Two months ago I looked in the mirror and properly noticed the extra curvature created around my waist from spending 2 years as a new Dad. I had to do something about it. And I did.
But it wasn’t the extra weight that inspired me to get up at 6.00am for the past month and crack on down the gym 5 days a week, nor was it the fact that it felt like I had eaten Alice in Wonderlands cake and shrunk because the stairs at home seemed to be sooooo much bigger.
No, it was a really simple but powerful technique that got me moving. I came across the technique while thinking about why people just can’t get motivated and what some of the real causes were.
Speaking to you as a Child
I found myself thinking back to the times when I was young, you know 4, 5 or 6 and wondered, was I ever wanting to feel motivated then? Did I ask my mum or dad to help me get motivated? Did I look for any techniques that would help me get inspired? Or anything else…?
Why is it then that as adults we’re rubbish at getting motivated and doing the things we know we should? But as a child we never had to look for techniques or wonder why we didn’t want to do something, but somehow we were just ‘naturally inclined to want to do things that were…’ (I’ll tell you the last part later).
Must I?
You know as well as I do that your house must be tidy. The washing has to be hung out on time or it gets smelly. That you have to keep your filing in order, your folders on your computer need organising properly when you need them for work. The car needs cleaning, the dog bathed once a week, the clothes ironed, the grass cut, the tax paid, the painting done, the call to the client made, the continual call on the phone for tele sales to another prospect that just is not in the mood for another ‘sales pitch’, yada yada yada… and the list goes on doesn’t it.
All these things that you know you must do, you know you have to do and should do.. otherwise!!!!
And then the guilt sets in…swiftly followed by the berating inner voice…the self-doubt and slowly your confidence just slips away, and you start to wonder if you’ll ever be good enough!
Whew…. what a bloody disaster, just because we can’t get motivated.
And you know what…I wouldn’t want to either with all those things that ‘have to be done’.
SO
Why don’t we wish or want to do them?
The Answer Is Simple
Its simple really, because, what I was going to tell you earlier ‘as a child you were naturally inclined to want to do things that were FUN’.
Crazy isn’t it…. Fun.. That’s it, just plain ol’ pure FUN!
So this begs the question – How can I make those ‘things that I don’t want to do and know I must, FUN?’
Here in lays the problem… Its because we see these things as being ‘the things that need to be done, we don’t see what we’ll really get from having done them.
You see what motivates and inspires me now to go to the gym has nothing to do with, wanting to feel fit, healthy or losing weight, it’s because of the fun I get as a result of having gone down the gym and knowing how much more I can do now that I feel fitter and more able. Try taking it step by step. First your soul must be ready, your mind and your body as well. Relax and see the difference on how well you perform things.
My goal is not to go to the gym, that’s just a route, a means to an end, that end being having more fun in my life. And now I also have more fun at the gym too. But don’t get me wrong… the gym is just a route, it could have been anything, from running, walking, cycling, swimming, trampolining etc. I chose the gym as my path to having more fun because I like working out at the gym.
So when you think about the things you ‘Need to Do’ and you can’t for the life of you get yourself motivated to do them… it’s just simply because you’re not having FUN doing them…
therefore…think about how you can bring in the same fun and playfulness you had as a child into these same moments.
Quick Tips For Motivating Yourself
The sales call… Play a game.. see if you can get the other person to say a ‘word’ that you want them to.. what about if you just pulled faces while on the call.. (oh dear now your all going to think this happens when you speak to me on the phone!!!) Well I have fun on the phone anyway.. I enjoy speaking to people so I don’t need to do these things there.. (whew)
The washing.. Play a game…give yourself a competition to see how quickly it takes you to hang out 5 pairs of pants and ten socks. Then beat it every time..then go for the coloureds..then see if you can do it one handed.
The filing…Play a game…play snap, every time you get a bank statement or file that’s similar say snap before your partner does… if you win, they get the pile to file.
Be creative.
and lastly…for those as parents… make all that you do from tidying up their room to homework, FUN…make it into a game. This works. It also gives the kids confidence and much more too as well as makes your life alot easier!
So when you think you can’t, bring in the FUN, then you’ll find you can.
Have fun
Robert
P.S. This Summers NLP Practitioner Course is going to be the ‘Big Fun’ where’ll you’ll be learning some of the most important elements to understanding motivation and how it works, to how you can get and have more of it…in a fun way.
So book and put the Fun back into your life! 01252 861351 and don’t sit there on the fence procrastinating for the rest of your life wishing you’d made the call.
P.P.S Leave a comment below and tell others what you do to motivate yourself.
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