Tips to Stay Motivated

It’s a brand new year, and we are few months into the year. Most people start off the year with new year resolution, and sometimes we find ourselves struggling as time progresses into the year. That’s normal, because creating and sustaining habits takes time and some practice.

Here are some tips to build motivation, and keep you motivated.

• Purpose. Identify what it is that you are trying to achieve, and why. For example, if it is to hit the gym 3 times a week, why is that important to you? This is an important question because we will not be inclined to naturally engage in activities that is ultimately not of value to us.

• Plan your roadmap. The momentum of motivation requires more than just the desire. We need to be active and position ourselves in the best possible place for success. This means a roadmap to success is needed. Start by breaking down your big picture vision/goal into mini, achievable goals to build the momentum and reduce overwhelm. Your mini goals should be achievable in the short term, weekly or even daily if possible. Mini goals that are within reach will help you sustain momentum and remain motivated over time.

• Anticipate barriers to change. Sustaining motivation towards a new goal often involves us making changes to what we might be used to. Motivation sometimes flop because “life gets in the way”. To sustain changes and continue the motivation momentum, anticipate this will not be easy but it is completely viable if you identify some barriers ahead of time and make plans to overcome it. These barriers could be external (e.g. environment) or internal (e.g. thoughts).

• Advocate success. As you journey through this process of making changes, have a think about what success might look like. How does the little wins (or big wins) look like to you? For example, if you felt sluggish, perhaps even making out of bed and picking up the book for 2 minutes could be a win if your intention is to create new reading habits. You can also consider use of an accountability partner to keep you on track and reflect wins together. When you see progress and outcome, you are more likely to stay motivated.

• Practice self-compassion. If things did not go as planned or if you have fallen off the motivation bandwagon, how might you respond to that? Instead of giving in to the temptation to be overly critical to yourself, notice that you may have perhaps encountered a slight bump in the journey to your big picture vision. Where did you fall? Notice the narrative you might use on yourself and consider if this is something you would say to a close friend. Consider this as an opportunity for you to reassess your roadmap instead of a failure.

If you would like to have a conversation further to improve your mental health and would like to engage with one of our clinicians to support your journey in flourishing, please contact us at Prosper Health Collective for further information on 6381 0071.