The Power of Less Part 5 of 5: Staying Motivated
January 15, 2010 by dr. lam
When we have created all these wonderful goals and set our mind to the task at hand, how do we keep plugging away so that we don’t need to have another set of New Year’s Resolutions next year? Well, what we have already talked about are important key concepts to remember: start with small things, single task, focus on just one goal, and slow down. But what if that is not enough?
An accountability group, which I have discussed in the past, is a great thing. I am part of two accountability groups. One is a weekly weigh in to make sure that I lose weight rather than gain it. So far I have lost 17 pounds on it and have 10 more pounds to go. Second, I am part of a monthly accountability group as part of my Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) forum in which we meet monthly to ensure that I am adhering to my monthly goals. If you want to stay motivated, join an accountability group with like-minded individuals who can motivate you to do what you set out to do.
Further, Babauta encourages you not to start with gusto the day that the idea for a goal pops into your head. That is the way that most of us behave: we have a great idea so we go with full steam ahead with it only to lose motivation shortly thereafter and then fail. If we instead hold in our mind the idea of what we want to do like stop smoking, eat more vegetables, etc., we create a future date on our calendar as a start date for our task and hold the anticipation daily until we actually start on the appointed date. Babauta believes that this restraint in starting can actually lead to greater long-term success. Similarly, if your goal is to run 5 miles a day, start with 1 mile a day even if you can run 3 miles a day and resist the temptation to go all the way to 5 miles immediately. Start slowly and gradually build yourself upward one day and one step at a time.
He also encourages us to get excited again. Using inspirational stories of success, we can get motivated again as hopefully these daily blogs are doing for you. We can get involved with reading about success stories to reinvigorate us. He says that having a photograph of a sexy model with perfect abs for example could get you more motivated to lose weight and get fit just by reinforcing what an ideal may be for you when you put your mind to it. Okay guys, let’s focus on uncluttering our lives and staying motivated to do so!
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3 Responses to “The Power of Less Part 5 of 5: Staying Motivated”
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I changed a habit I no longer liked to live with. I bought a book to help me that suggested some of the essential steps you outlined. One crucial aspect that helped: Change the mind. We oftentimes think, “Oh, this will be so difficult!” No, don’t say that, don’t reinforce the old that way. We might say, “It will be so good, I will be so free of _____,” (reinforce desirable)
We can give that which dogs us no power.
Blogs past support this approach, I believe.
Excellent blog today.
Great Nord!
Yes, having accountability can definitely help someone stick with his/her goals. I also think that having some sort of passion and pressure to reach a certain goal is the best way to make progress. JMO
I really liked that idea of taking small steps instead of going all out and restraining oneself to do so, to improve long-term success. That will be very hard for me to practice though, because I tend to be an extremist and tend towards the all-or-nothing thinking. Very good goal for me to aim for!
Thanks, Dr. Lam!!!
thanks guys. sounds a bit like excuses begone nord!