Motivation varies. Be ready for the lows and highs

So it is the end of January and you might be going strong on starting fresh in the new year. If you are, great for you and keep it up. If you are having trouble keeping your goals in mind you may need to take a look at what your goals are and how realistic you are about how much you can change at one time. I don’t know about you, but I often shift between trying to fix everything at once or giving up completely. There are days of higher motivation and others when it seems like getting out of bed is an accomplishment. So what do you do?

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You can want to encourage yourself to move forward. More competitive people will like the idea of setting the goal high and push themselves every day until they get there. If the habit you are trying to change has been difficult for you or you discourage easily, setting small goals and building can give you a feeling of success and motivate you to continue.

Let’s say you eventually want to start your day with an hour workout, a healthy breakfast, and a 20 minute meditation. If none of these was part of your practice before you may have taken on more than you can change at one time. Some people can do this, others can not. Rather than beating yourself up for not being “good at this,” set your expectations to what you can do. Establish a very simple focus for your low motivation days. Determine one thing you can do to bring you closer to your goal and just focus on doing that without judging yourself.

Pick the thing that is going to make the most impact on bringing you closer to a healthy morning routine. If you always got up and had a donut and coffee for breakfast, diet might be where you start. If you already eat a pretty good breakfast but need to tone up or lose weight, then exercise might be your focus. Stress issues at work or home might make meditation your starting point.

Use exercise as an example. Try setting a goal like stretching each morning as soon as you get up. On your low motivation day commit to 5 -10 minutes as soon as you get up and if nothing else gets done you have done that much and may feel a little better. As that becomes a routine you can increase the amount of time. Do more on days you are highly motivated. Maybe 20 minutes of cardio or use weights. You can keep going if you want, mix it up. We always feel better if we exceed the goal than if we are short. If you were planning a 20 minute session and did 40 you feel better than if you planned an hour and did the same 40 minutes. The amount of exercise is the same but your mindset is totally different.

Over time you can build your practice as you get more of a routine. Take some of the practices you most enjoyed on high motivation days and add these to the low motivation day goals. Keep adding until you have a regular practice that keeps you feeling good even when your motivation is low.

A plan that does not take into account the way you function is doomed to fail. Tailor your steps to what will get you to your goal. It does not have to be the quickest but it needs to be a plan you can stick with. The only plan that will work is one that you will do. Set your expectations to your temperament, experience, and what will actually work in your life right now. Above all, this is all about taking care of yourself.