Category: Diet/Exercise

Motivation – Or Lack Thereof

(Before we get started, I’m also blogging over at www.LearnHowToWriteaNovel.com about the 3 D’s of Writing – somehow these two blogs are related).

Okay, for today,  let’s talk about motivation. We all need motivation to exercise, eat better, and for me, to also write every day.

And everyday, either in my devotional reading or on social media, I see all kinds of inspiring quotes that seem like they were written just for me. They get me fired up, and I say Yes, that’s me, and then I’m encouraged to do my best each day.

But then, inevitably, there comes a day where you wake up, and you know you’re not feeling it. You’re somewhat cranky, or you just want to shut out the world. The quotes and memes that so inspired you fly from your head like they never existed. Motivation has fled the scene.

So, then what? How do you move forward when all you want to do is watch mindless television and eat popcorn with peanut M&M’s?

You can go two ways with this:

  1. Sometimes you do need a break. You need to sit back and rest and rejuvenate. If you’re not at your best then you won’t deliver your best.
  2. But more often than not, we need to find a way to push through it. Move forward. That may mean breaking down tasks into even smaller pieces and slowly start to get things done. When you move forward, then your momentum and motivation might find you.

Today is one of those days for me, where motivation has fled the scene. I didn’t wake up in a bad mood, but I didn’t wake up with a smile either.

So, I’m going to put item #2 to the test today. Break things down and find a way to move forward when in reality, popcorn, M&M’s and movies I’ve seen a hundred times before are calling my name.

If I can get going, then I know I’ll feel better and feel like I accomplished something. Sitting with my popcorn won’t make me feel better, it will probably make me feel worse.

And by writing this blog, I’ve already accomplished one thing! I haven’t written in several days (due to being sick mostly), so this will help me get back on track. Hopefully, by getting some of these thoughts out of my head, I can look to the next step I need to take and what else needs to be done today.

I’m stronger than my lack of motivation. (Does that make sense?) On mornings when I wake up in a blah mood, I need to remember that. Perhaps that’s the best inspirational quote I can keep in mind — I’m stronger.

What about you? How do you find motivation when it has gone away? I’d love to hear from you.

Have a great productive day, everybody!

Fighting Back from Discouragement

We’re several weeks into the New Year… and this is traditionally the time when we’re already failing in our resolutions that we made three weeks ago.

How are you doing with your goals for the year?

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big fan of tennis. The first Grand Slam of the year is going on now with the Australian Open. And a major upset of the tournament just happened — Roger Federer lost his match. The first time since 2003 that he won’t be in the second week of the Aussie Open. (This is one of the reasons I feel like he’s the greatest of all time… his consistency in the sport to reach semi-finals and finals of the tournaments…but that’s another discussion for another day.)
Roger-Federer-5-418x300
Last time Federer was upset this early in a slam, everyone was talking that his career was over. It must have been a discouraging time for Roger. His desire to play the game is still so strong, yet, these defeats will happen. So, now, at the ripe old (in tennis years) age of 33, is this his swan song?

I can’t wait to see. After the last time he was defeated early in a grand slam in 2013, he played inspired tennis for 2014, and was so close to reclaiming his #1 ranking. He started out this year with his 1000th career win (see why I believe he’s the greatest of all time?). I believe that Roger will take this defeat and turn it into an even stronger, burning desire to compete and win. I don’t think he’s giving up yet. Wimbledon will definitely be the tournament to watch for him.

Watching tennis inspires me again and again to fight my discouragement. I fought for years with my weight. About 2 1/2 years ago, I started to win the battle and lost 85 pounds! It felt so good. Now, the pounds are creeping back and discouragement is settling in. It would be so easy to have the attitude of giving up and belief that I will never beat this.

That may be true. I’ll be fighting my weight for the rest of my life. However, knowing I have achieved success makes me hungry to achieve that success again. And that takes hard work. Roger Federer is the great tennis player he is from hard work. And like Roger, I need to go back to the “practice court.” Sometimes you have to start with the basics and build back up again.

I need to start with what’s in my diet that’s sabotaging me. I need to get back to my strong exercise routine. We’ll see if I ever equal that 85 pound weight loss again. But I know I need to fight back. I feel stronger, more energized when I know I’m doing the right things. Whether I lose another pound or not, I’m going to fight this discouragement, one day at a time.

Roger will fight his discouragement one practice, one tournament at a time.

So, if you’ve fallen away from the goals you set for the new year, today’s the day to take a step, pick up your racquet and step back on the practice court.

Fight against the discouragement. You might be surprised how far you’ll go.

Discipline is Not a Dirty Word

When we think of “discipline,” most of us have an immediate negative reaction.  Okay, at least I do.  Yet, somewhere deep down, we know that discipline can be a good thing. It’s just that being disciplined doesn’t sound like any fun.

However as we go through this life, we know we are better for being disciplined at whatever goal we’re striving for.  As you may know, I’m a big fan of tennis. The Australian Open finished up this past weekend, and lo and behold, we have two first time Australian Open champions for the men and the women.  One of them is a first-time grand slam champion, period.

The men’s champion is from Switzerland — but not the Swiss player any tennis fan is familiar with.  This year’s champion is Stanislas Wawrinka.  Obviously, for many years, Stan has been in the shadow of the great Roger Federer. How do you live with that? But did Stan give up the sport he loved? No. What did he do? He worked harder. That takes discipline, and determination.

Much was said about Stan’s tattoo on his arm. It’s a quote from Samuel Beckett that reads, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail Better.”

What do you think of those words?  It didn’t matter that you failed. Try again, probably fail again, but fail better.  This time, after 36 tries at a grand slam title, he didn’t fail.  On top of that he beat the top two players in tennis to get there.

The Olympics are right around the corner. In the coming days, we’ll read and hear a lot of stories of determination and what it took to even make it to the Olympics.  There will be some that fail. There will be others that are just happy to be there and experience it.

But all arrived there through discipline. Talent alone wasn’t enough.

I know with my writers friends, we have our anagram of BICHOK – backside in chair, hands on keyboard (or variations to that).  Writers can’t just write when the creative muse shows up.  Nothing would get done!  Writers need to be disciplined and at their desks daily.  They need to stretch and exercise that writing muscle to make it stronger and to work the way it needs to.

Sound familiar?  We all seem to complain about working out and going to the gym. But we know when we regularly exercise, we feel better. It takes discipline. We are stronger for going.

To watch what we eat takes will-power, i.e. discipline. As one who has battled weight issues, lost a great deal of weight, and is now fighting not to gain it back, it takes discipline. I can’t eat the way I did before — that’s how I got heavy!  I can’t quit going to the gym or working out.  Yet, there are days when I grumble and think of every excuse not to work out. Why? My health and my life changed by changing my eating habits and working out.  I feel great when I finish a workout.  But sometimes I have to drag myself to get there. It doesn’t make sense, when I know how good it is for me.

Being disciplined is good for us.  We reap the rewards of a disciplined life, whether through physical activity, writing, even praying and having devotional time daily.

We need to re-train ourselves to think of discipline as something positive.  To be determined (determination is considered a positive thing), to be devoted.  Why are those “d” words okay, and discipline is not?

So, maybe the first change we need to make is in our attitude.  Let’s be determined to make discipline something positive.

What steps can you take to live a more determined, purposeful, and yes, disciplined life?

Stop the Negativity!

There are times when I get down on myself and I get in my own way of trying to accomplish what I need to accomplish.

How do I get in my own way? With negativity!

Take this past week, for example.  I have been an eating machine!  After losing 85 pounds recently, it seems like I’m trying to negate all of that by just how much I’ve been eating.

Truth be told, I should have lost more than that 85 pounds by now, but I’ve slacked off a bit with my exercising, and I’ve increased my eating.  That’s not a good combination.

So, I started beating up on myself.  I focused on everything I was doing wrong, instead of the things I was doing right.  Last week, I increased my workouts, partly because I knew I was over eating. I took the first step to turn the tide.exercise

Did I give myself credit for taking that step, and increasing my workouts?  No… I only focused on what I was doing wrong.

Finally, with a little bit of prayer, with the weight of  all the negativity bearing down on me, I woke up determined that “today is a new day.”  I can’t go back and change what I did yesterday… or not eat all the food I ate yesterday.  So, it was time to focus on what I could do right today!

So, being that it was trash day, I went into my pantry and my refrigerator and threw out the unhealthy snacks I had started buying again.  It was time to start fresh.

I had a good week with exercising, so I was going to give myself credit for that, and then have a good, better day with food.

It was time to get out of my own way.  And when I took those unhealthy snacks to the trash — I realized how empowered I felt.  Instead of surrounding myself with all of the negativity and beating up on myself for what I had done in the past, I took charge of today!  It was up to me to change what I was going to do… only for that day.

So, the lessons learned:

1. Every day is a new day.  A new opportunity to make better choices.

2. Stop the negativity and give yourself credit for the positive.  Get out of your own way.

3. If you screw up, learn the lesson and move on.  Tomorrow will be a new day and a new opportunity.

4. Pray! Every day!

It’s time to stop the negativity and take one small step toward the positive.

What about you?  What ways do you have to stay positive?  I’d love to hear how you stay motivated.