Many people set New Years goals, they start out with a great deal of motivation, but it fades as the year goes on. Staying motivated for a whole year can be difficult. Busy schedules and excuses often get in the way and keep us from reaching our goals. Not to mention the ever so haunting “To Do List”. BUM BUM BUM! The key to overcoming the New Year’s Resolution downward spiral is to stay motivated. Here are 7 ways to keep your motivation level up this year.
1) Visualize and reflect: Reflect on why you want to achieve this goal. Visualize the journey necessary to get there. Most importantly, imagine the end result. This could mean making a journey board, writing each step down, or taking a few minutes each day to imagine it in your mind’s eye. It makes it more real. It gives you something less abstract than a simple thought to work toward. It gives you the whole picture, the story behind it and the future that it could create.
2) Leave a little wiggle room: Let’s be real, even the best-laid plans often take longer than anticipated to accomplish. Something always seems to come up, such as roadblocks, interruptions or stress. Plan for obstacles and how to over come them. This way they are less discouraging when they do occur. When setting a time frame, incorporate more time than you actually need to reach your goal.
3) Seek help: Consider enlisting the help of friends or family or outsourcing part of your project. For example, if your goal is to organize your files. Ask an extremely organized friend or even hire a personal organizer or a freelance administrative assistant. It will help you achieve your goal in a quicker, less stressful timeframe. Remember, the objective is to get the job done. Sometimes that requires asking for help.
4) Set realistic and obtainable goals: If your objective is too lofty, you might lose the ambition to achieve it. Instead, try breaking them down into several smaller goals so that each success acts as impetus to another.
5) Involve others: This helps to keep those excuses at bay. If others are aware of your goal, they can help to hold you accountable. Try reaching out to an online community or posting your goals on social media. Every time you reach a milestone, post that too. Before you know it, a plethora of support will pour in. If you know someone with similar goals, work together. Working as a team not only helps you stay motivated, but it may decrease the time it takes you to reach your goal. By sharing goals, you are essentially building a support team.
6) Add a dash of fun: Fun goals give you something to look forward to. If your goal is to lose weight, try an exciting workout class. If your goal is to clean more, crank up the music and boogie down while you clean. Whatever goal you select, find a way to make it enjoyable.
7) Don’t give up: Hopefully this article will help you stay motivated, but you should explore other sources of motivation as well. Try an Internet search for motivational quotes, articles or videos. Talk with a friend or write in a journal when feeling uninspired. Even if you do lose your way, don’t fret. It happens. Just keep moving forward.