Get Motivated! 5 Tried and tested tips
1. Use a Mantra
Find a couple of short and sweet mantras to steer your mind off of negative thoughts. These power statements are concise — no more than a sentence long. And it doesn’t matter if it’s cheesy or tacky, what matters is hearing it encourages you to move forward. How many of you out there remember Stuart Smalley from Saturday Night Live? That is about as tacky as it gets but it worked to get him motivated. The point is…do it for you, not for somebody else.
Mark Divine, founder of Sealfit and former Navy Seal officer, uses the mantra “feeling good, looking good, ought to be in Hollywood,” during the most grueling parts of a workout. You can try out his mantra if you are working out, or create your own!
2. Aim Low
You can’t expect yourself to complete all the tasks you laid out when you weren’t feeling down.
Your energy levels then and now are drastically different, so it’s not feasible.
You’ll feel like a loser if you fall short of expectations. Set ridiculously easy goals instead, and avoid the drama. If one of your goals is to finish your math homework, try solving just 1 problem.
Once you accomplish that, raise the bar and solve 1 more equation. If you can’t, that’s okay too. Don’t make the problem worse by having crazy insane goals.
3. Don’t Feed The Beast
Feeling bad about your situation will just make things worse. Depression feeds (and grows) from negative emotions, like self-pity, self-doubt, and fears.
It’s impossible to eradicate these thoughts but you can learn to identify them, which then helps you minimize them. Work on finding your reset button. Maybe your reset button is spending 5 minutes with your dog, or turning on Comedy Central for a few minutes.
Sitting on your butt feeding the beast of emotions is the last thing you should be doing.
4. Exercise
Any physical activity done for 30 minutes to one hour at least three to five times a week makes you less susceptible to depression, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Now, I am not exercise expert but you don’t have to go out and run, lift weights, or do crossfit. You can just go walk your dog…maybe hitting the reset button will knock out a couple of these items. The other option is to just act like a weirdo and just start jumping up and down and dance a jig. Play Just Dance on the Wii – anything helps!
If you want to be an overacheiver let me know and I can set you up with a very good personal trainer friend of mine.
5. Stick To Your Schedule
When life throws you out of balance, your routine is there to comfort and provide some semblance of control over your life. Brushing your teeth, getting the kids ready for school, shopping for groceries, these are all regular habits that frame your existence.
So stick to your daily routine even when you feel down.
Do this for a couple of weeks, even if depression persists. Over time, you’ll begin to feel a sense of normalcy and control over what’s happening around you.
You might not be able to control the highs and lows of your emotions but at least you’ll have control of a fraction of your life. It will minimize the overwhelming helplessness you feel.
For more tips and tricks contact one of our life coaches to partner with you and keep you motivated!