I keep telling you – whatever your dream is, keep taking small steps forward! With small steps you won’t get tired and/or burned out which means you won’t give up and you’ll reach that goal! 🤩
:::
If you’re one of those people who need to do a lot to ‘feel like’ you’ve actually worked (gotta admit that I’m one of those people 😅) and that e.g. reading 15 pages a day is nothing to you, saving 5 USD a day doesn’t feel like saving and/or when you work 30min daily on your project you don’t feel like working at all remember:
🔸️15 pages a day (so about 30min per day spent reading) is 5475 pages per year so about 13-18 books per year – that’s quite a lot! Definitely more than the average 😉
🔸️ 5 USD saved daily will make 1825 USD in a year! 💰💰💰
You can buy quite a lot with those money!
🔸️ 30 min per day spent working on your project/business makes 10950 min in a year = 182.5 h !!! You can do/achieve so much in 182 hours!!! 😉
:::
Remember – small steps matter and can make a HUUUUGE difference!
Tag: reaching goal
MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY – STEP 2: What are common reasons of lack of motivation
If you lack motivation the 1st step to take is to wonder what’s the reason behind it 🤔
:::
If you’re a perfectionist your lack of motivation or procrastination may come from the fear that you won’t complete the task flawlessly 🙄. You need to understand that something done is better than something perfect and that you shouldn’t postpone some task over and over 😉!
:::
Here’s other common reasons for lack of motivation:
1. Avoidance of discomfort: when you need to do some task you know it’s unpleasant (e.g. working out) it is hard to get to it because the idea of staying in comfort is more appealing 🤷♀️. In those kind of situations you need to focus on long-term results (e.g. your body after regular working out)
:::
2. Self-doubt: when you think you can’t do something you’ll likely to struggle to get started. In those kind of situations just focus on doing the task itself, don’t think about the outcome of it 😉
:::
3. Being over-extended: when you have a lot going on in life, you’ll likely feel overwhelmed. I tend to be in those kind of situations and the key to getting out of this feeling is to cut down the amount of task/project you have running. Pick max 3 things you want to focus on now and work on those. Cross out the rest or postpone it a bit 😉
:::
4. Lack of commitment to a goal: when you need to do something simply out of a need of obligation but when you don’t really want to do it 🙄. Try to think of some personal benefits for you after accomplishing that task. This will make you feel more commited to the goal.
:::
5. Mental health issues: a lack of motivation is a common symptom of depression. It’s important to consider whether your mental health may be affecting your motivation level. If so, please see a specialist.
:::
These are just a few common reasons why you may lack motivation but naming what is the reason of it is a big step to work on improving your motivation and willpower so go on and think which scenario do you classify in. In next steps we’ll learn how to improve our willpower 💪
Smiley Future – Step 65
Last week we talked about possible difficulty in maintaining a change e.g. during holidays 😬. There might appear other obstacles and that’s why I highly encourage you to create new implementation intentions! 🤗 This tool shouldn’t be underrated!
:::
Task for today: Create new implementation intentions – if you need to remind youreslf how to do it check out step 10 of our Smiley Future 😉. This time make those intentions about maintaining the change. They may differ from the first ones you’ve created in the beginning of our challege then. So don’t skip that step! I promise you it is worth doing it!
:::
Next week: Create new reward system
:::
Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s book “90 days – design your tomorrrow”
Smiley Future – Step 63
Today another hint helpful in maintaining change 🤩. Think whether maintaining change is attractive to you, in other words what’s your motivation 🤔
:::
Answer this question:
➡️Why do you want to maintain the change? 🤔 Write down all the reasons that come to your mind 📝 and keep it so you could go back to it in moments of weakness or doubts in maintaining your change 😉.
:::
Task for today: I encourage you to create new benefit card (check out step 38) this time focusing on benefits of maintaining your goal 💪
:::
What benefit card is? It is simply a list of all reasons why you’d like to maintain your goal 🤩. If you’re wondering what’s the point in writing them down and you think „I will remember them” – I’ll surprise you: in the moments of lost motivation it is easy to forget why you want something so much 😉. When you find a temptation in reach of your sight (or hand), you’re stressed and/or tired or you’re in a bad mood those reasons suddenly all get forgotten 🤷🏼♀️
:::
In those kind of situations benefit card might come very useful. Have it always with you (for example as a note in your phone 📱) and read it in difficult moments to make it easier to maintain your goal 😉. It is best though to read it everyday, even when you’re feeling motivated.
:::
Benefit card next to process visualisation (step 11) are great tools to strengthen your strong will 💪
:::
Next week: Permanent change
:::
Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s book “90 days – design your tomorrrow”
Smiley Future – Step 61
We’ve got only last couple of steps ahead! 😀 That’s why now we’re gonna learn how to maintain what we’ve built/changed 🤔.
:::
Let’s start with some theory 🧐. Psychologists examining motivation have been trying to establish how to proceed life changes. They’ve been wondering what phases we can divide change into, what is important and needed in each phase 🤔. In 1982 James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente described what is called the transtheoretical model of change also known as wheel of change in which they extracted such phases:
➡️ 1. Phase of initial contemplation – when we don’t realize that we need a change 😅
➡️ 2. Phase of contemplation – when we realize there’s a problem and need of change and start considering all pros and cons 🤔
➡️ 3. Phase of preparing for change (our first 13 steps) 🤗
➡️ 4. Phase of action – we’re now completing this phase! 💪
➡️ 5. Phase of maintaining – we’re entering this phase just now and we’ve got new challenge ahead: how to maintain change? 🤔 What to do so as not to come back to old habits? 🤷🏼♀️
:::
We’re gonna focus on that subject for next couple (and last) of steps 😊. Before we move on to propper hints, here’s task for today: analyze what you’ve accomplished with out previous steps, what you’ve managed to change 🤔. How does this change impact you today? Is it better than on step 1? 😉
:::
Next week: How to maintain change?
:::
Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s book “90 days – design your tomorrrow”
Smiley Future – Step 42
Does it happen to you sometimes that you do something automatically and then you think why did it happen like that and you complain on lack of motivation and strong will? 🧐
:::
If yes, then next couple steps are for you as we will be working on catching automatic thoughts that sabotage your effort ⚠️
:::
Before every action (or resignation of acting) some thoughts appear 🤔. They often appear on a subconcious level so we might not notice them and that’s why we tend to think that they’re „stronger” than us 🤷🏼♀️.
:::
Today I encourage you to look deeper at thoughts that sabotage your effort 🧐. Try observing them while you’re fighting with some temptation or you feel like resigning from some important activity (e.g. workout). What do you notice? What happens then? 🤔 Write down what thoughts you observe 📝 and everytime, no matter how irrational or hard to accept they might be, congratulate yourself 👏! It is hard work on yourself so it is very important that you appreciate you for doing it! 🤗
:::
What are your thoughts that usually sabotage your goal?
Mine is usually: „I don’t feel like it”, „I’m too tired” or „I don’t know exactly how to do it” 🤷🏼♀️
:::
Next week: Know your sabotaging thoughts
:::
Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
Smiley Future – Step 41
How are you finding our latest steps about lack of motivation? 😊 Do they help you? Do those methods help you fight laziness and get to work? 💪 If not, do not give up, keep looking! Try to learn to understand your body, your needs! 🤗
:::
Today I want to ask you an important question: Is following your dream… a pleasure to you? 🤔
Surprised? I feel like we’re so often telling ourselves that we’re „fighting with ourselves”, „overcoming our weaknesses”, „changing for better” (do you see how negative those messages sound? 🙄) that word ‘pleasure’ is no longer in our vocabulary 😑. And it is really hard without it!
:::
If what you’re doing doesn’t give you any pleasure it will be hard for you to last on this path longer than couple weeks 😉
:::
That’s why a task for today is: find pleasure on your way of reaching your goal 🤩
:::
Let’s see some examples:
➡️ If your goal is to lose weight: write down what type of physical activity you like most 🏊♂️⛹️♂️🚴♂️
➡️ If you’re setting up a new business: write down what part of your new challenge you like most, maybe you like creating a business plan? Or reaching our to clients? 💬
:::
➡️ Turn some music you like on and make it nice background to your work 🎶
➡️ Reward yourself! 🏆
:::
My 3 goals I’m focusing on now are: making @smileysociety big 🔝, writing 2nd novel 📖 and losing weight 💪 and what gives me pleasure in those projects are: with @smileysociety I love reading your comments and nice messages from all of you 📩, while working on my novel I love writing and letting all emotions go ✒, putting them on paper and as for losing weight – taking care of my health makes me happy 🤗, I feel good that I eat well but also – I love the feeling after a good workout! 💪
:::
What are some nice things you like about your goals/projects? 😁
Next week: Thoughts that sabotage your goal
:::
Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
How to be productive
There are plenty different tips on how to be productive, some will work on you and some won’t so you need to test them all and see what’s effective on you! 😊
:::
This is what works for me
🔸️ Planning
➡️ First of all when I set my goal I visualise me succeeding to be even more pumped/motivated 🤩
➡️ I write down a list of steps I need to take to reach my goal. The more you break your goal into smaller steps the better.
➡️ I open my calendar and assign each step to some date. 1 step a day (or even a week if those are bigger steps) should be enough.
:::
Once I have my goal divided into smaller steps and each step planned for a specific date/period of time I know what and when I have to do 🤓. Focus on that step only, don’t think what comes next.
:::
🔸️Taking the steps
I work on my projects/goals after my regular work so those are my advices for people who have goals outside their work life/career (or want to make those goals their new career 😉)
➡️ Don’t take long breaks and don’t get too comfortable, you’ll lose whole will to work 😅
The hardest part is to start so once I finish regular job, I eat dinner and go straight to my projects. („I’ll rest, see 1 episode of my favourite show and I’ll get to work” almost never works 😅). I try to stay „pumped” after work to do more and more.
➡️ If you do need a break between work and projects go for a walk or, even better, workout! Physical activity will boost your mind and release endorphins so you’ll feel better and will be pumped to work! 😁
➡️ Tick off every little thing you’ve done from your ‘TO DO’ list. Even if it’s a really small thing that took you 1 minute – tick it off ✔ the more ticks you’ll get the better you’ll feel
➡️ If you haven’t managed to do everything from your ‘TO DO’ list just open your calendar, assign a new date for the steps that you’ve got left 📅
➡️ Once again go throught the list of things you did manage to do, you’ll see how productive you’ve been! 🤗
➡️ Have a well-deserved rest 😊
Smiley Future – Step 38
Apart from a little „reminder” of your dream, that we talked about last week, in a moment of crisis a Benefit Card will help you a lot! 😊
:::
What is it? Benefit Card is just a list of all your reasons why you want to reach your goal 🤩.
:::
If you’re wondering why bother writing them down ✒ and you think „I remember them all easily 🙄” I’ll surprise you: in moments of lost motivation it is easy to forget why you want to reach your goal that much 😉. When there is a temptation in eyesight (and within reach of a hand 😅), you’re feeling stressed, tired and/or you’re in a bad mood, believe me, those reasons suddenly fly away and it is so hard to remember those 😅.
:::
In those kind of situations Benefit Card might come very useful! 👍 Carry it with you everday and read it in any moment of weakness to remind yourself why you want to pursue following your dream 😉.
:::
It is best to read Benefit Card everyday, even when you don’t feel the drop of motivation 😎
:::
And here’s task for today: Create your Benefit Card and find a way to have it always with you (maybe it could be a note in your phone 📲, a piece of paper in your wallet etc 📄). Write down ALL the reasons that come to your mind, those small ones and big ones, important ones and less important ones 😁
Good luck!
:::
Next week: Use your support
:::
Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
Smiley Future – Step 37
Today we continue the subject of lost motivation 😶. I have a task for you today composed of 2 parts 😁
:::
Part 1 – Check if you’re not trapped in one of the mind traps 🤯: „everything or nothing” thinking, excessive pessimism or exaggeration (Remember? We talked about it in step 15).
:::
If you are, create a list of counter-arguments that will help you look at reality without falling into those mind traps 😊
:::
Part 2 – Come back to the source of your „I want” power 💪, to your motivation. Find a moment to yourself, sit down and answer those questions:
➡️What encouraged you to set this goal?
➡️ What will happen when you reach it?
➡️ What will you gain? What do you want most?
➡️ What will happen when you don’t reach it? What will you lose?
:::
If you want, find something that reminds you of important reasons why you started 😊. It can be notes, picture of someone who succeeded and inspired you 🤩, some symbol of your motivation. If you don’t have it, create a reminder on your phone that will help you remember those reasons 📱. It can be a picture/note on a screensaver, a symbolic bracelet, a song…The choice is yours! 🤗
Next week: Create a benefit card
:::
Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
How to be HAPPY 