How do you get motivation? I love this story because it reminds me how far being motivated can take you.
“Once, there was an older man, who was broke, living in a tiny house and owned a beat up car. He was living off of $99 social security checks. At 65 years of age, he decide things had to change. So he thought about what he had to offer. His friends raved about his chicken recipe. He decided that this was his best shot at making a change.
He left Kentucky and travelled to different states to try to sell his recipe. He told restaurant owners that he had a mouth-watering chicken recipe. He offered the recipe to them for free, just asking for a small percentage on the items sold. Sounds like a good deal, right?
Unfortunately, not to most of the restaurants. He heard NO over 1000 times. Even after all of those rejections, he didn’t give up. He believed his chicken recipe was something special. He got rejected 1009 times before he heard his first yes.
With that one success Colonel Hartland Sanders changed the way Americans eat chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC, was born.
Remember, never give up and always believe in yourself in spite of rejection.”
I believe that you need to have certain tools in your tool box to enable you to access your motivation and use it effectively.
So what tools do you need, here are some of the tools that I think you need. If you look at my other blogs, you can find stuff about each of these.... but here's a condensed version.
Know what your values are and make sure that your goal/task connects with them. My value of personal growth is to constantly learn new things, so no matter what I'm doing, whatever the task is, it's to learn something new. I make sure the task/goal fits with my values. I have a vision board with the words of my values posted on them and with them inspirational quotes that really speak to me.
Know what your why is, what's your purpose. I want to help and support people find the power within themselves to make changes. I have this on my business cards, on my desk, everywhere, it reminds me of what I want to achieve and everything I do, I turn back to my why. Like my values, my purpose is clear and defined. I have this on my vision board too. It's something that I look at every day and visualise where I am going and how I'm going to get there.
How you are doing something or going to do something is really important. Sometimes I can get lost in a task, it completely absorbs me and time flies, other tasks and goals I'm not so lucky with. I don't have much fun doing budgets, so I schedule a time, put on my 80's disco track and set my timer, I have 1 hour to do this. I don't like it, but I remind myself it's only an hour and I've got my favourite songs to sing along to as I'm doing it.
It's all in the "how" you do it.
Do you know your strengths? Play to them, it's so much easier to do a task that is using your strengths, you enjoy it more, have more fun and are much happier which means that the success you have is build upwards. I find that I break my day down into 1 hour chunks and each chunk is different. I love a to-do list, so I schedule my list, into my day, by 1 hour chunks. For me there's nothing more rewarding than crossing things off. For example, I have a workshop to write, I'll write the intro for 1 hour, then I'll do something completely different. Not only does is break the day up, but it means that I mix it up doing different activities and tasks. My biggest learning on this is to keep focus on one task. I avoid multi-tasking and so avoid getting distracted especially by Facebook!
Finding your motivation is finding the fun in the task. Bring memories into play. Often at 3pm I fancy a tea and biscuit. But I'm trying to lose weight, my motivation is key. So I remember what it felt like to get into that skirt, what it felt like to be thin, wearing a beach dress, feeling great, happy. The sun was shining and I felt great. I then, move my thoughts forward, I'm going to feel that again, I can see it in the future, I'll be wearing the skirt again, I'll have that feeling.
Only I can change my life, no one can do it for me!
Do the doing, actually starting something is a great motivational tool. Think about what Nike says - "just do it" . For me I add the word "I choose to just do it". I make it work for me. I say this all the time to myself, "I choose…" For me, it's all about what I tell myself.
Thinking about going to the gym? I have a buddy who goes with me, with motivate each other to keep going, it's the same with Slimming World. Sometimes the road is long and hard and you need a little company along the way. Pair up and share the pain together.
I'm an Accountability Ally and it really works. People are accountable to me for their goals, tasks, dreams that they want to achieve. I do this for others, because I know it works. I have accountability ally's for things I want to achieve. They keep me on track, keep me focussed, honestly, there's a little bit of pride mixed in there too. There's nothing like knowing you said you would do something, then I know I've got a phone call on Friday with my ally, there's no way I'm going to say " I didn't do that, I didn't get round to it."
Make sure that you are physically ready, there's nothing like your emotions, your body to work against you. The biggest question is - are you sleeping enough? Sleep and food is the biggest key to motivation. Enough rest, great healthy food and you're motivation will increase.
During your day, make sure you take a break, every hour I have a 5 minute break to stretch, go to the loo, make a cup of tea. For me having a routine really works. I know I work best in the morning, so I schedule my difficult tasks for first thing in the morning. I like knowing what I have planned for the day, so my last task of every day is to plan for the following day. I always start with 5pm and work backwards to the time I'm sitting planning. This way I can ensure I have planned my 8 hours sleep!
When you finally have the motivation going, make sure you know what your reward is. When I've achieved this task, I'm going to reward myself with…..
Make sure your reward is big enough and important enough that it motivates you to push through. I'm not going to eat the biscuit because I want to wear the skirt more than I want the biscuit!
I am though prepared for the setbacks the times when problems and obstacles get in the way. So I'm ready to fight them as they come up. I know taking a walk in the fresh air gives me time to think and rejuvenate, it might only be 10 minutes round the block, but it's enough. I keep my colouring pens close by and I'm learning to doodle which makes me feel calmer.
In The Space Hoppers with Liz http://bit.ly/2pwLsPh we're exploring the idea of motivation, how to get it and how to keep it. I've included some inspiration, entertainment and quirky facts, if you're interested, then why not join us.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. If this post has made you think and you would like to make a change, then contact me and we can have a free 30-minute chat about how I can help you.
About the Author Elizabeth Pickering is a Resilience coach, who helps people find success, focus and balance in their life. I take them from feeling overworked, overwhelmed, stuck and stressed to feeling energised, empowered and falling in love with life again.Working with sole traders, business owners and entrepreneurs, I keep them on track towards their goals, giving them energy, focus, motivation and the freedom to enjoy their life.