You want to achieve your goals. You want to make changes to your life. You start a new project full of enthusiasm and then sometimes quite suddenly you feel as though you don’t have enough time to finish it; your energy has dropped and there doesn’t seem to be any point in continuing. Think back over things you’ve started and then never finish. Examples might be if you are: Fed up with your job and would dearly like to change. You may have found out about alternatives but don’t get beyond that. Actually taking the plunge of giving notice to your current employer and applying for a new job seem too daunting.
Committed to lose weight and get fitter: you start eating more healthily and begin an exercise programme with great enthusiasm until the day you go to a party and the food is too delicious to refuse (and full of fat and sugar!). So you have your fill and enjoy it very much but next day you find your brain says ‘well that’s it now. Can’t live without all that lovely food, no point in depriving myself any more….!!”
Motivation is a challenge for most people so don’t beat yourself up about your apparent lack of it. However in order to achieve your desired outcome in life you really do need to find ways to switch your motivation back on again for the times when it seems to have disappeared.
Change activities regularly. When you do so you will keep your brain fresh and avoid getting bored. You might decide to change what you are doing based on how long you are doing something. This might be every half an hour, for example. If this appeals to you set a timer to remind yourself it’s time to do something different.
Vary the type of activity. Don’t spend all day sitting in the same chair doing computer based work. Take time out either to do a few exercises such as touching your toes, a few twists, running up and down a flight of stairs, or having a brisk walk outside.
Decide what you will complete each day and then do it. If changing activities every half an hour doesn’t appeal to you then set yourself a manageable amount to achieve during a session. When you’ve achieved that then take a break as suggested in either of the tips above. Realise that part of the process of change is that your motivation will ebb and flow. The important thing is not to give up but take a break, do some exercise, change what you are doing and then go back to the task and get it done.
