18.05.2013 Views

mummiez & daddiez magazine May - June Issue 2013

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

ourselves into action. But is this state<br />

‘laziness’ or whatever else you want to label<br />

yourself with?<br />

Perhaps, you have not asked yourself the right<br />

questions and therefore will not have the<br />

powerful answers to kick you into action.<br />

Try the following approach to increase your<br />

chances of keeping you motivated and<br />

reaching your goals.<br />

Start small and let it flow<br />

If your goal, for example is to lose 3 stone,<br />

take your focus off the big goal and start<br />

focusing on the mini goal, which is to lose 1-2<br />

pounds per week. You can do this by<br />

changing one unhealthy eating habit per week<br />

rather than extreme dieting, which may only<br />

last a few weeks. When you reach your goal<br />

in this ‘flow state’ if literally feels effortless<br />

and is more easily maintained.<br />

Do what you enjoy<br />

If you have established that diet alone is not<br />

shifting your weight and you need to exercise,<br />

then you need to do the type of exercise that<br />

you will enjoy. If you have joined gyms in the<br />

past and then never go, repeating this pattern<br />

is not going to motivate you. Start by<br />

revisiting your past, to establish what exercise<br />

you may have enjoyed as a child or teenager.<br />

If you enjoyed boxing then join a local boxing<br />

class, if you loved dancing then go to aerobics.<br />

If you are bored with what you are doing right<br />

now then find something new to kick start<br />

your motivation.<br />

If you do not enjoy exercise, listen to music or<br />

read a kindle while you do your cardio, this<br />

will increase your chances of sticking to the<br />

workout for longer.<br />

Reward yourself with a cup of tea once you<br />

have finished your workout.<br />

It is all about timing<br />

If you have a million things going on in your<br />

life at once and something else is a very high<br />

priority, then starting a new goal at this time<br />

would not be ideal. Ensure that the timing is<br />

right and that you can fully commit to your<br />

goal to keep you motivated.<br />

The time of day that you are working on your<br />

goal is also important. If you have started<br />

exercising and you resent working out in the<br />

evening after a long day at work, then try<br />

exercising first thing in the morning or during<br />

your lunch break.<br />

Find your why?<br />

Keeping in tune with your ‘why’ is essential<br />

for you to stick to your goal. Ask yourself<br />

‘why do I want to achieve my goal to lose 3<br />

stone?’ It is important that your ‘why’ is self<br />

initiated, in other words it should not be<br />

because someone else has told you that you<br />

need to lose weight. If your answer is for<br />

example ‘I want to be healthy and have energy<br />

to play with my children’ when you are<br />

lacking motivation, reminding yourself of<br />

your ‘why’ is more likely to push you back<br />

into action rather than telling yourself you are<br />

lazy.<br />

Three motivations for any action<br />

Desperation – because I have to<br />

Next time if you are ‘procrastinating’ and<br />

lacking motivation in any area of your life, ask<br />

yourself ‘am I pushing myself to do this<br />

because I have to?’, if so you are acting out of<br />

desperation.<br />

It may be that you acting under pressure<br />

because you left things too late, or maybe you<br />

are putting unnecessary pressure on yourself<br />

to do something that is not actually as<br />

important as you are making it.<br />

Rationalization – because I should<br />

If your answer is ‘because I should’, then you<br />

will be less likely to stick to your goal,<br />

because your inner rebel will respond with<br />

why you should not.<br />

Inspiration – because I want to<br />

The most effective state to be in to stay<br />

motivated is to act out of inspiration, this is<br />

when we want to do something because we<br />

know our ‘why’ and our goal is self initiated.<br />

Sharon Mercieca

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!