The first of the year brings new hopes and aspirations. Many people anticipate the fresh start to begin yearly goals that they didn’t have the time or motivation to do the previous year.
Starting a new workout program, beginning a blog, or planning a kid craft a day can all take off with gusto, but a few weeks in you may be wondering why you had the big idea in the first place.
It’s only a couple months into the year, and many people have thrown in the hat to their 2024 ambitions. But you don’t have to.
Motivation comes from within. Others can give you inspiration, but motivation has to be a choice, a conscious effort to propel yourself in a task.
No matter the size of your goals, it can be difficult to stay in the zone to see things through.
Suzanne Gerber writing for Forbes is an expert on giving insight into helping you find your inner strength to press on when it seems all motivation is depleted.
She has eight tips to helping you figure out what you need to make your goals a reality.
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Set a goal and visualize it down to the most minute detail
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Make a list of the reasons you want to accomplish the goal
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Break the goal down into smaller pieces and set intermediary targets — and rewards
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Have a strategy, but be prepared to change course
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Get the help you need.
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Pre-determine how you will deal with flagging motivation
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Continually check in with your reasons for carrying on.
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See the Big Picture
Visualize yourself completing your goal. Think about what it will feel like to be accomplished. Imagine what you could be moving onto if your goal at hand was accomplished.
Gerber says, “Elite athletes visualize their performance ahead of time — right down to the smell of the sweat dripping down their face as they cross the finish line.”
Writing down all the reasons that you want to see your goal through helps make it more real. When things are put down on paper they connect your goals with reality in your brain.
Forbes reported:
“Tony Robbins, arguably the foremost motivational speaker and personal development coach, says: “A major source of stress in our lives comes from the feeling that we have an impossible number of things to do. If you take on a project and try to do the whole thing all at once, you’re going to be overwhelmed.”
When every big goal is broken up into small easily attainable tasks, the weight of a large project won’t seem so impossible, or far off.
If your New Year’s goal is to lose 50 pounds this year, break that down into a goal of a pound a week. A pound doesn’t seem like that much but will lead you to the healthier you that you had planned.
It’s good to have a plan, but it is also healthy to have a certain expectation that your plan is going to shift a little because life is unpredictable.
You may have it written down that you are going to work out 5 days a week, but one week your toddler may have an ear infection and require a bit more attention. Life events happen, and rather than fighting against it, just put a little flexibility into your goal.
Thomas Edison famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.” “The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
Knowing that you have reached a tough spot in your goals, and feeling your motivation slacking, it would be wise to reach outside your box and get help.
That may mean asking a friend to be an accountability partner, or that may mean looking up a new way to do an old job; whatever tool accomplishes you staying on plan with your goals.
You may start a goal for one reason, and as time goes on you find that your reason for completing the goal has changed.
That happens. Periodically ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing to make sure the motivation is an internal drive.
Forbes pointed out Steve Jobs’ take on long-term motivation in an interview he conducted:
“I think most people that are able to make a sustained contribution over time — rather than just a peak — are very internally driven. You have to be. Because, in the ebb and tide of people’s opinions and of fads, there are going to be times when you are criticized, and criticism’s very difficult. And so when you’re criticized, you learn to pull back a little and listen to your own drummer. And to some extent, that isolates you from the praise, if you eventually get it, too. The praise becomes a little less important to you and the criticism becomes a little less important to you, in the same measure. And you become more internally driven.”
Whatever your goal, you can do it. Be realistic with yourself, start small, and don’t give up. Once you have accomplished what you set out to do you will be proud that you stayed focused.
You may not need all the steps Gerber pointed out, but take the ones that keep you charged. You may even need to double back on some of the tips.
Goals are meant to be accomplished, and you wouldn’t have made one if it didn’t mean something to you. Take charge and get motivated.
Please let us know if you found any of these tips to be helpful for your goals, or if you have any additional tips that keep you going when things get dismal.