MASTERING MOTIVATION FOR FORWARD PROGRESS

by: Remie Longbrake | published: January 3, 2022 

The thing with motivation is you can’t fake it! And that’s the problem that most of us face when trying to reach our goals. We’re not committed enough and lose sight of the objective. To ultimately accomplish anything, big or small, we gotta want it. So the question becomes how do we accomplish the big things in life when they take time? It’s not a straightforward process, otherwise it would be easy. Our goals are different for each of us and how to do accomplish can take multiple paths. So follow these steps to fulfilling what it is that you desire.

1. Define your goal

Without knowing what you want want as the end result, it becomes rather difficult to get to the finish line. The first step is thinking of your main goals. That could be a lot of things. Family, a career goal, of course fitness and health goals. Perhaps you’d like to run a big race, that takes prep. Or start your own business. That all takes planning. But what you need to be careful of is determining if the goal is really your own goal or is it something that others want for you that you think you need to do. There is a big difference there, because you have to believe in these goals otherwise you’re going to lose motivation over time.

When it comes to realizing your goals, ask yourself why you want it. What will be the end result when achievement finally occurs.

2. Create small goals with your big goals

People argue that you have to create small goals or big goals in order to be motivated but the real secret is to have both.

Here is why:

You want goals and dreams big enough to make you enjoy working on the big picture. But also, you are looking for small goals for your big goals to show proof that you are making progress in the meantime.

In other words, you need to have goals that make you happy and goals that show you are making progress. If you have goals that show you are improving, it shows that whatever you do is not in vain and you are close to that big happy dream.

There is a problem if you miss one of these because, if you only have big goals, you will lose motivation if you do not see progress in 3 months. In the same way, if you have only a few goals, you will not be happy enough to continue working on them.

Define your big goal that you want and create small goals for that big goal to show that you are moving slowly but surely improving.

3. Track your progress

Inspiration comes from seeing progress and the results of performance over time. This means that when working on your goals, you want to write a journal and estimate how far you have traveled: Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly.

The funny thing is that you will not feel or maybe see much difference the first month or two, but over time you should start seeing results. You will just feel rather better and hopefully have more energy. It is only when you see tangible evidence that you have changed based on your preconceived notions and progress that you can see that you have been transformed given the work you’ve been doing.

That is why you should keep a journal and record the most important metrics for the purpose you are working on. This can be either on paper or on your phone or tablet, regardless it’s important to log process and the journey overall, good and bad.

So for example, if you are trying to lose weight you want to record:

• How much you weigh each week

• What foods do you eat

• How many calories do you eat or macros

• How often are you exercising each week

• What exercises are you doing

How much sleep you getting is also important, because your body needs to rest and recover from workouts.

Having data allows you to see what works and what doesn’t, and gives you the opportunity to make changes to see the results you want. If you start to see the results you want happen slowly over time, this will make you very happy to be consistent to reach your goals.

4. Celebrate your little successes

Most of us who follow our progress towards achieving our goals do not give themselves time to celebrate our little wins. It is the small building blocks that form the basis for achieving our goals however.

When you take the time to think and see how far you have come and start celebrating your little success, you put yourself in a good position where you reward yourself for doing what you accomplished.

This is a powerful tool to ensure that you continue to persevere in your goals as you celebrate your small wins leading to your big wins.

Here are some ways to celebrate your little win:

• Dine out with the family or friends

• Take time to watch a movie

• Do your favorite activity

• Go on a mini trip

• Buy a new shirt or shoes

An important point is to do the above in moderation. Try to reward himself in such a way that it does not become a habit, and definitely don’t want to go overboard and set you back in your health or savings. This is where the rewards become even more powerful as a tool to increase your enthusiasm.

5. Get your “why”

There is a reason why many people with New Year’s resolutions simply abandon their goals. People enjoy having their own goals such as their ideal bodies, and their dream relationships. But when it comes to trying to change, most stop within a few weeks or months.

This is because they realize that the pain of trying to change is greater than the joy of living in a place of what’s comfortable. You need to dig deeper into yourself and discover your inner “why”. Additionally, you don’t have to wait for New Years to start, start next Tuesday if perfectly fine, just know “why” your doing this.

You need to start asking this question whenever you are trying to change your habits. Things will get worse as it is hard to stay consistent in doing the right thing every day.

Here are some questions you need to find and answer when things get tough:

• Aren’t you satisfied with where you are now

• Are you willing to make sacrifices for the goals you want

• Are you willing to change your habits and understand that it takes time

You want to answer these questions honestly and find out how you can make them reality.

6. Don’t give up!

The journey is going to be tough. So regardless of the challenges, use that momentum to tell yourself it’s worth it. That’s why it’s important to track your progress so you can see your path and look back and say, I’ve come this far. In the moment it’s easy to say you’ve had enough, but in reality you are capable of a lot more. So dig deep and push yourself.

• Do rewards to boost motivation

• Talk it out with yourself

• Put motivation notes on your mirrors, in your car, at work

It’s really a whatever it takes mentality. Anything less it’s setting yourself up for failure.

7. Find a friend

Support goes a long way. It helps build your strength for one. Because who wants to let others down. It’s actually easier to let yourself down than others. So when you set your goals, tell people, friends, family, even strangers if you got to. What that does is doubles down on your goals, it help refocus the mind when your talk about them and boosts momentum.

So tell others about what you got in mind, what’s important to you and let them help you stay committed. And go the extra step, ask and pry to find out what is important to those you talk to. Find their goals and help boost their determination, then you both have goals to keep each other accountable with. Talk about a win-win!

In Closing

Waiting for “motivation” is an unreliable way to start your goals path. Instead, it comes from seeing progress and results when you start working toward your goals and taking action and being accountable.

The way to create this real eternal inspiration is to create goals small and large and track your progress towards achieving them. And you want to have small celebrations along the way to keep your motivation and reward yourself. Lastly, when things get tough you need to go back to your “why” for the real reason why you want to change and tell yourself there is no going back because your future changes are what excites you the most because you know you are capable of more.

When you’re ready to reach your goals, we’re here to help!