JAYanthem blog

Although this excellent article on motivation is but a week or two old, the guidance Leo (from Zen Habits) gives is nothing new if you’ve read his blog for awhile. Many of his tips specifically helped me out way back in January when I decided to make some life changes and set some new goals. I can tell you they work, and this posting has some of his most important tips all put together in a single list.

Read it, figure out what works for you, and make use of it NOW!

Here are just a few of what I think are some of the most important tips to help you achieve your goals and how they worked for me:

• Start small. I started by just waking up 15 min earlier 3 days a week and running 5 minutes straight at a time. Now I wake up about 90 min earlier and run 2-3 miles straight. Success keeps you motivated.
• Read about it. I’ve found that reading nutritional books got me excited about eating healthy and reading exercise books got me excited about running, so it worked for me!
• Just start. As Leo said once get walks out the door its easy to take that jog. Sometimes it’s tough to get the motivation when lying in bed, but knowing that soon as I put on my shoes I’ll be primed to go helps.
• Think about the benefits. I use this a ton with my becoming an early riser goal. Sometimes if I go to bed late I want to change my alarm to wake up later, but then I think about how I’ll be missing out on a fun run outside, a tasty breakfast, and my quit peaceful time in the mornings.