How do we stay motivated to reach our goals?
I hear a chorus of you singing, “We don’t!”
That’s one of the things people frequently hire a coach for: support in staying motivated.
If you are wanting to energize your life, you also have some changes in mind you are wanting to make to that end. Maybe you want to get more active, maybe you want to enrich your menus with more veggies, or by reducing fats.
Whatever your particular goal is, the biggest key I can share with you is to shift your mindset so that you are focused on the outcome you desire!
Now, maybe you’re thinking, “I have been focused on losing 50 pounds for the last ten years, and it hasn’t happened yet!”
This is the ideal time to point out that every subject is really two subjects: the subject itself (the object you desire), and the absence of it. Often times we think we are focused on what we want, when we are actually focussing on the fact that we do not yet have it. Focussing on NOT having what we want slows motivation, so that what we desire is slow to arrive, or we block it completely and it never arrives.
Let’s use the example above. If someone says they have been focussed on “losing weight,” chances are what they are really focussed on is the fact that they are “not losing weight” or how “hard it is to lose weight” or maybe, “I’ll NEVER lose all this weight!”
The first thing I would say to a client in this situation is that trying to “lose weight” is an uphill battle that few of us actually win. Why? Because we resist “losing” anything! We want to be winners and we don’t like it when we lose games, keys, or our minds. If we do lose something the first thing we do is try to get it back. That’s not helpful if the real goal is to reach a healthy weight we can maintain. Your goal could be weight reduction, or body composition improvement, or as one of my delightful clients reframed it; to reveal your sexy inner beast!
All of those goals sound more desirable than “losing” anything, don’t they? So step one would be to reframe the goal in a way that motivates you.
Visualize your desire as a fully formed outcome.
What does your authentic body look like? More importantly, how does it feel? Sit with that feeling of loving the skin you’re in! Let it soak in and inspire the cells of your body to give you what you truly desire! Nothing has ever manifested that was not “thought” first. Let your mind spend time on what your ideal body feels like, looks like, performs like. Submerse the cells of your body in the vibration of what you want them to become. They will respond by matching that vibration!
Usually we get distracted with “what is.” We know what we want insomuch as it’s NOT what we currently have. We want something ‘better,’ or healthier, or smaller or bigger, but we spend very little time defining what we actually WANT because we get caught up on looking at the “what we currently have” part.
We’ve developed patterns of eating meant to soothe emotions more than to fill nutritional needs. We’ve given up being active for the sake of getting the to-do lists accomplished. And we look at our current state of “not being where I want to be” and can’t figure out how it’s possible to get from where we are to where we want to be. Many lose faith that it’s even possible.
Don’t think about HOW you get there from here, just visualize BEING there already, and more importantly, how it FEELS to be standing there in your full power. Engage all five senses to help make your vision REAL in your mind.
Be open to the possibility that it COULD happen for you. Even if you can’t see how that miracle arrives, leave the door open for it. Don’t shut it out by deciding it is NOT possible, or will not come to you, or that you’re not worthy.
If you’re not willing to spend time just thinking about what you want, what are the chances you’ll actually take action to make it happen?
One of the best ways to stay motivated is to keep looking at what you want without trying to figure out how you get it. That way you’re excited by feeling it in your vibration, without splitting your energy with thoughts like, “I want it but, I don’t know how to get it.” Your energy is all moving toward what you DO want if that’s where you focus the energy. “I know what I want,” is how you reframe that one.
See your ideal outcome fully formed in your mind and add the mantra, “I know what I want.”
When something or someone introduces a question like “HOW do you plan get there from here?” You can answer, “By staying focussed on what I want, and not limiting the Universe by telling it HOW to deliver what I want.”
You’ve GOT this! I know you have what it takes to create the life you want.
