10 Steps to Regaining Your Motivation – Step 3
So now you have your list of goals and you’ve found your “Why.” Now what?
Step 3 – Post your goal and Commit Publicly.
For this step, let’s suppose our goal is, “Save $5,000 by the December 31, 2011.”
Again, each of us will have our own “Why” for achieving our goal. And we may start out strong. We stop eating out, we stop renting movies, we do all the things that our plan tells us we must do in order to achieve our goal.
But then life gets in the way. Our car breaks down or a medical bill comes due or one of a million other things that can happen make us take our eyes off of the goal. Next thing you know, you’ve forgotten about the goal all together. As I said, life gets in the way.
Now, let’s suppose that we followed step three. You posted your goal on your refridge so every time you go to get a bottle of water, you are reminded of the goal? Every time you go to get milk for you coffee, you see a big sign on the door that YELLS at YOU: SAVE $5,000! You also have another sign taped to the inside of the garage door that says, “YOU ARE TRYING TO SAVE $5,000! DID YOU PACK YOUR LUNCH THIS MORNING?” Pretty good reminder, huh?
Also, most of us need the encouragement of others to help us reach personal goals. How can people help you and give you encouragement if they don’t know the goal? If fact, it might also be a good idea to tell them your “Why” for wanting to reach the goal.
For example, if before you set your goal, you and one of your co-workers always went out to lunch together. Wouldn’t it be easier to reach your goal if you told your co-worker what you goal is? Wouldn’t it be easier to save the money of they weren’t asking you to go out to lunch everyday?
Finally, with today’s social media platforms, it is very easy to post your goal and commit publicly. If all of your facebook friends knew what your goal was, think of the support you would get from them.
Now here is a disclaimer: For the past 7 months, I have not been actively working towards my goals. In fact, I had to go back to my post at the beginning of the year and read what my goals were. So I will right now post my goals and commit publicly to them (Well actually, that will be tomorrow’s post!). I will have to adjust my dates, but I think each of my goals will still be reached in the next 12 months.
SHARE: What is your top goal you are currently working towards?
The Remaining Steps
(Each will be discussed in upcoming posts)
Get excited.
Start Small. Really Small.
Build on small successes.
Read about it daily.
Call for help when your motivation level starts to decrease.
Think about the benefits, not the difficulties.
Squash negative thoughts; replace them with positive ones.
10 Steps to Regaining Your Motivation – Step 2
In the previous post, we talked about focusing on one goal (or to-do item) at a time and using the sense of accomplishment to give your motivation a boost. Today, we are going to discuss “finding your why” and how to use it to regain and keep your motivation.
Step 2: Find Your Why
Deep down inside each and every one of us, there is a why. Our ‘Why’ is what gives us the inner strength to get up every morning and start our day. Some people know their why already. Some people, once they think about it can easily figure out their why (or so they think!) and some of us need to spend some time trying to find it.
First, what exactly is “why?” I found a quote on the net this morning that will help us understand why it is important to find your why. “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” (Georg W.F. Hegel) Simply put, your why is your passion. It is what gives us and drives your motivation. It is not materialist. “I want $1 million dollars in the bank” is not your why. “I want my family to live in a 10,000 square foot house “ is not your why. “I want a new car every year” is not your why.
Your why is whatever drives you to give 100% every minute of every day of every week of every month, year, decade. It is what forces you to overcome every obstacle in your way. It is what allows you to block out the negative thoughts that come in to your head. IT IS WHAT COMPLETELY MOTIVATES YOU AT EVERY STEP IN YOUR LIFE.
“Erik, that is all fine and good, but if I had my why then I would be motivated. How do I find my why so I can BE motivated?” I’m glad you asked.
Follow this exercise and you will find your why. Some will find it within seconds; Some will need hours and hours. Eitherway, if you do this exercise, you will find your why by looking “for your what.”
- Go somewhere quiet and without distractions. Close your eyes and clear your mind.
- Take out a piece of notebook paper.
- Start writing down a list of everything you want in life. Everything you want to do, experience, succeed at.
- Keep writing until you write down the one thing that makes you start to cry.
- Once you start crying, you have found your what and your what is now your why.
Chances are, most people will begin with materialist stuff. None of these will make you cry.
Then you will get into the changing emotions like “I want to be happy,” or “I want my kids to appreciate me more.” Again, these will not make you cry.
Finally, you will reach the life-changing thoughts. “I want to be able to provide for my family better than I ever had it.” I want to be able to spend more time with my children so I can watch them grow up and be there for all of their ‘firsts.’ First step, first day of school, first date, first (and hopefully only!) wedding.”
Find your Why and use it to regain your motivation.
Share: What is your Why?
The Remaining Steps
(Each will be discussed in upcoming posts)
Get excited.
Post Your Goal and Commit publicly.
Start Small. Really Small.
Build on small successes.
Read about it daily.
Call for help when your motivation level starts to decrease.
Think about the benefits, not the difficulties.
Squash negative thoughts; replace them with positive ones.
10 Steps to Regaining Your Motivation
I have a lot on my plate right now, as well as some issues I’m having to work through. This morning I woke up and realized that I need to get motivated and pump out some of the things I have been putting off due to lack of motivation.
One of the first things I did was Google “Get Motivated” and came across a great post on the blog “Zen Habits”. This is not a site I have ever gone to before, but the post that I found HERE had a list of 16 ways which will help you regain your motivation and, more importantly, stay motivated. I cut it down to 10 ways and I am going to highlight each of the steps in a different post starting today.
Step 1: List Out Your Goals and Focus on One Goal at a Time.
Five different websites to build or update, a couple of work projects to get started on, bills to pay, yard work to get done, errands to run, plan dinner, update resume, grocery shop, clean the litter boxes, laundry, and that is just part of the list that is running through my head.
Often, the main reason we get unmotivated is because we are overwhelmed. I have written before about treating your “to-do” list as a list of goals. If you want to get motivated, take a moment and write out you list of things you need to do. However you want to list these items (pad and paper, computer, etc.) take 10 minutes and write them out.
Now, number the list starting with number 1 (the easiest to complete) all the way to the hardest to complete. Re-write the list in the new order with each item on a single sheet of paper (3×5 cards work well for this!) Easiest to hardest doesn’t necessarily mean quickest to longest, although it might end up being that way.
Focus on and complete the first item on your list. The key word here is focus. Don’t think, “Oh, this first item is so easy, but I still have all these other things to do…” Block out your mind of everything on your list but the first item. Once you complete the first item, take a big marker and write “COMPLETE” across the page! The sense of accomplishment will immediately build up your motivation. Now move on to the second item. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Tomorrow, I will talk about ‘Finding your Why’.
I will leave you with this great video one of my Facebook friends, Tracey Rose, posted on her blog.
In the interest of full public disclosure, the first item on my list was “New post on GoalsLeadToSuccess.”
Tell us: what is the first item on your list today?
The Remaining Steps
(Each will be discussed in upcoming posts)
- Find your Why.
- Get excited.
- Post Your Goal and Commit publicly.
- Start Small. Really Small.
- Build on small successes.
- Read about it daily.
- Call for help when your motivation level starts to decrease.
- Think about the benefits, not the difficulties.
- Squash negative thoughts; replace them with positive ones.
Goals – “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World!”
There was a TV series, Heroes, that few years ago. A group of normal people found out that they possessed super hero-type powers and through the storyline they found they had to help save the life of one of the main characters, the cheerleader. Over the course of the season, the group of heroes found out that by saving the cheerleader, they would save the world from destruction. Thus the tagline, “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” was used for the rest of the season.
Often as we go through the process of achieving our goals we end up with unintended consequences and/or benefits. Many of your goals may have unintended benefits. For example, you may be working toward the goal of quitting smoking. One unintended benefit will be that the food you eat tastes better.
Back in the 80’s, Ford executives set a goal for the company to produce a new car which was less than 2,000 pounds and cost less than $2,000. Unfortunately, because everyone was so set on achieving the goal, they overlooked several important safety issues. Thus, after the Ford Pinto was released the car was plagued with deadly accidents (gas tank exploded on impact) and cost Ford millions and millions of dollars in lawsuits. A pretty big and expensive unintended consequence!
By no means am I saying to set and work towards achieving your goals. However, you must always keep sight of what unintended consequences are looming during the journey and the success of achieving your goals.
Leave a comment and give me some of your examples of unintended benefits or unintended consequences you have had while working towards your goals!
To your success,
Erik
Are Your Goals Empty Catch Phrases?
As I type this, I currently don’t have any phone, TV, or internet service. Apparently there is an outage on my street from the cable company where I get all three of these services. I had to use my cell phone, which doesn’t get very good service in this part of town, to call the cable company to find out what happened.
Almost every company has a goal of providing “excellent customer support”, “100% Positive Customer Interaction”, or some other catch phrase along the same idea – including my cable company. I will not get into specifics, but I can say that either my definition of “excellent customer service” and theirs is different, or their goal is simply a marketing tool. I say this after over 15 years of being a customer.
Often our written goals are not are true goals but rather empty catch phrases. In personal goals these may be things like “Be a better husband”, “Eat healthier”, or “Spend more time with my family.” All important without a doubt, but when set as goals, they are just catch phrases because none of them can be quantified.
Review your goals and make sure that you are not just chasing empty catch phrases.
To your success,
Erik