How to Stay Motivated
Are you into the habit of starting something but not finishing it? One of the simplest ways to stay motivated is to add pleasure to the process.
I believe one of the common reasons people don’t follow through is they simply make things too hard for themselves. For instance, a person starts a health regime and everything is initially going well – working out regularly and eating well. Inevitably that person has an off day. They may have overeaten at a party or were too busy at work and missed an exercise session. This can commonly lead to criticizing oneself or in some cases giving up altogether.
Rewarding desired behaviour serves a dual purpose. Your brain will link enjoyment to the process and secondly, you’ll have reinforced the behaviour.
The general rules of rewarding yourself:
1. Plan your rewards e.g. have a massage booked one month ahead as a reward for sticking with your exercise programme.
2. Timing can be crucial. Sometimes reward yourself as or just after you’ve completed something.
3. Occasionally give yourself a large reward, even if it’s unwarranted.
4. Don’t reward behavior or actions that are inconsistent with what you’re trying to achieve e.g. don’t give yourself junk food for sitting on the lounge watching T.V. when you should have been exercising.
5. Don’t punish yourself whilst in the process of making a change e.g. if you’re trying to learn golf and you pull a shot then that’s not the right time to call yourself an idiot. Just ignore it and move on!
One of the simplest ways to reward yourself is through how you communicate to yourself. Praise yourself or mentally patting yourself on the back. Catch yourself doing things right. Too often we do the opposite of this by letting the internal critic do the talking.
So how can you begin rewarding yourself from today? Make it an essential part of achieving your goals.