In my last newsletter, I talked about visualizing your end result to keep you motivated towards achieving your goals. This time, let's talk about what to do when visualizing isn't working and you feel like you've lost all your motivation. You can feel yourself quickly slipping back into all your old habits.

If you find that you've lost your enthusiasm and motivation, check whether at the back of your mind if you really doubt whether you can accomplish this goal. A common reason for losing motivation is because deep down you don't believe it's possible. Your mind thinks, "Why should I go to all this effort and work? It's no use. It'll never work." So, of course, you're not going to want to spend a lot of time and energy doing something you know is ultimately a waste of time.

As soon as you've lost your belief that it's possible then you'll also have a harder time visualizing the benefits of achieving your goal because you'll feel the visualizations are a waste of time too. You feel that it's just not possible so you end up thinking, "Why am I wasting my time visualizing?"

So, what do you do in this situation? First, check whether it's just a belief that you need to let go or update. Why do you feel you can't do this?

Also, check whether your expectations are realistic. If your goal was to lose 10 pounds in a month and now you're feeling dejected because you haven't, maybe that was too much of a goal right now considering everything else that's happening in your life right now. Perhaps, you just need to adjust your expectations to be something that's more manageable. You may have found that the pace you started out was just too much and now your brain is screaming, "I can't keep this up." Things like that will start to raise doubts about whether you can achieve the goal. A quick solution could just be to adjust your expectations to be more reasonable for you.

One thing to watch for is when your actions aren't giving you the results you expected. When this happens, you may find that you totally lose your belief in being able to accomplish your goal. You did something, went to the gym every day, and you expected a certain result, the loss of 10 pounds. You feel dejected because it didn't happen the way you thought it would.

This is when it becomes easy to think it's all a waste of time. But, what are you now focusing on? Are you focusing on your goal or are you now focusing on the fact that you haven't achieved it? Make sure you're focusing on your goal and not the obstacles. Maybe you just need to give it a little more time before you see the results you're expecting or maybe you need to tweak the exercises a little. The truth is that you're probably a lot closer to meeting your goals than you think.

When you feel frustrated like this, don't give in to those "I give up" emotions. Go back to the beginning and read through your original goal. Was it to be healthier and to lose some weight? You may not have lost all the 10 pounds but you've improved your eating and exercising habits. That's something to be proud of. Take a look at how far you've come.

If you haven't met your first target then maybe it just needs some adjustments. It definitely doesn't mean the goal is impossible. Take a look at what was working and what wasn't. By doing this, you'll get some clues on possible ways to make slight adjustments to get you back on track.

Also, is your goal being influenced by an "artificial" time line? You wanted to lose the 10 pounds so that you can fit your summer clothes for a Spring vacation? If you lose any weight by your vacation, that's awesome. You're on the right track to what you ultimately want to achieve, becoming healthy. That's what you should pay attention to, not that you haven't reached an exact amount by a certain date.

And, one other point to consider is whether you're just "reacting" to the fact that you're not meeting your goal or are you "choosing". I talk about this much more in “Feeling Overwhelmed – Try Choosing Your Reaction” It's so important to be aware of whether you're choosing the events that happen in your life or whether you're just reacting.

The most important thing to remember though is that if you've lost your motivation for your goal, don't beat yourself up over it. Take it as an opportunity to figure out what's really happening. This will not only get you back on track to meeting your goals, you may even figure out a better way to accomplish it.

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