Ok, there are a BUNCH of secrets to motivating change, here are five:
1) Take Baby Steps! Try making just one resolution or maybe three small ones (i.e. small alterations in your behavior that are relatively easy to make or adjust to). Accept that you will plateau at times, be okay with it. We all stumble and fall; success lies in gathering yourself, getting back up and continuing onward with renewed determination. Genius (and success) is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Celebrate the small victories; give yourself many small interim targets to achieve; and build in a bit of flexibility.
2) Create options, address the underlying need. Whatever behavior you are trying to change, it has a payoff for you no matter how dysfunctional. Find an alternative or substitute; create a support system for the new behavior, new approach. Find a running group, drop the drinking buddies.
3) Focus more on changing your THINKING, your attitude, your world view, your self-concept around whatever it is you want to change. Change those things and your behavior will naturally change.
I gained a couple of pounds the last year or two, not much but I want to lose them. BUT what I really want to do is gain more control over my relationship with food AND with myself. I know that I gained that weight because I was eating on “auto-pilot”, often late at night, as a way of addressing (“solving”) emotional needs other than hunger. Reducing stress and increasing my self-awareness regarding my true needs/motivations, addressing the underlying emotional issues, THAT is the way to lose those pounds.
It is that sense of self mastery, that sense of internal alignment, of clear inner communication, of achieving contentment and being centered, cool, calm and collected: THAT is my true goal. Gaining the weight was a symptom, losing the weight is a byproduct.
4) Forget New Year’s Resolutions. To effectively create meaningful change in your life, it must be a YEAR round focus. Personal growth is a continuous process, a life-long commitment. Consider quarterly accountability checkpoints, think of reviewing your life monthly, either at the end of the month or many people find using the monthly anniversary of their birth motivational.
5) Journal on an regular basis. It will increase your self-awareness, focus your efforts and increase your motivation.
Closing Quotes:
“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect It’s successful outcome.” – William James; 1843-1910
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery; 1900-1944
“In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.” – Robert Heinlein; 1907-1988