By The Coastrek Team
When you first start something new and exciting, it’s easy to get motivated.
But after the excitement wears off, the motivation does, too, and even your attractive yoga instructor or post-workout coffee isn’t enough to get you out of bed at 6am on a Monday morning. You find yourself eating cheese toast in front of Netflix (again!) and then vow you’ll start being “good” next Monday.
We’ve all been there.
But we have discovered a way to help you avoid ‘falling off the bandwagon’ EVER AGAIN.
So how do you stay motivated to lead a life you love… forever?
You get yourself a goal. And not just any goal. A wild, supercharged goal.
This goal needs three things:
1. A physical element – let’s get fit, baby!
2. A social element – it’s more fun with friends.
3. A selfless element – it can’t be ALL about you.
Supercharged goals motivate us to lead lives we love, getting fitter, healthier and happier in the process.
This is because when you sign up for something that's both exciting and terrifying, you're highly motivated to work towards it. Think about a challenging deadline at work, or having a baby. You lose the 'eh, I'll do that tomorrow' mindset and begin to make changes, NOW.
Your goals motivate you to slip out from under the covers, even when there’s somebody delicious next to you, lace up your runners and get outside, doing the stuff that’s exhilarating, sometimes tough and occasionally painful.
This phenomenon is explained by science. A quick Google search will reveal over thirty five years of scientific studies showing why goals motivate us to act.
Still not convinced? Consider this. Most of us would generally rather stay in bed than get up for a workout on a cold, wintery morning. Most of us would probably prefer to relax with a glass of wine after a long day than hit the gym.
The problem is, if we don’t move our bodies regularly, over time, we start to feel flat. We don’t flourish. We wonder why we’re tired and grumpy all the time. Why we yell at the kids and cry for no apparent reason. We KNOW we need to exercise and eat well, we just can't find the MOTIVATION.
Well, if you decide you're going to haul yourself up a mountain, along a trail or up a cliff on your next holiday, something inside you shifts. You begin to make time for your health. Motivation becomes easier, because you're inspired by (and a little scared of) your supercharged goal. Plus, you've organised to meet your friend, so cancelling is just NOT an option.
For us, a team charity hike like Coastrek is the ultimate goal. In fact, the whole reason we created Coastrek was to give our community a goal which would help them lead their most joyful life. It takes all the latest research on happiness and combines it into one big, time-efficient, health bomb.
But it doesn’t have to be Coastrek. It could be anything that ticks these three boxes. This goal will be your guiding light when the going gets tough. And when you’ve completed this goal, you get yourself a new one!
And if you eat cheese toast in front of Netflix three nights in a row? It’s all good. You haven’t ‘failed’. You haven’t ‘fallen off’. Your goal buddies will remind you of tomorrow’s walk and you’ll get right back into it. It’s all part of the process, and the general direction you’re heading is all that matters. It’s NEVER too late to start.
If you're looking for a community to help you reach your goals, join us on Facebook!
