16 ways to motivate yourself to reach your goals.

I must admit that I find it harder to motivate myself nowadays. My motivation in the past was always to get a better life for my children or I had to be forced to make a change like when the stress of my job was making me ill. It is not good to get to crisis point before you make change eg. I don’t want to have a heart attack before I am motivated to eat more healthily. Motivating myself is not easy but here are a few things that I am putting in place to help me stay focused to reach my goals.

1. Know why I want to achieve my goal.  I dig deep and think about it. What difference will it make to my life? How will my life be if  I don’t achieve it?
2. I make sure it is my goal. It is hard to stay motivated if you are doing it for someone else.
3. I visualise and day dream about what it will be like when I achieve my goal. I usually do this before I go to sleep. You could also make a vision board.
4. I have a positive mindset and attitude. I know that is easy to say but I had a client once that I had to stop working with as she didn’t believe she could achieve her goal and was really negative. Your mind believes what you tell it and you will not achieve your goal if you do not have a positive attitude.
5. I look my excuses in the eye and plan for them.  I think of ways round the obstacles and excuses. Eg I never used to feel like going to the gym on an evening  because I had eaten and relaxed and it was cold out etc. To overcome this excuse I carried my gym bag in my car and made it a habit to go on the way home from work.  I also don’t have chocolate in the house as when I do I eat it.
6. I set realistic goals. By all means dream big but break the dream down into mini goals and then again into mini actions (steps) . I always write myself a list of actions and tick them off each day. This raises my self esteem and belief that I can do something. Eg if I was trying to lose weight I would have on my list things like drink lemon water, 30 mins of exercise, walk to work, eat a healthy breakfast, take prepared lunch, fill in food diary etc. This also helps you form habits that after time you will do naturally.
7.  I don’t give myself goals that will leave me feeling overwhelmed. Eg don’t expect myself to run a marathon after 4 weeks or to lose a stone in a couple of weeks, or go to the gym every day. I make them realistic and obtainable.
8.  I write my action plan down, study it often and reassess and revise it if it is not working.
9. I make it fun. I am more likely to do something if I enjoy it. I find taking exercise with friends more enjoyable then doing it on my own.
10. I try to be consistent. My goal was to write a blog on FB  each day last year. Some days I didn’t t feel like it or it was hard as I was  somewhere remote without WiFi, but I still ensured I did it. If you don’t bother one day it is a slippery slope to not bothering more days.
11. I reward myself for my successes. I buy that dress if I have lost 10lb etc but I don’t reward myself with food if I am healthy eating or do anything that will sabotage my efforts.
12. I keep track. My daughter puts stickers or stars on her calendar on the days that she has stuck to her goals. It helps with motivation but also stops you conning yourself
13. I start straight away and don’t wait until 1st Jan or next Monday. If I fall off the wagon I get straight back on and don’t say “I’ll start again tomorrow” as the chances are I won’t. I am compassionate with myself if I do have blips and don’t beat myself up, but try to find the reason for my blip and plan what I can do next time when I am faced with the same situation.
14. I find a buddy that wants to achieve the same goal so that we can support each other. Sometimes it is also good to find someone on social media who has achieved what you want to do to inspire you, or a local role model.
15. I use positive language. I have said things like “When I retire early” rather than “If I retire” as my mind believes what I tell it.
16. I have an inspirational play list. I used to play mine on the way home from work to motivate me to stop at the gym or if I was feeling down or like giving up. I also have motivational quotes up in my home and used to stick motivational quotes and pictures up in my office. I also have a vision board that I look at each day.

Does anybody have any other ways that they motivate themselves? Please share if you do.