I write and talk a lot about motivation in my life, one of the hardest things about motivation, if you ask me, is self-motivation. For the past ten years I have been a little tiny bit chubby. I am not ashamed of my body, but I am still going to spare you for a seminude twitter picture. Losing weight has never been a high priority for me, even if I like jogging and exercising. What gave “being in shape” a big drop on my priority scale? Why was everything else more important? This blog post is an example of how I self-reflect.

Yeez…running in rain is exhausting

I ran in the cold Norwegian rain this morning, I ran 2.8 miles about 4,5 kilometer. I rode my new bike about 6.2 miles or a normal mile (10 km). It is cold and wet, but the Norwegian forest in fall is amazing so I get an amazing experience for free. I have been on a very strict healthy diet. And this has been going on for about 8 days now. I lost almost 3 kilos (6.6lbs) in these 8 days. I am thrilled with my results. So to the big problem, how long will I keep on going? This is where motivation enters the stage. Traditionally I have managed similar progress before, but falling in to old habits again. What can I do to permanently change my behavior for a healthier lifestyle?

Working with goals, eliminating obstacles

First of all, I used to have a weight goal reach a weight of x. Then what? Now I need to change my focus, not to achievements but to progress and routines. I have a four week plan now, where I am going to find good and healthy food to replace old bad habits. The food must be quick to make and it most taste good. I am replacing candy with fruit and smoothies. Looking for stuff I like. I used to get blister when I ran before on my feet and in my groin (because am a superfat and my thighs rub against each other when I run… ) I started with eliminating the causes. I stopped by a sport store and talked with the experts, no I am running in the forest like Robin Hood in tights, it is a pretty sight I tell you, and I bought me some expensive special socks for my feet. I have run each day now with no problems at all. Eliminating obstacles is a crucial part to figure out how to succeed.

I use to fall back into old habits; I tried to get started in May this year and ran for about 3 weeks. I failed.. Then it was 5 months until I got started again now. So falling into old habits is not a failure, reducing the gap between efforts is a key to success. If I fail again, I must find a way to get back on track fast.

I have a strong urge for chocolate, this is my weak spot. So far has kiwi and grapes been a good substitute. I have actually no cravings even if the local store is having a huge sale on candy now before Halloween.

No time to exercise has always been a problem. I always got other stuff to do. But I am only fooling myself. When I exercise I get more energy and can save up time by doing other stuff faster. Spending energy is a great way to gain energy. I just need to make this routine more important than other stuff.

The power of will

Those of you that have been reading my blog, knows that true motivation is achieved when you really want something. Positive intrinsic motivation is the best. So what is my intrinsic motivation when it comes to a diet? It is sad to read about how thin and fit people seem to get a head start in their career. Fat people project laziness and thin people project control. I want to be the best I can be and I read a lot. I get several confirmations that my knowledge is unique and that is nice. But do I need to be fit to get to my next level? The media today is hyping about health and fitness all the time, the ideal person is slim and fit. Can I afford to let opportunities go because society is shallow? No I can’t do that. So getting in shape is a vital part of my journey to becoming the best I can. In other words, I really need to prioritize a healthy lifestyle not just for a period of time, but as a normal daily routine. I need a permanent change in my life. How can I talk about motivation if I can’t motivate myself? This is my intrinsic motivation, and I need to remind myself about this.

Self-evaluate and short term goals

In order to succeed I must stop and think, evaluate and find action. I must accept that it will be hard in a few weeks. I must have the tool to remind myself about WHY I am doing this. The power of why has become a mantra in my life after reading Simon Sineks book; Start with why, a must read book by the way. (do take a look at this post, I wrote it after reading his book.) I know why, I am doing this. Now I need to remind myself to read this article once in a while when I am crying in pain, and it is cold and rainy outside.

Write down what is on your mind

I am using this blog post to write down what I am thinking about my lifestyle plan. Writing things down in this way is helping me sort out my thoughts, reflecting on progress and planning for action. You do not need to blog about it; keep it private if you like. Try to identify your challenges, your obstacles and your possibilities and options. It will help to clear your mind and focus. Good luck on achieving your goal.

I hope you enjoy my blog and feel free to subscribe. Thank you so much for reading, you rock!

Motivational Gardener

There is a great benefit in knowing what your company is all about. When it comes to finding inspiration you should try to look at the greater picture. What is your job all about? Are you contributing to a positive or a negative result? How do you find meaning in your job? How do you contribute to your business’ success?

I want to give you some pointer and hints on how to pitch a good idea to top level management, and maybe you will find more joy in your work as a bonus.

I want to list a few things that it might be a good idea to consider once in a while. And you might end up with a job more meaningful.

• List a few things that your company is doing for the greater good.
• Is your job of any significance to other people?
• What personal values do you have, that match the company values?
• What would happen if your job, your part of the company would vanish?

Profits and basic business rules

Ok, you need to remember this: Happy customers = Income. Your job and your company are dependent on cash flow. This means that you need to get money in faster than the due date on your bills.

There are several ways you can contribute to the profit of the company. Remember, profit is not the same as income. So if you understand how to make a successful company you need to get profits, contribute to higher income and/or reducing costs.

To do a good job, and have a meaningful job, you should try to figure out ways to improve profits in your part of the job. Identify what is important about your role. Is there any way you can increase the stream of money? Can you reduce costs? Do you make a difference for other people in or outside your organization?

• Do you have options to increase income?
• Do you have the possibility to save money for the company?

So now you know how to land a great idea!

To get top level management to listen in on your ideas you need to show them the financial benefits. If your idea is a time saver, what will the company earn by implementing this idea?

You: We should throw a surprise party for our employees!
Boss: Why?
You: Because it would be fun and a nice break in these hectic days!
Boss: Nah… waste of money.
You think: “my boss is stupid, doesn’t understand a thing”
Your boss thinks: “stop wasting my time, it is valuable”

Take 2:
You: We should throw a surprise party for our employees!
Boss: Why?
You: Because by spending just as little as $150 we could by some balloons, some snacks and soda, and it will create more happy employees, reduce sick leave and create an atmosphere where the employees will take good care of the customer and smile at them for a week. With one employee deciding to show up at work one day earlier you would benefit immediately.
Boss: What a great idea, let’s do it!
You think: What a great boss, he is always listening on my ideas.
Your boss thinks: I have great employees; maybe I’ll even give them a bonus soon.
You could expand your ideas to other areas like employee turnover costs.

I hope this post is giving you some insight on how to contribute with good ideas, and how you can become a great employee. In turn it might give you more motivation to do a great job. Please do feel free to subscribe to my blog and do follow me on twitter.

Thank you for reading! You rock!

Motivational Gardener

Why should you have the right attitude? There is one factor that will have a huge impact on almost everything you do in life. Your attitude will determine the outcome of your goals. Did you know that it is possible to choose your attitude? Have you ever been given a task that seemed impossible? What was the outcome? You attitude might actually prevent you from success even before you get the chance to try, why is that? Did you know that your attitude can prevent you from trying? What can we do about it?

Learned Helplessness

I have been reading Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Ph.D. Martin Seligman. His book is about how people can learn helplessness and not see or not apply any effort to an obvious solution. And of course his book is also about learning optimism and solving just such problems. This actually proves that you might get obstacles in your life that seem so hard that you will not even try, resulting in failure or unhappiness.

When Change Comes

You probably do not like change? Human does not like change, change is often challenging our comfort zone. Have there at any time been changes in your life that you thought was bad? Did it turn out bad? Is there a pattern between good and bad change, and good and bad outcome? We do like to say told you so? Don’t we?  Hang in there with me as I am soon getting to the point.

Failed To Reach Your Goal?

Did you fail to reach your goal? Is the goal so overwhelming that you even won’t try? My son is six years old and he replies with: “I do not know how to do that!” whenever I am trying to teach him something new. I try to tell him that’s why we are going to try it, but in many situations he just refuse to try because his fear of failure.

It Is All About Your Attitude

The great thing about our mind is that we can chose our attitude and be aware about our obstacles. Read these 3 points:

1. Even if the problem seems unsolvable, do try to solve it. Do not give up. Do ask for help, consider other options. If I tell you to carry 100 rocks from A to B, you will be exhausted before you are finished if you carry one and one rock. If you find a wheelbarrow and a friend with a wheelbarrow you task will be done faster with the correct outcome, the rocks are located at B. If you get a truck you might even finish it much easier. There is one certain guaranteed way to fail any task, and that is not trying. So whatever the obstacle choose to try!
2. Oh, no there is change coming along. Change can be good or bad. But there is almost no way you can know beforehand. You can cut of a finger, and it might not be bad, if you decide to play the lottery while visiting the hospital, and won $ 15.000.000? When change is entering your life, try to stay positive as you will not know if the change is good or bad, until long time after. You can make a choice to be positive, and if you do most changes will be good. If a change create an obstacle, do not say “I told you so” rather read number one again.
3. There is one saying from Confucius that I like: “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” There is no reason to stay fat if your diet failed. There is no reason to feel as a failure if you did not manage to get the report in on time. If you do not reach your goals, do not adjust the goals. Do not think of yourself as a failure. It is all in the actions. You need to do something different! Does that require change? Read part two again. Is it creating an obstacle? Read part 1 again.

When it comes to attitude you have a few choices, either give it a try and have a fighting chance or do not try and be sure not to succeed. Either you will stay positive and embrace change and try to make it good or be negative and fight the change that’s around the corner making the change a failure. When it comes to not reaching your goals either adjust your actions or give up and never reach your goal.

I hope that you will see that having a positive fighting attitude will make your life better either at work or at home. If your attitude is the other way around you will be certain to fail, but you will have the chance to say I told you so one more time.

If you now need some motivation take a look at these 10 blog posts about motivation

Or you can read this blog post about motivation to learn more about the mechanism of motivation. Do you have enough ego drive to succeed?

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