Motivation and Goal Setting
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Which comes first, motivation or action?
As requested by you, in this week's podcast episode I talk about motivation and goal setting.
January blues will have kicked in for many and it can make it harder than usual to get motivated and stay motivated. On top of that we currently find ourselves in a challenging and unusual situation to say the least due to COVID-19. This has resulted in many people feeling demotivated and struggling to put many plans in place.
Today I share my top tips for finding motivation, the benefits of goal setting and techniques that you can start using today to help you set your own motivational goals and make sure you reach them!
Hello, and welcome [00:00:30] back to another episode of the diabetic and healthy podcast. Um, I have got a show today that is all about motivation and setting goals. So not strictly diabetes related, but this was asked for by you. Um, had people ask for this on Facebook and on Instagram, I suppose, start of the year January goal setting is quite a big thing. So yes, today's [00:01:00] episode is all about that. If you didn't hear last week's episode, please, please do go and check it out. I spoke to V most incredible guy called Brandon, um, Brandon lives in California. I don't even know how to summarize his story, to be honest, it's so amazing. Um, he was diagnosed type one at the age of free years. Old had incredible control for years and years. Um, [00:01:30] and then started to have some complications and was diagnosed with brittle diabetes.
Um, and he was having a lack of hypo symptoms, all sorts of different things going on anyway, resulted in Brandon needing a pancreas transplant. So he was kind enough to come on a show and tell us all about kind of growing up as a child and his memories as a child with diabetes, um, right up to his [00:02:00] more recent, uh, recent struggles, um, a couple of years ago when he had his transplant. So yeah, really amazing story. So that was last week's episode. Um, one of your stories episodes, so please do go and check that one out if you haven't already, um, quick reminder about social media before I get started, please, please do get involved with, uh, diabetic and healthy on social media. You have [00:02:30] a Facebook page, um, Facebook, two Facebook groups, diabetic and healthy community and type one fit and diabetic and healthy is on Instagram.
That's diabetic underscore and underscore healthy. And of course, a podcast that you're listening to. Um, so please do hit subscribe and then you will never miss a show, uh, right. Let's get started. So I think the whole, um, kind of motivation and [00:03:00] goal setting thing, Israel very relevant, not only because it is a January start of a new year. Um, but also because of the, the strange times that we find ourselves in at the moment, um, I've spoken to a lot of people who are feeling really kind of uncertain about things it's causing a lot of anxiety. People were definitely feeling de motivated. So please join me today. If you want [00:03:30] to learn more about, uh, motivation and setting some goals to get you going. So I am going to talk about goals and goal setting, uh, in a lot more detail later on, but let's just get started with motivation.
Um, it's probably worth me saying from the get go, I am not any kind of Mo motivational speaker and I don't claim to be, that's not what I do. Um, I just use my own personal experience in [00:04:00] both my personal life and business, um, to share what I've learned and to share, um, you know, tips have worked for me or worked for people that I've worked with. So most of you know that, um, my kind of area of expertise is fitness and diabetes. So as a personal trainer, a huge part of my role, wasn't just to show people how to do effective workouts and eat, right. But also [00:04:30] how to stay motivated. Um, what many of you won't know is that prior to going full-time as a personal trainer, I also worked for one of the UKs biggest travel franchise companies, um, and I was a head of training.
So a big part of my role there was to set people up to go out and grow their own successful travel businesses. So I taught people a lot about motivation and goal setting then also. [00:05:00] So using that and my own personal experience in terms of, um, I've struggled with, uh, kind of mental health and depression, and really having to dig myself out of some dark holes and get motivated again. So I've kind of put all these things together and I just really hate for that. Um, but it helps some of you, so to reach your goals, you need motivation, but to get motivated, you need some goals. So it's, [00:05:30] it's this kind of, uh, this kind of cycle. So I'm talking more about, um, personal goals, but it's, it's whatever your goals are, whatever you you want to achieve, it might be, um, health related or fitness, or it could be something that you want to write, something that you want to produce.
Some, um, some kind of art, it might be a financial goal, but whatever is all of these things should apply no matter what your goal. [00:06:00] So I was going to start off with the most common misconception around motivation. Um, and that is that you have to feel motivated to get started. Okay, that's wrong. I get this all the time. People say to me with, with my fitness stuff, like, Oh, how are you always so motivated? I'm not always motivated. I just get moving. And then I get motivated. Um, so most motivation comes after action. It's a result of an action, [00:06:30] not the cause of it. So here are some, um, some little top tips. So my number one tip, um, with, uh, with gaining motivation is to set some goals. And this is a proven technique as well. This isn't just me saying this, you know, this is outfit.
You can, you can look up, um, all the kind of benefits of doing this. I talk about setting goals and I'll go through some kind of goal setting techniques with your little later on [00:07:00] and I'll run through some of, uh, some of the kind of biggest benefits of doing that. So number one is set yourself some goals. Uh, number two is to shed you your first action. So don't go to bed, uh, in the mindset. Of course, I hope I wake up and feel motivated tomorrow. Cause that's not best. That's not good start. Okay. If you, if you shared your, in your, your first point of action, the first thing that you're going to do, um, you are [00:07:30] far more likely to do it rather than waking up the next day and going, Oh, wow. Yeah, that was crap. I'm not motivated to Dave F or I'm not going to get started, schedule it in so that you do it.
And it's so much easier to find motivation and find momentum once you get started, it's just for getting started, but is the hardest part. Um, and my third tip would be to, um, make a super simple pre action step. Okay. So I'll give [00:08:00] an example of this because as I was saying, it's, it's, once you get started, it's so much easier. It's just getting started. So if, um, let's say your goal is a whatever a long-term goal is, let's say for you in the long-term we're going to be doing, um, workout, say you're doing daily workouts. So your, your pre action step, isn't the, you know, at the point where you're doing your first burpee or whatever it is, [00:08:30] and it's not even warning warming up, it could be, um, putting on your workout clothes. Okay. So that's like your pre action step you've put on your workout clothes.
And, and from there, the momentum comes your workout clothes on, and then you go onto the next step and you've started, um, or, or it could be doing your, uh, making a glass of water to have with your workout. That's your first, okay. That's the first step to, to start the process almost [00:09:00] like, um, almost like a ritual, you're going to make your glass of water and then you're going to do your workout, or you're going to get your workout clothes on, then you're going to go and warm up. Um, if your goal is, uh, maybe you are writing something, maybe you're writing a book, maybe your, I don't know, producing something. Um, maybe it's art, what your pre reaction isn't, um, you know, the first words that you write over for colors that you're choosing your first action could be, [00:09:30] make a cup of tea.
I know that's very British, but, but you'd see what I mean. It's just like a ritual. So probably get started. I'm going to make my tea and then I'm going to go and get started. So it's, it's kind of easing you in to what you're going to be doing. Um, so that's my, uh, my, my tips on kind of starting off and getting motivated. Um, but you're not always going to stay motivated. So [00:10:00] a really good way of helping to stay motivated is to focus on your end goal. So your let's take your angle if it's too easy. For example, if, if you're not challenging yourself enough, you're likely to lose motivation. Okay. You're likely to get bored. Cause that's what we do. If something's too easy, we get bored. Um, I know lots of people that have really kind of, uh, really wanted [00:10:30] to have like an, an easy job, a bit of a, a bit of a boring job, but just something they can go and do their work, you know, go home.
It's done at the end of the day. They didn't have to think about anything, but actually when they start doing it, they're just so bored. And so de-motivated because, because they're not challenging themselves enough. So when you are thinking about your goals, make sure you are challenging yourself. The other end of the scale is when you make your goal too [00:11:00] hard. Okay? So you make them so hard that they feel so far out of reach. You just lose motivation. Cause cause you convince yourself you're never going to reach him. Um, so this is known as the Goldilocks rule. So it's about making it not too easy, not too hard. It's just right. So when you're thinking about your goals, make sure they adjust, right. Make sure they are challenged, challenging you enough, but not to the point where, um, where they seem out of reach and [00:11:30] make sure they are not so easy that you're going to get bored.
Um, so keeping that end goal in mind, even if, um, even if you're working towards that and it feels really tough and your mind is suggesting you go and do something else, which, you know, my mind constantly interrupts me when I'm working or when I'm trying to do something, um, keeps reminding me of other, I need to do or things I could be doing, or maybe I'd prefer doing. But if you, [00:12:00] if you focus on the feeling of achievement that you're going to get, as you hit each milestone, then that keeps you going. It's like, we want washboard, abs we want bulging biceps, but we don't want to burn for workouts. We want our work to be useful. We want our work to be respected, but we don't want to push free of a struggle to write. There's always going to be times that it gets tough, but from experience, I can confidently say that you will never regret that hard day's work.
[00:12:30] You're never going to regret regret that work that you put in. Um, if it's, if it's, you know, bringing you closer to your goal, you will never regret pushing yourself through that workout and feeling the accomplishment afterwards. So when you are flagging or you feel like quitting, just focus on that angle, focus on that sense of achievement that you're gonna get. Um, so I said, I would talk about, uh, goals themselves and goal setting. So I wanted to run through, um, a little bit about [00:13:00] the benefits of goal setting. First of all, firstly, it gives, it gives us a clearer focus on what is important. So just approached us of goal setting itself gives us time to reflect. It gives us time to think about what's important to us. And then it helps to focus our attention and our energy on these things. Okay. So it's really good to have a clear focus and know what's important to you.
Speaker 2: [00:13:30] It provides motivation. So like I said, for, um, motivation needs a goal and the goals need motivation. So yeah, setting yourself a goal provides motivation. So it gives us hope. It gives us something to aspire to. Again, I know this is so, so relevant at the moment because a lot of people are feeling very lost. Um, it's very difficult to plan for the future at the moment. Um, if you are in the UK, we are in yet another full lockdown. So it was [00:14:00] a really, really tough time. So hopefully this process and setting yourself some goals well, um, we'll help you through that. So yeah, it provides us with motivation and by making small goals along the way. So there's lot, there's actually loads of information you can find online about, about goal setting. If you want to look at this in more detail, um, I believe a best way or, uh, one of the most effective ways is to look at your end goal, whatever it [00:14:30] may be and then work backwards and set yourself smaller goals.
So you're not just reaching for this big goal, but so far away over time, you're kind of setting yourself up with little milestones to hit along the way. And by making those small goals, it helps us to, to achieve that sense of accomplishment, which then helps with positivity and keeps the motivation going towards that angle. Making goals helps with, um, clarity, so [00:15:00] clarity to our decisions. So by knowing exactly what it is, what you want, uh, that you want to achieve, you can start asking yourself. So when you're doing certain tasks, when you're, you're struggling to prioritize what you're doing, just ask yourself, is this going to get me closer to my goals? Okay. So it helps with that kind of clarity of decision-making and it helps with prioritizing, um, it provides us with direction [00:15:30] and a sense of purpose. And again, something that is so, so relevant right now, and I know people are struggling with, um, but goals really can provide kind of direction and destination.
So something to really, really focus your effort towards. Um, so rather than just getting off and going through the motions and stumbling through the day, it really gives you that reason to, to get up and get going with your day. If you're working towards something [00:16:00] a really simple and effective tool that you may or may not be aware of. I know loads of people use it off that certainly in the UK, I don't know, X, Y lays people use this in school. Um, use this in college. When I went on, even when I've been on and was doing my, um, personal training, uh, qualifications, they were still using this vast. So it's called smart goal setting. Excuse me. Um, so you may or may not have come across smart goals. [00:16:30] It may seem very basic to you, or this could be a revelation if you've, if you've not come across this before, but this is like a, a process that you can go through when you're setting your goals.
Speaker 2: Um, so, uh, they're called smart goals cause we're using the letters of smart. So S M a R T uh, to, uh, build some structure around our goals. So we start off with S um, and that is make your goals specific. So there was no point setting yourself a [00:17:00] vague goal, but you can keep changing. Okay. Make it really specific. The M stands for measurable. So how are you going to measure your progress toward your goal? Make sure you work that out achievable. Um, so as discussed, it's about making it not too far out for each day. Not too easy, not too hard, making it just right. So make sure it isn't achievable goal. Um, Oh, is for relevant, safe. Think [00:17:30] about, um, think about why it's relevant to you. Think about why you want to achieve it and make sure it's something that's positive and relevant for you and T stands for time bound.
Speaker 2: So it needs to have an end date of always, we have a, a very unhelpful habit of keep moving the goalposts, you know, like the diver's always going to start on Monday and Monday comes and it sits another Monday. So yeah, make it time bound, give yourself dates that you want to hit your goals, hit your targets. [00:18:00] Um, so a little recap, recap of that. So it's smart goal. So it's S is specific M is measurable a is achievable. R is relevant and T is time-bound. Um, so that is it for today. I really, really hate Pew. Um, you do find that helpful even if, as just one thing that you take away that, [00:18:30] that helps you with your motivation or your goal setting, then that's awesome. Um, yeah. And please do let me know. I do. I save a lot, but I really do love, um, love hearing from you. You can always email me it's charlotte@diabeticandhealthy.com. Um, anyone who has emailed me hopefully has had a reply I'm normally pretty good, pretty good at replying, but I re I really do love hearing, uh, hearing your feedback here in your story. So please do let me know. [00:19:00] Um, so yeah, that's it as always. Thank you so, so much for listening and until next time, stay happy and stay.
Speaker 1: This episode has ended, but your journey towards a healthy and happy life continues head on over to diabetic and healthy.com and join the conversation with other diabetics and their families. All the information in this episode is not designed to replace the advice from the [00:19:30] health professional team. Looking after you and your diabetes before making any significant lifestyle changes, do consult them with your doctor.
How to get in contact:
The best way is to email charlotte@diabeticandhealthy.com
By Charlotte Bulpitt|2021-01-10T22:58:57+00:00January 10th, 2021|0 Comments
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