Swindon & Wiltshire News
Expert opinion: How to stay motivated
If you are anything like me, you love nothing more than a lazy Sunday morning. Rising to the sun streaming in through the curtains, your favourite radio station chirping in the background and the smell of fresh coffee filling your nostrils.
The challenge is when a lazy Sunday morning carries over into the working week and you find that you are more motivated to stay under the duvet than attend to your business.
Some of the signs are relatively easy to spot:
- Your business may have stopped growing.
- You spend more time on your website than connecting with people.
- You spend more time ‘on’ social media than ‘in’ social media posting valuable content.
- You’ve booked a place at a networking meeting, but it feels optional
I know, I’ve been there and it isn’t pleasant. You feel like your reason for being has lost its passion and you’re waiting for the right job, right person and right contract to get you motivated again.
The problem isn’t that you’re not motivated, it’s that your purpose has shrunk!
Staying motivated is about having a sense of purpose that is so compelling, so audacious that nothing will hold you back from creating the thing you want, be it a lifestyle, personal change or thriving business.
So what can get in the way of your purpose?
A number of things can shrink your purpose, including:
- Your current situation feels tolerable – your dissatisfaction with where you are becomes bearable and you no longer see the decline. You put up with sub-optimal and it begins to feel okay.
- You are fearful that you just don’t have what it takes to succeed – you’ve had some disappointments and some knocks along the way and you’re beginning to focus on the size of the waves rather than the benefits of the destination.
- You feel overwhelmed by the task and that clear plan of action has been replaced by a long list of ‘To Do’s’ – you’ve had some success and things have started to grow, but you feel as though the growth has brought new problems that you don’t know the answers to, so you feel stuck.
To re-imagine your purpose takes some courage. You may need to slow down. Yes, I know this sounds counter productive. But believe me, it really helped me focus and get clear on what was driving me and what was a distraction. You may need to reconnect with the ‘why’ before you can get clarity about the ‘what’.
So, how can you slow down and reconnect with your ‘why’?
Here are a few ideas:
- Take time each day to find a quiet spot with something to refresh you and think through why you started your business, or believe in the organisation your work for.
- How does your work align with your values, your culture, your beliefs and your sense of being? If you are out of alignment, what will it take to become realigned?
- Ask yourself if what you do fills your cup, or empties it? Try to tip the balance towards the things that fill your cup. A one percent change is better than no change and could make all the difference.
- Create powerful habits that give you energy, self-care and align with personal and business goals.
- Set yourself some small targets that give you a sense of achievement and momentum. You’ll soon be crushing those big goals, one step at a time.
Matt Goddard is an executive and life coach who supports professionals, entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs to go beyond their goals. For more information log on to www.changeleaf.co.uk, or call 01793 765144.
