Motivation is what keeps us going, it’s the drive to get things done. It’s key in helping women succeed and reach their health goals.
If you are feeling unhappy with your health and are wanting to make changes, a little support and encouragement can go a long way to help you succeed.
To get you started here are 7 sure ways to stay motivated so that you keep going and reach your health goals.
1) Choose one or two new, healthy habits to take on – not 10 or 20. Small, simple changes can help you reap large results. Decide to do one or two small things each day, such as drinking a smoothie first thing in the morning or carrying a water bottle during the day to stay hydrated. A few small daily steps can help you stick with new changes and avoid overwhelm.
2) Take it One Step at a time. Focus on one step at a time. Instead of focusing on the miles and miles ahead of you on your journey, simply focus on what is immediately in front of you. Once you start, the next step along the way will become clearer and you will stay motivated rather than overwhelmed.
3) Focus on what you have done. Too often we become discouraged because we’ve missed a workout or two. Instead of beating yourself up over the things you haven’t done (like eat perfectly or workout every single day), take a moment to acknowledge the actions you are taking towards your goals (such as cooking a healthy dinner or walking during your lunch break) – while you are doing them.
4) Recognize how far you’ve come. Stay motivated by setting new goals when you’ve reached one. You could add on a few more minutes of exercise, push yourself just a little harder, do a few more crunches, pick up heavier dumbbells or eat a little healthier.
5) When you fall down, get right back up and keep going. You can’t control everything, so why beat yourself up about a missed workout or messy environment? It doesn’t erase all of the hard work you’ve accomplished up until now, or mean that you have to start over, just pick up where you left off and keep going.
6) Celebrate the small victories! Remember that fitness is more like a marathon than a sprint. By setting small weekly or monthly goals you’ll be able to track your progress which will keep you motivated to continue as you reach them step by step. And once you’ve achieved a goal, no matter how small, celebrate it!
7) Have an accountability partner. Very often we tend to meet our commitment to others before we meet our commitments to ourselves. We also find it easy to let ourselves off the hook. We quickly justify why or come up with excuses for not following through on our commitment to take action.
Without accountability, or someone to hold us to our goals, we can fall back into old patterns. The real power of having accountability, especially in the form of a coach or partner, is that when you have a setback, you can look at it together objectively and from there adjust your plan.
