Create Motivation to Lose Weight by Developing Your Focus-Motivation 102

In Motivation 101 we looked at creating motivation to lose weight by building up your self confidence. Here, in Motivation 102, we will look at the second of three areas that make up developing unstoppable motivation - developing your focus, or finding out what you want for you.

When people are asked what they want to achieve with their health and fitness goals invariably they respond with one of three typical answers:

1. lose weight,
2. feel better, and/or
3. have more energy.

While these are all commendable they do nothing to truly motivate a person because they are too vague and general. They give your brain nothing to wraps itself around and get you fired up to start marching towards your goal. Take, for example, "lose weight" - it says nothing about how many pounds, or how your body might look when you do lose weight. Rather, what you have to do is be very specific as to what it is you would like to accomplish. You also need to define a goal that is achievable and not too far off in the future so as to lose its relevancy today. This will give your brain direction and a final destination. For example, "I will lose 15 lbs by March 1st, exactly two months from today." This is a fairly short-term goal that is not only achievable but specific as to number of pounds and date of completion.

With a clearly defined goal, the brain fires up your motivation with the help of the Reticular Activating System, or RAS. The RAS is that part of the brain connected from the spinal cord all the way up to the mid-brain. In a nutshell, it is where all outside stimulants (such as everything we see, hear, touch, smell, taste) converge with all your internal thoughts and feelings. The clearer the picture of your goal in your mind the better able the RAS can retrieve those things happening on the outside of you for use towards that goal. Let me give you a common example: let's say that you were in the market for a new car and that all you knew was that you wanted a new car, any car, as long as it was new. If you went searching, and you didn't know something specific about what you wanted in a new car, I'd bet good money that you would spin your wheels for a pretty long time trying to find a new car.

But, let's say that you knew you wanted a blue Nissan 350Z. I'd again bet good money that if this car dominated your thoughts you would start to see blue 350Zs on the road; you would start picking up conversations about this car, and/or start noticing the commercials for this car; and, you would start researching this particular car, all the while motivating you to want this car even more. What's happening here is that your RAS is working to get you closer to your getting that particular car - your increased research for this car will increase your desires for this car, which, in turn, increases your motivation to research to find this particular car. And, here again I'd bet good money that you would ultimately get this car - the exact car that's been dominating your thoughts since day one. This is how your brain attaches itself to a clearly defined goal and motivates you to get it.

In addition to having a clear vision of what you want, what turbo-charges a person's motivation is: THE POWER OF WHY. The REASON behind your wanting to embrace a lifestyle of health and fitness is your motivation boost, period. When you have a strong enough reason to achieve something and you keep this at the forefront of your mind you'll be able to stir those emotions necessary to move you to action AND keep you in action until you achieve your goal. Plain and simple, this is how anyone who's ever been able to achieve anything in his or her life was able to do it. Once you have your reason for wanting to go forward, you create a plan, take it step-by-step, focus on your progress along the way to build confidence, and never ever lose sight of, or faith in, your reason.

The best example I can give is of the person who is told by her doctor that she only has six months to live unless she starts exercising to lose weight. Pretty strong reason behind the motivation, huh? Maybe that's not applicable to you; so, find a strong, personal reason - maybe, it's too fit into your wedding dress; slip on an old pair of jeans; become what you were told you could never do; whatever it is, this reason resonates within you and is the original impetus for your wanting to get started in the first place. It's in there, so take the time now to find it. Whatever you do, don't start until you have this reason firmly in your grasp - better to do this now and create unstoppable motivation than to run the risk of having to start over again.

Good luck! And thanks for reading this. Develop your Power2B whatever you choose to be.

Sincerely,
Gary

Please visit http://www.Power2BFitness.com and develop your Power2B whatever you choose to be. Power2B is Orange County's premier lifestyle management - personal training specialist that creates permanent change to your body.

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