago. I liked that quote by Tony Robbins.

If you want to get motivated- find the motivation, find the mindset, find your why, your reason.

Then find things that help you keep it up.

Join an accountability group. If you need one, reach out to me!

Find people on Facebook and Instagram that post short little motivational videos. Listen to them while you put your makeup on or make the coffee or on the ride to work. Mel Robbins is great. Find people that resonate with you.

You need to work to keep the motivation up. It’s not going to just stay there. It doesn’t stay there for anybody really. You need to find ways to keep it going and put habits in place that keep it there.

I hope you liked this. I would love to hear from you! Who or what motivates you? Type in a name or a quote or a book that gets you fired up! You can also reach out to me on Facebook or Instagram…I’d love to see you there!

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