How to realistically get Motivated!

How to get motivated!!! Puke!

Just be assured before you start reading this - I am not some American cheese ball that has signed up to some motivational planner that is telling me what we already all know and I am going to preach to you (and I’m not suggesting all highly motivated cheese ball type of preaching people are from America eek) – I therefore hope you find my take on getting motivated, a realistic one – please note though because I am a working Mum – my direction is taken and drawn from my own experiences having said that I hope if you’re not a Mum you will still find this a useful read!

We all know that getting up early will lead us to be more productive, we all know that consuming wine in the week will make our heads feel cloudy, we all know exercise releases those happy endorphins we need and will help us maintain focus! We all know going to bed early will help - But putting it into practice can sometimes not be that easy with day-to-day life! And by that, I mean – kids causing you stress, heartache or keeping you up at night, needing that much needed glass of wine to help you unwind or switch off or because you have been asked out! (Lucky you) having to catch up on needed house admin or the latest Netflix binge as you have spent most of the evening making dinner, playing taxi, cleaner and agony aunt!

In this Blog I go through each point and discuss what I have done in the past and what I am now putting into practice and the benefits it is now producing.

1. Waking up an hour earlier than your usual daily routine

So, my advice is taking a step back – this will help you look at where you are in your life and really think Ok my kids are young - getting up early for me will just not work – but what would work? Maybe asking someone for 1 or 2 hours a week to have your kids so you can dedicate that time solely on your business goals with no distraction – go one step further and go to a good coffee shop with Wi-Fi and sit and work so you avoid further distractions as in hanging the washing out or answering that unimportant phone call – this is also good advice of for those of you who don’t have kids or they are older (as already in the time I have written this - I have hung washing out, checked my personal email, made myself another unnecessary snack and emptied the kitchen bin!) All jobs which could have waited till the end of the day- However if you are fortunate to have good night’s sleep then yes if you can bare it – getting up earlier does have so many benefits – for me I am lucky as I have to get up to physically fit in the jobs I have to do before leaving the house on certain days! This is not because I am so fantastic and amazing at getting up early! It’s because I have a dog! Yes, a dog and he needs a good walk every morning in order for me to be able to leave him for a couple of hours each day. I am in no way suggesting getting a four-legged friend to encourage you to get up early at all!!! But what I would say is that give yourself 3 out of the 5 working days an early start! This could be Tues, Wed and Friday? Actually, why I am I suggesting days you are more than capable of selecting 3 out of 5 days a week to start your day an hour earlier than normal and ones that suit you best. In that hour I would totally recommend getting outside! As Yes physical activity really does make us more productive. If you’re not a keen sports person that’s fine - a walk is all it takes. Find a circuit route from your home which should take up to around 20 minutes – if you can get up and out within the first hour of waking up it will do you no end of good! As its scientifically proven that receiving natural sunlight within the first hour of waking up will boost our serotonin level “the feel-good hormone” – and if you’re reading this in the UK and think we don’t have any sunlight! Fear not it works just as well through those familiar things that fill our skys (Clouds). When I walk, I also make this my time to be grateful for everything that fills my life (Going off on a slight tangent and a sneak at my next blog post) giving thanks for everything in your life really does raise your vibration which in turn will set a good tone for your now-to-be productive day! I then can set the day up and start planning my time ahead, respond to some quick emails and give myself that all important head start to my day without the interruptions.

2. Drinking in the week

I LOVE red wine and it is definitely my chosen drink closely in line with tea! – as many of my friends would also agree! And for me I am terrible for habitual routines and talking myself into having a glass or 3 – knowing that as nice as it is at the time – I will definitely be that bit slower the next day and far more likely to repeat my snooze button and swap a run for a walk! So for me – instead of saying no to wine I just now have one night in the week where I see a friend and one night at the weekend where I think ok I will now enjoy some red wine – as self-employed and as many of you will relate to this and I have talked about this a lot with other self-employed friends – switching off completely from your business thoughts is near impossible to do! If like me I am constantly constantly thinking of what I should be doing, what I should have done, what I could have done or some new mad idea of what I would love to do! This for me is where my love of wine comes in (I don’t advocate this at all and would never encourage anyone to drink) but personally for me – it allows my brain to slow down and have a break – I have now found by limiting my intake in the week – most weeks now I tend not to drink anything at all as the less I drink the less I want and the more I am really enjoying the benefit of waking up early with a clear head and how much more I enjoy it on my Saturday night. (NB - I didn’t want to go into detail about how drinking can lower your mood as I’m not here to preach to you as I know you are just as much aware as me of the negative impact that alcohol does have on the brain and our physical wellbeing).

3. Taking part in regular Exercise

For me when my children were little, I really struggled to take any regular exercise partly due to having a real lack in physical time, energy, or childcare so for a long time I didn’t! but when I could I did as I knew it would definitely help my mental and physical wellbeing. So, on this I would also reflect on are you being too harsh on yourself if you have a young family, I wouldn’t put yourself under any pressure to take part in things that will cause you more stress and with the wonderful thing called hindsight I can now see you will never get this time back! And when you’re old and grey you will give any amount of success just to have those moments back when your kids needed your sole undivided attention and that my friend is worth more than anything! So never be harsh about this – as your kids get older you will be able to devote so much more time to getting fit and taking part in the spin class you have always dreamt of enjoying (said no one ever!) – you can though always walk! (Ok maybe if your kids are toddlers that’s not great advice as there are very few 3-year-olds that enjoy a straightforward walk!) But if you do have another adult in the house maybe discuss how you can divide your time so you can take part in some physical activity at least once a week. And as we all know that the wonderful Joe Wicks online activity is also an option. Personally, it’s not my thing but I am a keen yogi and have found a brilliant app (Down Dog) which I pay a yearly subscription offering anything from 10 mins to an hour yoga practice. Something I have been able to stick too! Because of its flexibility I can just choose the practice length - to the time I have. More often than not, this is only 15 minutes – but those 15 minutes a couple of times a week really do benefit me mentally and physically and I know there are many similar classes that you can now access via our wonderful world of web or an app on our phone.

Now I have school aged children and am able to have a flexible job which allows me to take part in a bootcamp – (something I never would have envisioned) I take part once a week with my business partner. Attending with a friend has helped – as we both are slightly competitive and will never miss a session just to prove to the other we are committed which motivates us both.

Always after completing exercise, I feel really set for the day and am in such a better mindset to focus on the jobs in hand and I really can’t advocate enough that just taking tiny chunks of time to dedicate to an activity and especially one outside will reap tenfold into how you apply yourself to your work.

4. Going to bed early!!

In a million years I never thought I would be preaching to adults the benefits of going to bed at what I will refer to for the purpose of the blog a reasonable time! As adults we know the importance for a child to get a good night sleep, yet when it comes to our own sleep, we forget the same benefits of a good night’s snooze will help us too! Who is guilty of having a TV in the bedroom or worse I used to take my iPad to bed practically squashed up against my face! Binge watching Grey’s Anatomy (I spent one summer watching so much at night - that when I thought I had something seriously wrong with me, I went to the doctors! Just turned out I was lying on one side so much propped at an awkward angle in bed for so long watching my iPad was the cause of the problem!!!) So, I have bravely swapped the iPad to audio books! In the first week of doing this I couldn’t believe how quickly I was falling asleep – not always possible if you share a bed with someone but reading a good old-fashioned book or listening to something is a great tool for switching off.

Another good thing is set yourself your time you want to go to bed and then when it comes to it get into bed or start the process another half hour before – as the reality is a little job or person or a quick scroll on the phone will creep in. By giving yourself a head start you’re sure to meet somewhere in the middle! Also again don’t start doing this thinking every night this week I am going to sleep at 10pm! Use the same practice as getting up early principle and just aim for 3 nights and this way you’re not putting a load more unnecessary pressure on yourself.

I hope my realistic approach to these life hacks in becoming more motivated – each point I have tried to give you my honest experience and please know none of this happened to me overnight and maybe just start off with one of the points and go from there as this is still very much a work in progress – but I am seeing great benefits in all areas of my life and not just being more productive in work but also my home life balance feels much better too!

I would love to hear your thoughts and if you give any of the points a try and how you got or getting on.

Love

G x