How do you motivate yourself

[Veekay]

How do you motivate yourself to achieve a goal? I want to quit smoking and lose weight - but I just cannot motivate my self. I start in all earnest but cannot sustain the momentum beyond 2/3 days, forget 30 days.

I want to learn how to motivate yourself naturally without forcing/will power.

Any thoughts ..

[aaronmp2003]

Veekay,

For me, motivation comes from an intensely strong desire for whatever I am working towards. I constantly surround myself with both internal and external reminders about WHY I want whatever it is that I want. It is very important to remember why you want something, because it is the "why" that motivates you to take action.

Not very many people actually enjoy being disciplined when it comes to things like exercising consistently, or giving up foods or other habits that they enjoy. It is not the act of working towards a goal that motivates us, but our reason for wanting that goal to begin with.

If I were you, I would start by writing down a list of your goals, and underneath each goal, write down every single reason why you want to accomplish that goal. Make them REAL reasons, too, not just the kind of thing that you would expect someone to say. Your reasons must be from the heart and honest, or else they will not hold the power to keep you on track.

Once you have your list, look at it and read it in its entirety several times each day. Never let your mind stray very far from a recent reminder of why it is that you want whatever it is that you want.

[Swede]

Let people you really look up to serve as an inspiration. For instance, I have a very productive friend, and I try to think of his joy and energy every time I procrastinate.

[Addict]

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...urning-desire/

You don't want to rely on will power? You have momentum for less than a day? Three words for you:

Burn the ships.

In this case, I would throw away your cigarettes and all junk food. Go the store and stock up on plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat. Twenty minutes in the grocery store and you won't have to make any hard decisions for a week.

[AtriumGuy]

Hi Veekay-- The first thing you have to do is ask yourself why you want to lose weight and quit smoking. What motivates you to do these things? Is it to look better, it is to be healthier, do you want to run a marathon next year? Once you figure this out (and it could be many reasons), WRITE it out on paper, and remind youself of these goals constantly. Surround yourself with images of things you will have and feel when you quit smoking and lose weight. When you wake up, remind yourself of the "behind the scenes" reasons you have and generate the feelings of already accomplishing the goals.
I always feel the best way to stop doing something is to focus your attention on what will happen when you stop; as opposed to putting awareness on the actions themselves. I hope this helps and I have faith that you can do it!

[Phil Parkinson]

I have an immense desire to succeed... I fear failure and want to be the best that I can be... That is how I motivate myself.

I don't know whether that is going to help you though.

Something that may help you is a personal development website I have set up. It is called the Community for Excellence. .: The Community for Excellence :..

The whole site is based around the concept of Personal Development Journals (PDJs). This is like a place where you make a public committment to a course of action or a goal... like "Quit smoking".... you then come back an update your journal every day. People will see your journal and will make comments, suggestions and willl try to motivate you.

THe idea is that you are no longer doing it alone, but you now have 200 people watching you and bollocking you if you don't succeed. It's not going to solve all your probelms, but it may well help.

We currently have people using PDJs to get disciplined with food, quit biting their nails, exercise, giving up alcohol, learning to dance etc etc... the list goes on and on.

Please do check out the site - of course, it's all free.

All the best,

Phil x

[Christian223]

Did you read Steve pavlina blog?, there are good advice there on how to motivate yourself.

Also, what i have used and has given me great results is EFT and TAT, visit the link at my sig, and i have recently been applying affirmations, wich is really a nice re-discovery for me because with the help of EFT the affirmation i am doing are really taking effect.

Read this, its really powerfull stuff, its just what you want because it is a great way to change without using will power:
Palace of Possibilities - Using EFT to achieve one's potential

Good luck.