Women Personality and Mental Health

STEP ONE: Make It Double
Whatever your goal, if you make it something way beyond your capabilities, you aren’t doing yourself any favors. You won’t achieve it, you’ll get discouraged, and you’ll give up. Make your immediate goal something you know you can do. Don’t push yourself to the brink of exhaustion. Just do a good job, and then do a slightly better job when you’re ready. Eventually, you will achieve goals that at first seemed beyond you.

STEP TWO: Get In Your Face
The very best way to do something regularly is to have constant reminders to do it. It should be so present that you almost can’t avoid it. One great tool for staying focuses on your goals is an exercise journal. Using it will also keep those goals creeping closer.

STEP THREE: Seek Out Positive People
Cultivate new friends, people who like to exercise, and suddenly exercise feels much easier. You don’t have to make yourself do it; you want to do it. You don’t want to miss out on the fun. And if you know friends are stopping by at eight o’clock in the morning to do a walking tape with you, you’ll be much less likely to cancel than if you are on your own. Get to this point and you’re golden.

In addition to being actual exercise partners, friends can either support you or undercut you in more subtle ways. Friends and family members who notice the differences in you each week and comment on how much closer to your goal you are can help tremendously. People who put down your walking program and suggest that you skip it are poisoning your motivation. Explain to them that you need their support. If they don’t change, and they are friends or coworkers, they can be avoided. You can’t avoid your family, but you can make it very clear to them how important this is to you.

Don’t forget the value of “virtual” support, too. Books, tapes, and websites can all contribute to weaving a community of helpers around you and setting up an environment that constantly reminds you to stay on task.

STEP FOUR: Commit It To Writing
How many New Year’s resolutions have we made, fully intending to keep them, and then a few weeks later they disappear from our thoughts entirely? That’s why it’s vital to write down your goals. Putting them down on paper makes them real and unalterable; you know clearly whether you’ve met them or not. Of course, committing them to paper and then burying the paper in some drawer doesn’t help, either. Use a journal to develop your goals and check it every day. That way, you’ll fulfill Step Two: keeping your goals in your face.

Read the list:
How to Get And Stay Motivated (Part 2)
How to Get And Stay Motivated (Part 3)