How in the WORLD do you stay motivated?

I hear often, “I just can’t stay motivated“.

The obvious truth is…motivation is difficult.

But, what if more motivation is not what we need?

Motivation is the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.

Most of us have multiple reasons for becoming healthy, but, often, the immediate reasons are superficial.

i.e. “I just need to lose weight to feel better”.

We need to dig deep down to realize the deepest drive we have for changing our lives for the better.  If we can identify our strongest motivation (something deeper than, “I just want to get healthy”), then we can hold on to this driver when life gets tough.

Our strongest motivators are often left unidentified and, thus, under-utilized!

How do we identify such a driver deep down? Well, we should ask ourselves:

1. Why have I initiated this change?
2. What difference will that reason (the answer to question 1) make to me?
3. How will that reason (the answer to question 2) make me feel more valuable?
4. Why is that reason (the answer to question 3) important to me?
5. And what difference will that reason (the answer to question 4) make?

These simple progressive questions drive us deeper into ourselves to find our strongest motivator!

But, even if we can pinpoint our true driver, at some point during our day, we are faced with a choice between 2 desires:

What we want NOW versus what we want MOST.

Immediate gratification or delayed satisfaction.

No one can make these decisions for us.  At some point, we need to come to terms…are we truly ready for change?

We can’t always be motivated to do what we ought. So, when motivation is waning, we hold on to a secondary driver:

discipline.

No one likes to hear the word discipline, but it just might save us from falling so far off the trail we feel irrevocable.

And, the best assistant to discipline is time management. If we manage our time well, we can stay on schedule and allow discipline to do its work. Staying organized keeps us stable and consistent. As we know, when life gets chaotic and unorganized, it is even more difficult to stay motivated and disciplined.

Accountability is also critical to discipline. For if we must remain accountable for our actions and non-actions, then are more apt to stay on track.

Accountability, time management, and disciple help fuel motivation! 

So, let’s simplify: