How has 2015 started for you? Have you still got the enthusiasm you felt at the start of January? Are you ticking off all the steps on the way to reaching your goals? Have you created your mission statement?
If the answer is no, I’ve got help. Read on!
Does any of this sound familiar?
- You find yourself in the same situation again and again
- You wonder why you feel like you take one step forward and two back
- You get distracted from your goals
- You try lots of personal development tips but they don’t seem to last in the long haul
Well, the solution is to get to the ‘root cause’ of your motivation. The root cause of your motivation (lack thereof) is embedded in your belief system.
Entrenched beliefs can often end up doing a battle with will power, and come out the winner.
Let me explain:
Your BELIEFS shape your VALUES
Your VALUES create your MOTIVATION
Your MOTIVATION determines what you actually do on a day-to-day basis…
…which results in repeated behaviour. Goals that fall by the wayside, for example.
So, if your belief is “I can’t see myself achieving this” then you are creating a value that what you are doing can’t really be that important, because you’re never going to achieve it anyway. This weakens your motivation, and in your day-to-day life you struggle to keep up with the goals you have set yourself.
How can you turn this around?
Ask yourself the following questions:
- What negative (disempowering, discouraging) beliefs do I carry in my mind (self-talk/self-image)?
- How do these thoughts serve me?
- How can I turn them into helpful, encouraging and empowering beliefs?
By examining our thoughts and self-talk we can quickly begin to build up a pattern of thoughts that affect our motivation.
By turning those thoughts around into more positive and helpful comments we make to ourselves, we can set ourselves on the road to more successful goal attempts.
Tips on how to stay motivated
- Instead of thinking “I can’t do this” visualise yourself having achieved your goal.
- Instead of worrying that you have set yourself too high a goal to accomplish, focus on each individual step towards that goal
- Instead of thinking you have to give up because something is not working, figure out how to change tack so that it begins to work
Or simply, get help – such as a life coach!