There’s nothing less motivating for most people than doing something for someone else. Eventually, you are going to loose motivation because your original motivation was based on what someone else wanted for you, not what YOU wanted for you and what makes you happy! I can tell you from experience, aka my weight loss journey, that until I wanted it for myself I never made significant progress or change. So until you have a WHY that gets you motivated it’s going to be hard to continue onward toward something that doesn’t align with your core beliefs.

So first thing’s first baby, you need to settle on a why! It can be helpful to write this down. Do some journaling to get your thoughts out on why implementing these new habits are important to you. You can ask yourself questions like:

How will I feel when I work towards this goal?
What does this goal or habit mean for my quality of life?
How will I feel if I do not work towards this goal?

Once you have a why, which you can write as a sentence or bullet points, it’s something you can always refer back to if you veer a little off course.

Your second non-negotiable is to create a plan of action. When we imagine the finish line of our goals it can feel rewarding but far away. It’s important to set little or short term milestones along the way and more importantly, celebrate them when you get there!

Goal + Why + Plan = Success

You should have a big picture plan that is like a roadmap to your goal and then create mini-plans week by week to keep you on track. Use your planner and maybe some fun colored markers to plan time for your workouts, your meal prep, your therapy or chiropractor appointments – whatever it is!! We are WAY more likely to accomplish something if we write it down and make a plan for when we need to take action.

Let’s talk about some other action steps for staying consistent and on track!

It’s important to be super clear about what you want! The more specific you are on what your actual goal is the more likely it’s going to happen. So instead of saying “I want to get fit”, you’d say, “I am working towards my fitness goal by working out 3 times per week”. Even better would be to get more exact by specifying that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday you go to the gym and you do a spin or yoga class on Saturdays.

Life happens and sometimes things don’t go according to plan, that’s okay! It’s so important to forgive yourself and MOVE ON. It’s much better to pick up where you left off versus talking down to yourself and saying things like, “well I already missed my Monday workout, I’ll start again next week”, or “I already ate an unhealthy lunch so I guess this day is a write off”. The best thing you can do is to reset and keep moving forward. Remember your why, write down a plan and keep going – you got this babe!