Getting Motivated!

Looking out of the window on a Monday morning, the clouds are grey and miserable, in fact it’s still dark which means the summer is now gone. Frightening, you’ve never suffered from SAD syndrome before but you think that you might be now – and on top of that your partner is ……, your children are ……, and the business is ……

I know this is ringing true for many people. it doesn’t have to be the onset of winter, it can be the fact that a key member of your team hands in their resignation or you just wanted to get into that smaller set of clothes and that doesn’t seem to be possible. AGHHHHHHHHH!

So what are you going to do to change it? Change the mood, change the energy and reboot the system – in short how are you going to get motivated?

My five top tips to get moving – to getting motivated – so much is written about this online by gurus and personal development junkies the world over. The challenge is finding what works for you – nobody else matters in this situation.

1) Being selfish to be selfless – this is an area that I have always struggled with because like many of us I try to fix things, help people and get involved in other areas that may or may not be the best for me in achieving my goals. The best entrepreneurs around the world are all known for being single minded (selfish) in their approach to business and success – they tend to be very blinkered in their approach and are regularly referred to as being selfish. Succeeding in business does generate casualties for example the divorce rates for entrepreneurs is said to be a great deal higher than average.

How are you going manage the balance with the sacrifices needed in your business by being selfish in order to be selfless for a better life in the long run? Is a lack of selfish behaviour preventing you from being fully motivated to succeed because of your personal fear of costs elsewhere?

2) Reboot – in the words of Meatloaf, “Stop right there, I’ve got to know right now.” STOP just plodding along in an unfulfilled, unclear lost direction as it will not get you where you need to be going, so STOP! I’ve seen the word “stop” made into an acronym many times and for me that works some of the time – one of the better ones I have seen is:
S – Stop what you are doing – HALT
T – Take a few breaths, take some time – do not wait for time to become available TAKE some time!
O – Observe where you are mentally and physically and reflect – really look at what is going on and what can be reassessed
P – Proceed – in the same path or a different one, nobody says that the path ahead of you is the wrong one, how much does it hurt to just pull over, check the map and make sure. How often have you over-relied on sat nav when a quick stop would have told you there was another Smith St etc.

3) Mantras / Daily activities or habits. On a personal note I do this with my own fitness: press-ups every day and additional ones when I miss a day to catch up. Believe me, it works and my core strength over the past ten years is far higher as a direct result of daily press-ups. What can you do that would be the equivalent for you here?
Fresh air / a gym session / a dog walk or… ? What works for you, something that sets the scene for you every day so you are on fire and completed so often that on the days when you don’t complete your ‘action’, you miss it.

4) Goals will always be here for getting you motivated. Sitting on your backside hoping to do better but not actually taking action will always result in failure. We know this yet our goals are all too often not clear enough, a bit fluffy and therefore easy to avoid because they are somehow not real. When a goal becomes real it takes on a whole new set of characteristics – consider the focus necessary to pay for an operation for someone you love, the game changes.

The foundation of coaching dictates behaviour will only change if there is an emotional connection. Which means that unless you are connected in some emotional way to the goal you won’t care and you won’t be motivated to achieve it! Simple I hear you say – but that doesn’t mean we do it.

5) People – I need people in my world that really annoy me and irritate me and that’s because I ask them to. The ones that do it for other reasons I leave behind. Having the support of positive people in my network makes a real difference to me both personally and professionally and being held accountable by friends and peers alike is such a simple way to staying motivated.

My greatest motivation (a combination of all of the above) is to never have to look into the eyes of my children whilst telling them they can achieve amazing things and be whatever they dream they can be, yet feeling like a hypocrite or a liar for not acting on my own instructions. They keep me grounded and focused.

Nobody is motivated all of the time The wheels will and do come off. This doesn’t mean that you are failure (or any other ugly things that you might say to yourself), so get back up and gather your team around you, time to move forward. Having a coach and a PowerTeam is all part of the solution here, who is in your corner? If nobody, then let’s have a conversation and see if I or we can find some solutions and direction for you. [email protected]