You know those New Year Resolutions! I call it the NYR time of year. It's when most people get the most motivated to get their bodies in shape. Then by January 15 all the motivation is gone! Getting motivated is easy--staying motivated isn't. But that's the goal, the mountaintop to shoot for.
So how do we do it? In a recent segment of "The Coach Roz Show," I shared three strategies for staying motivated:
1. Write it down. Get it out. Journal something.
When you ink it, you think it. Whether it's the traditional journal, a vLog, a blog entry, a letter to a friend, or (if you're more comfortable talking it out), a church support-group meeting or a coaching session: Communicate! Get out of your head and your own revolving thoughts, into an objective, supportive environment.
Think of yourself as a detective or anthropologist. You are investigating and discovering and uncovering yourself : what's working really well, what's seems right, what different now than before.... Where are there opportunities for a different perspective, idea, belief? Where am I confident? Unsure? What just happened over lunch, because I didn't finish that plate of pasta? What can I do differently this evening when I'm ready to start my routine of eating? What's made a difference before?
Perhaps you're the kind of person who doesn't use emotion to evaluate, process, or navigate most of your world. This doesn't mean you don't have feeling or that you are not an emotional being. You are. So journaling for you has a different purpose. It's to wake up to the emotions that are present, but not engaged with.
Or perhaps you're a person who is motivated by emotions and this drives your behavior. So, when the emotions are toxic you behave badly. When the emotions are healthier you behave better. You need to journal to get stuff out of you that is bubbling and bottled and uncomfortable or exhilarating.
Emotions are true, but how we process, understand them tends to be faulty. Journaling shines light on what's going on in your world. It provides a safe, objective, constructive way to get it out-and steer you away from putting too much food in!
Simple starter for my non-journal types:
- Use technology. Set up an e-mail draf;, sign-up for a free blog account; use text messages; or go low-tech and get a small bound notebook like news reporters use.
- Check in four times per day with yourself, answering the question, "Is what I believe right now positive?
- Develop a simple coding system that gives you a range, like 1-5, with 5 being the most positive and 1 being the most negative. Or use exclamation points. For example,!!! = YES, what I believe right now is positive;!! = ambivalent, co-existing, conflicting emotions/thoughts;! = No, what I believe right now is negative.
Simple Starters for my journaling buddies:
- Determine if you're a typer or a hand writer
- Set a completion goal, like complete a 50-page journal book, or 10 typed pages
- Set up a daily journal time and keep the time secure
After you have gotten out of your head and heart through journaling, you will being to have some goals. Think of the things you want to do more of, or do differently. This is the motivation starting, bubbling up. Think of your car's gas tank like it's your motivation tank. You have a little gas in it-the motivation is started-but you need to keep the motivation tank filled up. You need to put something in place that will help pour into your motivation tank and keep it on full.
Structures are tangible cues, reminders or reinforcers that help us keep a new habit, a way of thinking or a state of being. To stay motivated to keep a new habit try these out:
Add affirmations: Out-loud, short, repeated; physical reminders.
Establish new routines: Daily small actions based on a cue (or signal) this will reconditioning you. For example, if passing the break room each afternoon finds you loading up at the vending machine, then change your route to the bathroom or use that moment to leave a message for your sweetie. Break up the routine you have fallen in to.
Set easy rules of thumb to follow: For example, "I eat what I want and I don't eat hamburgers." "I eat whatever I want and I leave several bites behind." "I eat whatever I want and skip the appetizers."
Visualize: Picture something distasteful to help you turn away, such as ants crawling over bread or all the germs floating in the soup... You pick your weakness and make it disgusting!
Finish the sentence differently: Practice filling out the blank with a new thought. For example, "Oh, that looks good. I want some! But, that is a destructive way to live my life so I'm going to walk away!
3. Associate Pleasure to What You're Trying to Stay Motivated Toward
Reward yourself! Give yourself an environmental celebration, laugh out loud, do a 10-minute visualization... Give yourself something fun, meaningful, tangible (to you), reinforcing, spirit-connected. The pleasurable rewards need to come in small, frequent doses and be associated with the new habit. This combination of rewards connected to the habit keeps your motivation revved up. Here's what I mean:
- Every time I complete my affirmation I get a $1 iTunes song.
- Every time I write 5 minutes in my journal I get to spend an hour watching my DVR show.
- Every four days in which I track my food intake, I earn one manicure.
- When I exercise and get in physical activity four times in a week, I get to do nothing all day on Sunday!
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