January Motivation and Goals

So here it is half way through January and we all need a little motivation. The hustle and bustle of the Holidays is gone. The lights have been turned off. It is cold and gloomy outside and we are half way into January. It’s not too late! So I have found 9 ways to get motivated and some simple things to keep us motivated.


1. WHEN YOU MAKE A PLAN ANTICIPATE BUMPS. When I read this I thought about it and went yeah. That is perhaps the biggest reason none of us make goals and resolutions because we never keep them. Why do we not keep them? Because “Life” happens. So if you plan and prepare for bumps and Life then when it happens you won’t be as apt to give up. You will deal with it and then when life lets you, go back to your plan.

2. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF If you think you can then you will have better luck at succeeding. For me as a mom this can be hard. I am so use to buoying everyone else up I forget to buoy myself up.

3. SET REALISTIC GOALS If not it is to easy to burn out, backfire and this can actually demotivate you because you see no success. If it is a large goal break it down into smaller bite size pieces. By breaking it down you can have sooner success and it will actually increase motivation.

4. GO PULBIC WITH YOUR GOALS There are several ways to do this. Share them with a friend or loved one. Blogging has turned into a great way for people to go public with their goals. It makes them accountable and gives people a way to give support and encouragement.

5. LEAN ON A POSITIVE SUPPORT GROUP Staying positive and surrounding yourself with positive people is essential. You want to lean on people who want to see you succeed. Who have stood beside you through other struggles? All of us will go through periods of depression and disappointment that crush our motivation. This goes back to those bumps discussed in #1, so we need people who can help us through those times and get us back on track.

6. MAKE YOURSELF A PRIORITY Whoa! This is a hard one for moms. We tend to put our needs, wants, and desires, last. Then when we do put them first we have quit? Even though this seems so selfish if we don’t put ourselves first we will fail. For example you have decided no treats, but a co-worker has made some treats for everyone at the office. You don’t want to offend her but in taking the treat you have sacrificed your goals for someone else. A simple explanation of I am trying to avoid treats for health reason so even though they look delicious I am going to refrain. Same goes with your family. It is not being selfish to accomplish something for yourself it is actually a benefit to those around you.

7. MAKE IT CHALLENGING AND CHANGE IT UP Be creative on how to accomplish your goals. The old saying, “there are many ways to skin a cat,” applies here. To keep the fire going you need to change things up so it doesn’t get boring. Think of new ways to do it. When it comes to rodeo there are so many aspects to practice that you can practice different things everyday and still accomplish the end goal. Doing housework is the same thing. Change it up make it fun!

8. KEEP ON LEARNING There are so many resources to learn from the internet, libraries, school, workshop, ect. Having as mush knowledge as you can about your specific goal gives you more tools to complete it. You can never learn enough. This helps expand your mind and broaden your thinking.

9. MAKE SURE YOU GOALS HAVE A DEEP MEANING Sometimes in order to reach a goal there are great sacrifices made. If those sacrifices are tied to a deeper meaning they are easier to make and the outcome is worth it. For example, Sue wanted to get her masters degree. This meant many hours spent studying. There would be little or no time for family or friends. Sue was the first member of her family to receive an education so achieving her masters was important. The deeper meaning was a sense of accomplishment and rising above her circumstances. Maybe the goal is to better a relationship but in order to do so sacrifices and learning must come first. Make sure that your goal is for the right reasons and you will have better success in accomplishing them.

Goals can be made on many different levels, as individuals, as spouses, as families, and even as friends. The steps are still the same but everyone must put forth the same effort. It is never too late to start goals or even finish them. Some take a lifetime to accomplish. Most important is that we are ever growing and learning. Baby steps are how we all started.

When it comes to rodeo I think we have to make goals as a family but more importantly we have to let our kids make their own goals. Dan recently had a conversation with a dad who said, “if your son wants help and he want to learn from me and my son he will call us. We don’t work with parents.” Dan was offended by this and when we were discussing it I said, “he is right!” We can do everything, buy the horses, feed the horses, ride the horses, pay for the entries, and drive them to the rodeos, but if our kids don’t have goals and ambition on their own, nothing we do or say will help them win. They might get lucky once in a while but ultimately we cannot reach “our” goals for them. As parents we have to give them the tools to set and accomplish their own goals. Then be the support they can lean on. So here is to 2010 make it your best ever!