Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Motivate yourself


Are you the person you want to be?  Do you think you need to lose some weight?  Are there things that you have wanted to do but are scared?  Do you have goals that you have not yet reached?  Once you overcome that initial barrier, how do you stay motivated to the end? 
If your answer to any of those questions, this post is for you! This is for anyone who wants to reach their goals.  I know I have many times started a goal, but realized that reaching the goal is much harder then I initially thought. Sometimes I have stopped moving towards the goal, but in moving past barriers to achieve my goal I have realized there are several keys to help me stay motivated to reach a goal.  The keys are: writing the goal down, set smaller goals that help you achieve big ones, reward yourself for reaching milestones, set aside time to work on your goal and to keep the end in mind.
How will writing down your goal keep you motivated?  I know when I write something down it becomes something more than an idea.  It means that others can see my goal, and if I tell others what I want to accomplish I normally follow through.  This does not mean you have to share your goals with anyone else, but writing it down somewhere will help, I promise.  If you keep a daily planner write down your goal there.  It makes you remember it better if you take the time to write a goal down.
It is important to set some smaller milestones on your journey towards your goal.  If you try to climb a mountain without first preparing at all you probably won’t get very far.  You have to first prepare yourself physically, and then you climb the mountain.  You have to set yourself a schedule that breaks a large goal into smaller, more doable goals. 
When you reach a goal it is good to reward yourself in some way.  When I am working on a goal I motivate myself by telling myself that the reward is worth the effort.  When we study hard for a test and do well on it, it makes us glad we studied for it.  Think of a way to reward yourself that would get you motivated to reach your goal.
In this crazy world of running to work, helping kids with homework and doing housework a lot of people don’t have a lot of time to waste.  This is why setting aside time to achieve your goals is important.  If your goal is to exercise daily set aside a time when you aren’t busy each day, and go exercise.  It helps to keep the same routine for a while until exercise becomes a habit as this will make it easier to remember.  If you keep a daily planner schedule yourself time to work on your goal.  If it is a long term goal set deadlines of when you will have your goal achieved.  Setting aside time will help you as you work towards your goals.
The last key is to keep the end in mind.  When you begin a journey you hardly ever actually see the end of the tunnel.  You might know where it is but you probably won’t see it for a while.  That is why it is important for you to envision what you will be like, what it will feel like to achieve your goal.  At the beginning of the semester it is always important to remember that summer break is just a few short months away.
When trying to reach a goal it is important to keep yourself motivated.  You can do this by writing down your goals as a reminder, work on smaller goals to achieve big ones, set aside specific time to work on the goal, and to keep the end results that you hope to get in your mind. 

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