5 Tips to Motivate Through Change

‘The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing’ Walt Disney

Good intentions are difficult to maintain unless there is the will to succeed. When the pressure is on us, it is easy to slip back to old ways.

Here are 5 ways to help keep the motivation through change, whether for yourself or those you manage.

1. State specifically what you wish to achieve. Saying ‘I will lose weight’ is not the same as saying ‘I will lose three kilos by 31st March 2009, by cutting out all snacks between meals starting from today’. Avoid the word ‘try’. If we say we are going to try, we are already setting up a chance of failure.
2. Tell someone else about your goal. Choose someone who will respond positively and support you, rather than the ‘you’ll never do that’ brigade. Ask them to check how you are doing at regular intervals.
3. Focus on the benefits success will bring, rather than the obstacles. For example: what it will mean when you manage your time better and gain 30 minutes each day; not ‘Oh that means writing to-do-lists and I hate doing that’.
4. Identify what motivates you and harness it. Think back to the last time you had to get yourself to do something you didn’t want to do, and identify what finally drove you to start it. For me, I realised I am highly motivated by time and it was ‘time to do it’. Learning from this, I now set deadlines to start, as well as when it must be completed by.
5. Celebrate success along the way, not just at the end.