Are you ready to make some changes in your life? Well, I have three more Motivational Strategies for you this week to get you inspired!

Last week we covered the strategies of visualizing the successful outcome with the associated feelings, creating “healthy” competition with yourself, rewarding yourself along the way, and incorporating theme songs in your approach. If you are just joining us now, then be sure to check out the last blog article on How to Motivate Yourself to Succeed! That was the first in this series on motivational strategies for achieving desired outcomes on your goals and dreams. So without further delay, let’s continue our discussion.

Here are Three More Motivational Strategies this week for you.
5- Find a role-model and/or Engage your support team in the process.
- When you are feeling discouraged, who are you going to reach out to?
- Friends/Family/Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Mentor/Teacher/Sports Coach/Life Coach?
- Be very selective in who you have in your support team.
- These people really should have your best interest at hand, truly be supportive in your decisions, are honest with you, and want nothing but to see you succeed.

Unfortunately, there will be people who may be jealous of you and may actually be negative, non-supportive, and even worst try to sabotage your efforts. Keep these people at a distance and don’t let them undermine your efforts and what’s important to you. Some people are just not comfortable when they see others around them rise up to become better versions of themselves. Recognize this and figure out an appropriate way to work through this with a friend, a parent, or a mentor.
Let me share a story that speaks to knowing who you can go to when you are feeling like everything is about to fall apart. It was during the Fall Semester in my second year of Graduate School around Thanksgiving time – the time of incredible stress because you realize the semester is ending in about 4 weeks and you have exams, and projects to finish. Well, in that moment of feeling really overwhelmed and just wanting to quit the program, I called my best friend Gali, and shared with her how I was feeling and how I just didn’t think I could do this any longer. Gali listened to me, and then responded in a calm matter-of-fact manner, “Aren’t you half way through the program?” I said, “Yes.” And it was in that very moment I realized by Gali’s response that quitting wasn’t an option and it was actually a ridiculous thought coming from the stress! I went from practically crying and whining to laughing with Gali and shifting my focus to finishing out the semester and the program. This sudden drastic switch in my reaction was all because Gali is a true friend who is beyond supportive and encouraging with everything in my life. She is unbelievable and always there for me. I’m so grateful to have Gali’s friendship. What I want for you is to have friends like my best friend Gali that you can depend on. These are friends for a lifetime, so cherish them! 

6- Re-evaluate your expectations.
- Are you being realistic in what you believe you can accomplish for the timeframe?
- Decide ahead of time what sacrifices you are willing to make to reach that particular goal. Sometimes that means we choose less sleep, less relaxing time, eliminate routines that maybe don’t make sense anymore, and/or adjust your workout schedule.
- What are you willing to give up or eliminate? What can you let someone else help you with? Are you willing to ask for assistance with some tasks? You don’t have to do it all by yourself. Recognize this and see how you can get support from others in your life that wants to be there for you.
 
Again thinking back to when I was in Graduate school, and working full time in my career in Human Resources, I just didn’t have enough time for everything. What initially made it worst for me was being resistant to change and refusing to let go of some routines that just didn’t make sense any longer. This only created more stress for myself. One aspect of my life that I had to adjust was working out at the gym. This became less for me – about twice a week rather than three or four times a week.
 
Finally, I realized that had to cut back on some of my commitments and communicate this to my boss in my corporate job and then to the Associate Director at the LI Crisis Center Hotline where I was a volunteer Crisis Counselor. During this time, I worked extensive overtime in my job, so I had to let my boss know that on class days I absolutely needed to leave on time and that I could be flexible to work late on the other days. When I had to call the Associate Director to let her know that I needed to cut back on my weekly volunteer hours to once or twice a month, I remember being in tears. I didn’t want to reduce my hours and give up something that made me so happy. To my surprise, the Associate Director agreed to this compromise.

7- Learn from past experience.
- Think back to how you achieved other past goals.
- Incorporate what has worked for you.
- Improve on tactics that didn’t work so well in the past.
- Anticipate any possible obstacles and approach others for guidance.  
- Finally, figure out how to avoid and/or deal with these possible difficulties.

All in all, it’s always about learning. In this case, it’s about figuring out how to work through obstacles, the expectations and routines holding you back, as well as managing stress that may come your way. Coping skills is really essential when it comes to dealing with stress and emotions. Let me share it hasn’t always been easy for me. I’ve had to adapt some new coping skills throughout my life from childhood to adolescent to college student to career woman. Even today, I’m still learning how to better react to situations and be alittle less intense and less bold in my response with others. Recognizing that an intense bold approach can really intimidate people and move you further away from what you really want, especially in relationships. It’s acceptable to be authentic and honest, but it’s really all in the approach. So I acknowledge this and I’m working on it.

So tell me what strategies are working for you. How is your approach going to change and improve?

Next week, we’ll finish up with a few more motivational strategies, so come back for some more inspirational ways to keep you moving forward and achieving success!