Getting Motivated, Making Change – Part 1

Posted by: andrew | Posted on: November 2nd, 2011 | 0 Comments

One of the most common challenges people face is getting the motivation to get started on and sticking to an exercise program, or making dietary and lifestyle adjustments, From my experience with working with hundreds of clients over the years, is that many people are taking on more then they can handle all at the same time, the result is that they get overwhelmed and just quit.

The key to success as with anything in life is to take small baby steps, instead of going from a couch potato to hitting the gym 3-6 times per week, eating microwave meals, takeaways, cook from frozen foods, processed foods, sodas, and alcohol to eating vegetables, fruits, nuts & seeds, lean meats, fish and water, and for many trying to go cold turkey on cigarettes, all at the same time.

Instead write a list of all the things you can cut out or add in to your lifestyle, diet and exercise program, then choose 1-3 things off that list and focus on doing those 100% correct before adding another 1-3 items from your list, this makes things much easier to fit into your lifestyle, and it prevents you from being overwhelmed and the chances of you quitting goes down dramatically – understand that making changes for a healthier lifestyle takes time – remember Rome wasn’t built in a day.

There are a few techniques you can use to help keep your motivation up and help inspire you to make these changes.

Using Motivational Quotes

One of my favorite methods to keep me training hard and make the changes in my life that I want to make is using quotes from inspirational people, a good method to use is to write down all your favorite quotes in a scrap book and read them on a regular basis daily, these work on a similar basis to affirmations some of my favorite quotes are
[quote] Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in your way of doing it, the time will pass anyway, we might as well put that passing time to the best possible use- Earl Nightingale. [/quote]

[quote]
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that! — Rocky Balboa [/quote]

Videos
Videos work in the same way as using quotes, however I find using videos much more powerful, as with quotes you can use them to motivate you for specific events, be it psyching yourself up for a gym session, motivation on making change, whatever it is you can find motivational videos all over the place especially youtube! again here are a few of my favorite videos for training and life in general, enjoy …
For making positive change in your life..

this is a must watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk56VxaeqEQ&feature=channel_video_title

For Training or Competition

That about wraps this post up for now, join me for part 2 where I talk about the affects of negative thinking and self sabotage along with some simple solutions to removing negative thinking.

Peace & Love
Andy