When undergoing any new diet or lifestyle, it is very simple in the first few days. Things seem great, and easy, and you can feel yourself changing for the better. Then suddenly, maybe a week later, you’re back to your old ways, wondering why you can’t get yourself going again. You’ve lost the spark of doing a new thing, and now you just can’t be bothered.
But you shouldn’t give up! You’re in a slump now, but do not fear, after reading this you’ll know what to do. By following these steps you can make sure that you don’t feel like giving up anymore.
All you need to keep yourself going is a little motivation, and this is what this post is here for. Here, in no order, are some ways that you can keep yourself from falling into a slump again.
1. Create a goal. Maybe you want to get into a habit of going out running certain nights, or you want to stop eating junk food. Either write up or print out a page with your goal in big letters. Make it something short and snappy, like ‘Jog 15 mins Daily’ or ‘Eat 5-a-Day’. Make sure it’s not too vague, and also make sure it’s realistic. Stick it somewhere obvious, like on the fridge door or on your mirror. Having the goal sitting in front of you will make you more likely to try and complete it.
2. Tell someone about your goal. Let someone know about what you want to do; tell your friends, your colleagues, your parents, whoever. Making your goal public will mean you will have people checking up to see how you are doing, so you can’t give up.
3. Invite a friend. Some people prefer to train alone, but sometimes it gets lonely. If you train with friends, you will keep each other motivated. You will feel you have to go out with them or you’ll be letting the other person down. Doing something with a friend can make the whole experience more enjoyable, and this will help you keep your eye on the target.
4. Leave time for exercise. Most of the time when you don’t exercise, your excuse is that you were ‘too busy’. Instead of just exercising when you’re free, set out a certain time each night that you will leave for exercising. This will help you stick to your goal of exercising, but will also make you work faster to complete what you need to do in time for exercise. Don’t make excuses for yourself, just get the exercise done.
5. Keep track of yourself. Every 3 weeks or so, take a check of your progress. Can you run for longer? can you do more press-ups? Do your clothes feel looser? Do you feel and look better? Look at the positive things which exercise has done to you, and keep focused on these positive things as you exercise to keep you motivated.
6. Count down, not up. When doing a certain amount of exercises, don’t count like this: “I’ve done 23 sit-ups and I’m so tired!” This will make you feel more obliged to give up because you think you’ve done enough. Instead count down, like this: “I’ve only got 6 more sit-ups to go then I’m done!” This will make you more eager to finish and you will feel more successful when you have finished because you completed something rather than just did a certain number of something.
7. Go to Classes. If you pay to go to classes, you will be more motivated to go to them as you have spent money on them. Pay for classes at the start instead of each time you do them, so that you will want to go to each class so you haven’t wasted your money. Also, having a teacher and other people around you doing the same thing can keep you encouraged to keep going.
8. Feel proud of yourself. After a few weeks of exercising, reflect at what you’ve done and feel proud. Pat yourself on the back if you really want to. You’ve kept going, you didn’t give up, and your on the road to looking and feeling awesome. Go you!
9. Find a quote. Some of the things that keep us going are quotes or lyrics. Repeating a motivational quote in your head can give you that little push you need to keep yourself going. It could be something as simple as Nike’s ‘Just Do It’.
10. Stick With it. Nobody is going to feel motivated all the time; you’re always going to get those times when you just can’t be bothered. But instead of feeling negative, realise that there are always going to be bumps in the road and that you’ve just got to keep going. Don’t stop, and you’ll thank yourself later.
