We spend so much time focusing on the physical aspects of our health and fitness and often neglect to pay much attention to the psychology of achieving our goals.
Creating the life of my dreams comes just as much through mental strength as physical.
Here is one of the key strategies to help you stay motivated and pushing towards your goals. We see endless sources of external motivation everywhere these days, from Instagram posts to Facebook forums, books, podcasts, even apps! These are helpful because even the best of us suffer from lack of motivation at times. But there is a difference between those people who achieve what they set out to do and those who try and fail time and time again.
That difference is their WHY.
Your WHY is the reason you set yourself a goal in the first place. It is the deep-rooted feeling inside you that drives you to make drastic and long-lasting change. And if your WHY is strong enough, big enough or meaningful enough, then there is no barrier that can get in the way of you achieving your goals.
FINDING YOUR WHY: This is by no means a simple, one size fits all process. You have to be brutally honest with yourself and really get down to the core of exactly why you want to make changes to your life.
For your WHY to be strong enough motivation to get you through the every day grind of long term lifestyle change, it needs to be POWERFUL. It’s the times when we are facing challenges and adversity that your WHY becomes most valuable.
STEP 1: Write down your goal in as much detail as possible. Make sure it follows the SMART analogy; specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely.
STEP 2: Write down the motivating factors from within that goal. This may refer to the positive outcomes you will experience when you reach your goal, how reaching the goal will influence you physically or emotionally, or maybe how the process will help you grow. Try to be as reflective as possible - for example, one goal may be to lose excess weight and eat healthier. For a mother, on the surface this goal would have a positive influence on her appearance and hence her confidence. On a much deeper and more motivating level, she would also be setting a good example for her children, potentially lengthening her life by becoming more healthy, as well as gaining energy and vitality so she can be a better mother for her children. The purpose of this activity is to really get down to the nitty gritty of WHY you want to make these changes, and often the motivation behind this is to become a better version of yourself, one that you can be more confident and proud of!
STEP 3: Keep your WHY front and centre. Keep these reasons in the front of your mind. Repeat them to yourself and imagine yourself living those positive changes. See the outcomes in your mind and draw on these images and reasons when you are lacking motivation, feeling tired or maybe not seeing results. If it helps, you can keep a mind map as a visual representation of your WHY - display it somewhere to look at when you are needing a boost.
Once you master this technique, and you find a WHY that is truly valuable to you, the motivation will come from within, and you will find you rely on those Instagram posts less and less.
In my training and meal plans, as well as challenges, I focus on long term, sustained lifestyle changes. I give you the plan and tools to achieve your dreams, and yes I help out with motivation too, but it is your responsibility to bring the WHY.
Remember that you’re capable of way more than you give yourself credit for. Believe that it is possible, then take action. You got this!