Contents
- Stimulating motivation
- 1. Define your goal
- 2. Determine the benefits of achieving the goal
- 3. Break your goal into smaller steps and plan your actions
- But what to do when the motivation has decreased in the course of achieving the goal?
- Features of people capable of self-motivation
- How to use this knowledge in weight loss?
- 1. Believe in your abilities
- 2. Be immune to failure
- 3. Arouse enthusiasm in yourself
- 4. Look for the positives, even in crises
- 5. Be flexible
Stimulating motivation
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The ability to motivate oneself, i.e. the ability to self-motivate, is one of the basic conditions for achieving success. For this reason, it is worth learning this skill. What steps should be taken to this end?
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1. Define your goal
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Determining the goal you are going to pursue is the first step. If your goal is to lose weight, you should assume approximately how much you want to lose weight – this is important because the goal has to be measurable. So it is worth assuming that you will lose, for example, 10 kg. This, however, is not enough. A good goal is a goal that will also be defined in time. So you should assume that you want to lose these 10 kg in, for example, 3 months. Thanks to this, the goal will meet all the criteria of a good goal, i.e. it will be simple, measurable, achievable, timed and relevant to you.
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2. Determine the benefits of achieving the goal
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It would seem that figuring out what benefits can be derived from achieving the goal is pointless. After all, goal setting is related to our needs, so naming the benefits and listing them seems unnecessary. However, this is not true. First, it is sometimes difficult in your mind to collect all the benefits that can be obtained from achieving a goal. Secondly, while losing weight, we can sometimes forget about these benefits, especially when losing weight becomes difficult. Third, writing down and reading notes helps to restore motivation when momentary crises arise.
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So think about what exactly you will achieve by achieving the goal and write down all the benefits on a piece of paper. Always carry the card with you and read it in more difficult moments (even several times, when necessary). This will bring you down to earth and help you decide if it is worth continuing with your activities. And if you have difficulty listing the benefits, because the only thing that comes to your mind is, for example, a better appearance, try to answer the following questions:
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- what happens if you lose weight
- what won’t happen if you lose weight
- what will happen if you don’t lose weight
- what won’t happen if you don’t lose weight.
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This will help you see all the benefits.
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3. Break your goal into smaller steps and plan your actions
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Creating a detailed plan of action that takes into account your time and financial resources will help you feel that the plan does have a real chance of success, and belief in achieving your goal is very important to stay motivated. So divide your goal into smaller steps, e.g. assume that you want to lose 2 kg at the beginning and create a plan in which you will specify when you will be shopping, when you will exercise, when you will cook etc. your motivation will increase.
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You can read more about effective planning in the article Meet the New Year’s Resolutionsid = »h24 ″>. There you will find information on what else to include in the plan, how to reward yourself for the next stages and how to get support.
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But what to do when the motivation has decreased in the course of achieving the goal?
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Getting motivated is sometimes easier than keeping it. Fatigue, temptation, obstacles and other difficulties can take away our motivation and make us abandon our resolutions. So what needs to be done to keep your motivation high? It’s worth starting by looking at those who have the ability to inspire motivation and restore it when motivation fades.
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Features of people capable of self-motivation
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People who are able to motivate themselves and arouse motivation even when it drops temporarily have:
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- the ability to think positively about yourself
- faith in your own abilities
- faith in themselves and in what they devote themselves to
- optimism
- resistance to failure
- perseverance despite adversities
- the ability to arouse enthusiasm
- the ability to find positives even in difficult situations
- the ability to flexibly approach activities
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How to use this knowledge in weight loss?
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1. Believe in your abilities
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If you have a problem with this, recall your past successes, even those not related to weight loss. Think about what features you need to have if you managed to achieve them and how these features can be useful when losing weight. Focusing on your strengths is a good strategy, especially when there is a crisis and a diet break. It allows you to quickly get back on track.
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2. Be immune to failure
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The second point is also related to the first point. Remember that crises and more difficult moments happen to everyone. So don’t blame yourself too much for breaking your diet. After all, no matter how many times you fall, but how many times you get up. If you pick yourself up every time your leg fails, you will surely achieve your goal over time.
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3. Arouse enthusiasm in yourself
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Do not use the diet as a punishment for previous nutritional misconduct. Treat it as an adventure. Look for interesting, inspiring, dietary recipes, read the stories of successful people, test various forms of physical activity in search of one that will please you and like what you do. Don’t focus on what you can’t eat and what you like and what is appropriate for your diet.
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4. Look for the positives, even in crises
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Even if you have experienced a crisis, do not focus only on its negative side, e.g. on the possibility of gaining weight. Take it as a lesson and draw conclusions. Think about what led to it and how to prevent it in the future. By focusing on the fact that you have gained new knowledge to continue losing weight, instead of having failed your diet, you will regain your strength faster to get back on track.
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5. Be flexible
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A detailed action plan that includes exactly when to exercise, when to cook, when to shop, etc. is very useful, but it is not always possible to predict everything. So if you suddenly jump out to a restaurant, friends will bring you a cake, or you have to go somewhere where you will not be able to cook, do not break down. Just change your plans. Assume, for example, that you eat a piece of cake or a restaurant dish instead of one or two meals from your diet. When away, try to eat just like you do on a diet. And absolutely do not treat such changes as a failure! Flexible dieting is a very useful skill that helps you stay on your diet. And about why it is so important, you can read in the article: Restrictive dietary adherence is wrong? id = »h24 ″>
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By approaching weight loss in this way, you will not lose your motivation. However, remember to keep in mind the benefits that you can achieve!
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It is difficult to cover such an extensive topic as motivation in one article, so I encourage you to read the rest of the articles on motivation:id=»h24″>
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When the motivation weakens id = »h24 ″>
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5 motivational exercises to help you stay on your dietid = »h24 ″>
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I couldn’t exercise because it started to rain. ‘ Increase your chances of successid = »h24 ″>
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10 inspiring motivational slogansid = »h24 ″>
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I don’t want to lose weightid = »h24 ″>
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Main photo: Photo credit: jpockeleid = »h24 ″> via Foter.comid =» h24 ″> / CC BYid = »h24 ″>
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