You are committed. You are ready. You are getting courageous and leaving your comfort zone. But wait!!! Your positive thinking and motivation is already starting to wane. What now?
My husband likes to run 100 miles (160 kms) at a time. He is an ultra-marathoner.
After months of training he lines up at the starting line nervous, excited and ready to run. His thoughts are positive and he is motivated. Very motivated.
Over the next 20 or more hours he will run the gamut of thoughts and feelings. He will be mentally and physically tested.
When every part of his body hurts, from exhaustion, blisters, chaffing and more exhaustion, there is no positive talk. There is NO talk. So what keeps him going? With many miles to go, the finish line is un-motivatingly far away.
As we sat in a racer and crew meeting in the beautiful town of Leadville, Colorado, prior to the 100 mile Leadville race last August, the organizers gave a pep talk. As an experienced ultra runner himself he shared his wisdom with a room of 600 rookie and experienced runners, of which only half would finish this gruelling race over 6 mountain peaks.
He encouraged the runners to keep close to mind why you came to run this race, because:
MOTIVATION WILL DESERT YOU
So, what WILL get you there?
PASSION. PURPOSE. VALUES.
It is what you feel at your core that will get you to your finish line. It is what is truly important to you that will fuel you. Motivation will return when you keep these thoughts and feelings close to hand.
Let’s look at this another way.
You have a plan. You are putting your health first. You are tired of feeling tired and wish to be active and healthy now and still be going strong beyond your 70’s. You will eat better and exercise regularly.
On this particular day you find yourself tired after a day of work. It’s cold / rainy / dark outside. Your couch and Netflix are winking you over and telling you to bring a glass of wine because you’ve had a long day. You pause, silent for a moment, waiting for motivation to call you in the other direction. What!?! Where is motivation when you need it? You’d even settle for a morsel of it’s energy right now. You neeeeed that morsel!!!!
Pep talks, motivational quotes and positive thinking are all great tools, however, they are quick fixes. They may get you to the gym once or twice after a wink from the couch, but ultimately, with this as your primary solution, your couch will get to see more of you than it deserves.
If your goal is to ditch 10lbs fast then relying on quick fixes may get you there, however, how many times do we hear of people putting back on the weight, and more?
If you have made a mindful decision to honour your values of active living, treating your body with the respect it deserves and learning to nourish your body with whole foods then you have very deep reasons to fall back on when motivation deserts you and positive thoughts weren’t even present when you stepped out of bed this morning, never mind now at the end of the day! When you are connected to your values and purpose you live every day following them and the goal becomes a directional beacon and not the ultimate and only show of success.
Whether your goals are BIG;
To end hunger in your country. That may or may not ever happen in your lifetime. However, living by your value of helping people feed themselves can be lived EVERY day. Even if from behind a computer screen by showing people how to stretch a dollar to feed their family.
Or your goal is “seemingly” small;
To get your family to the dinner table, all together, without any devices so you can talk. Again, maybe not in your lifetime ;-). However, if your value is connection you may be able to engage the family by asking advise on the newest Apps / music / best Instagram feeds for fashion / etc.
Living daily your purpose, passion and values is what brings the motivation back to help you keep moving in the right direction.
As for positive thinking, I think it’s a “nice to have” not a “must have”. Don’t get into more judgement because it’s been M.I.A for a bit.
Do your best to stay motivated and take it one step at a time.
Hugs Vicky xxx