On Motivation
I took this afternoon off for some de-cluttering. I hauled off 3 more bags of clothes that didn't fit, and four boxes of...stuff. More is going out the door tomorrow. ::pats self on back::
Anyway, during my breaks this afternoon I caught up on non-HYC feeds, and I found this gem on motivation from Dumb Little Man. Two points, specifically, jumped out at me:
"When you are motivated by things, ideas, the future, or other goals, your success is dependent on those things. "
and
"If you are motivated by a desire to improve yourself, you will always be accomplishing—it will be an ongoing process."Wow. So true, and probably the reason I've recorded some successes with this life change thing. Before, my motivation to lose weight was to be thin. Following a "diet" or exercise plan wasn't success. Losing any amount of weight wasn't success. Being thin was the only indicator of success, and I was a long, long way from thin.
Now, my motivation is to be healthier and more fit, to be able to participate in physical activities, to reduce my blood pressure, to build stronger bones and muscles. And yes, one motivation is to be--no, not thin-- but, thinner, because thinner in my case translates to healthier.
When I think of it like that, I can see success all around me. It's fruits and veggies galore in my kitchen, with nary a Little Debbie in sight. It's the stack of workout clothes on the shelf in my closet. It's there every time I go to the gym or the training studio, and every time I drink another glass of water. It's a reduced dosage on my BP medicine and a doctor considering dropping the prescription entirely. It's size 10 pants on a body that wore size 22 last year. I can even see success on my beloved iPhone, where I've placed a bookmark on the main screen with a link to calorie-count.com. (In less than 5 seconds, I can order a healthier meal in any restaurant! LOL)
With this New! and Improved! motivation (so much better than the old me had), I see success everywhere! Every. Single. Day. And as DLM said, this kind of motivation never ends. There's always something to strive for, to work toward, to feel good about! A quicker mile, another push-up, a canceled prescription. Anything, to be better than I was before, to simply improve myself.
...and Break Time is over. Back to decluttering. Wishing you a hugely successful weekend! :)
~
Labels: lifestyle steps
10 Comments:
This is a really great post! I love it!
And I can definitely agree. While external things can serve as good motivators, the real impetus has got to be internal. If I wake up thinking "I only have 6 more months until [insert event here]," I'm also likely to go "Well... I still have 6 more months until [...]" all the way until it happens. Or I'll decide looking great at whatever it is isn't as important as I thought it was after all.
But if I wake up really wanting it, me myself, for no other reason than that I can feel better (and feel better about me), it's much easier. And now, you're right, success is everywhere! I'm working towards improvement in so many different areas, that usually at least something's going right... cause for celebration!
I've always been really bit on self-improvement in an emotional and spiritual way... it's so nice to now put that to use with weight loss too. Thanks for a thought-provoking post! :)
Have a great week!
~briy
Another great thing about once you start seeing success is that you dont' want it to stop! Sucess is what motivates me more than just about anything.
Kudos on all of the decluttering! I so need to do that.. but it's always the question of WHEN??
I could not agree with you more!! I like to think of it as a life change, not a diet. I love your motivation and congrats on your success.
I love this post! It is so true. It's about acquiring the lifestyle of the person we want to be and leaving behind the lifestyle of the person we used to be.
They say nothing succeeds like success!
Good post - True true true!
Thanks for stopping by and welcoming me back. It means a lot to me.
Damn, girlfriend, you have got it GOING ON!!
I loved this post -- really brought into focus for me the idea that "being thin" isn't really the goal, "being healthy" is the goal. I was just trying to explain this very same concept to my mother just the other day-- "I thought my goal was to lose weight, but I think my real goal was to stop the bingeing and to do that, I had to turn around and face my dark corners instead of trying to ignore them."
Losing weight has really been more like the side effect of my growing self-acceptance and self-love.
those are such good answers to those questions. very realistic as well.
I wish you would become the editor of some hosh posh weight loss magazine and tell them how it's so much more important to have internal motivators instead of external motivators such as a manicure or pedicure for pounds lost.
Once again you've given us all alot to think about.
That is so true!!! I love the way you said it.
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