What motivates you?

1^st August 2013

When problems arise, the easy route is to play the blame game or make excuses.  But the most successful people avoid scapegoating, choosing instead to accept responsibility is theirs to own.

 

There’s a huge difference between being overweight, happy, healthy and
comfortable in your own skin (this is me, a happy owl!) and being overweight, unhappy, unhealthy and uncomfortable in your own skin.  I think until yesterday when I was chatting with someone. I’d forgotten some of the ways I felt when I was a size 20, and it’s important here to note not everyone feels this way at the same weight or some maybe never at all.  The lady I was talking to said how she just felt uncomfortable all the time at the moment, how she had to bend down sideways to fashion her shoes and how even when she was out enjoying herself with friends, just sitting in a pub she wasn’t comfortable.  For me it suddenly bought back lots of sad memories such trying to find that outfit for a works Christmas do, not only was I having difficult finding something that fit properly but something I felt comfortable in, I knew there was no way I was going to find something I felt ‘good’ in because I didn’t feel good in anything at that time.

That seems like such a long time ago now, I’m in such a different place, I’m very comfortable in my own skin, I’m happy with the person I’ve become and I’m fit enough to do all the things I enjoy doing, I take care of myself by eating good healthy foods and I also indulge in the things I enjoy without guilt but also without overindulging because I’m aware that I have a limit where comfortable turns to uncomfortable and I don’t want to get there.

I realised last night, that when I start to feel to head towards that uncomfortable I find it much easier to stay on track 100% (well as close to as possible), so for me I’m motivated by the stick rather than the carrot.  I’m motivated by something I don’t want, a fear almost and when it comes to making changes, identifying your motivation really does matter.

If you can’t stay motivated, you forget your goals and your weight loss attempt fails.  It’s happened to me many times, I’ve often wanted to lose weight, only to find I can’t stick to it and I lack the ability to follow it through, however understanding the power of the different types of motivation can help.

So are you motivated by the carrot “towards” success, this is when you are mostly motivated by wanting to get something, so in this case you want to lose weight, that could be to look great in your summer close, to feel fantastic on your wedding day, to feel sexy.  This about what are you hoping to achieve? What “carrots” are drawing you forwards? 

Also don’t discount your competitive spirit: setting a new goal for ourselves can be incredibly motivating or even having a challenge with a friend as some of my members do often.

Or like me at this moment in time are you motivated “away from” the Stick, which is “away from”, this is being mostly motivated by wanting to avoid something.  So here it would be losing weight in order to avoid health problems or because you can’t award to buy new clothes, or because you remember how unhappy you felt then.  Do you have any sticks keeping you on the weight loss path to your target?

A few members have said this week that they hate the idea of letting me down, that works for some people, this is where accountability can come into play: we’re keen to do what we’ve said we’ll do, I know I don’t like to go back on my word – how about you.

So is it better to be a carrot or a stick?  BBoth “towards” and “away from” motivation work, it may be that you’re naturally drawn to one style rather than the other. If you’ve tried one kind of motivation and it’s not done much for you as I realised last night, I’ve been using the carrot and because I’m happy in my skin I don’t need to get in a size 10 anymore, so like me maybe you should give the other one a go.

A great example would be if you’re one of those who in the past has known you ought to make health changes and you’d like to but you don’t stick to the plan, shows that the stick isn’t working for you, but then you or a love had a health scare – like a heart problem, or a family crisis and suddenly the “stick” finally spurred you into action.

In most areas of my life the carrot is a great motivator but for weight loss I know have definitely motivated by the stick, I’m going to however think about whether there is anything that I could work towards that would also help with my motivation, best of both worlds then, why don’t you do the same.

finding that the pull towards something you want works well for long-term goals – but in the short term, the fear of what you don’t want can spur you into action!

Have a great day, the suns going to shine today apparently, remember to Eat Gorgeous of course. xx