Motivation was the subject of a webinar that I attended hosted by Kashi (which is owned by Kellogg’s). Kashi is embarking on a year long effort to reach out to "Mommy Bloggers" (hate that term) to “help(ing) you and your family stick to healthier patterns all year long.” The chat wasn’t a push to sell people on Kashi products (although, I did learn some interesting things about their website - recipes anyone?) but to talk about how to motivate yourself and, in turn, your children.
While what we talked about isn’t new, or rocket science, I did find it to serve as a good reminder for myself when maybe I’m lacking motivation, or trying to motivate others to work with me towards a goal.
Do you want to be motivated?
What motivates me - having more energy, being a good role model to my daughter, owning clothes that actually fit - may not be what motivates you. But in the end, motivation only really “works” if you want, and are ready, to be motivated.
If you really want to get in shape, or want to eat better, or run a half-marathon, you’ll be motivated to do so. If you think, “Oh, I should eat better and be healthier. Maybe tomorrow. Or I’ll start Monday,” you probably aren’t that motivated and your good intentions won’t stick. Personally you need to understand where you’re going and why you’re committing to something to make it work.
Why are you focusing on this?
Ask yourself, of all the things that you could be doing, why have you chosen exercise (lets say) to focus on? Look around and decide for yourself:
Am I ready for this?
Do I have the time?
How will it impact me?
How will it impact others?
How will I know if I’ve succeeded?
I’m sure many of you have found either from when you were young or with your own kids, that sometimes there has to be a carrot (in the form of an ice cream cone) at the end of a task to get anything done. You may not have been motivated to do your homework but perhaps knowing you could stay up 30 minutes later was just enough to give you the motivation you needed. This won’t always work when trying to motivate others but often times, knowing what drives them, can be a big help in getting to that end result.
If you find yourself lacking in motivation, you may want to sit back and ask yourself some of those questions. Refocus your energy. Change up your end goal and the path you take to get there. If you have some big, huge, bodacious goal, perhaps you need to break it up into small chunks to help you achieve it. Or maybe you just need to put it aside for a while and focus on something else until you can get your head back in the game.
This post is from guest contributor Karen from Karen Chatters, an Atlanta-based mom of one and Shredheads reader. She's currently doing the 30 Day Shred and training for her first 5k. Find her on Twitter!
[We were not paid to attend the webinar or post about it]
great job, Karen and thank you for sharing what you picked up at the Kashi webinar.
Posted by: laura | 02/08/2010 at 09:24 PM
Thanks for the overview Karen. It is fascinating the difference between motivating by the carrot or stick approach, and also by the fact that sometimes you need neither.
I have a book on the shelf called "Punishment by Rewards" - just need to get the motivation to read it :)
Posted by: Andrew | 02/09/2010 at 08:33 AM