In any long-term pursuit worth accomplishing, it’s often difficult to maintain a significant level of motivation for long. The first few days after outlining a big goal or starting a new habit are always easy, and it feels as if we’ll get to where we want to go easily.
The initial strong burst of motivation is usually pretty strong, but it’s almost always unsustainable. After it begins to subside, we must turn to self-discipline and willpower to keep on track. While strengthening your self-discipline muscles is extremely vital, the process can be frustrating and we can sometimes lose focus.
There’s a simple, yet highly effective, way to boost your motivation and help stay on course- don’t go at it alone. By including others, you can give yourself a huge advantage over flying a solo mission.
There are several ways to incorporate the support of friends and/or family.
1.) Make it a competition: Grab a buddy, decide on the what the terms are, develop a friendly wager, and get to work trying to outdo each other. The will to achieve is strengthened greatly with the element of competition.
2.) Be accountable to someone: Kind of like a ‘life-coach’ scenario. Give somebody the right to keep tabs on your performance and give a kick in the rear if you start slacking off.
3.) Tell everyone: The more people you tell, the more support you will get. Also, you’ll be far less likely to lose sight of your goals knowing that many others will know.
4.) Join a group: Whether in person or on the net, there’s probably a group dedicated to your pursuit.
My roommate and I recently began a fitness challenge- whoever’s abdominals are more defined by the last day of this semester wins. The loser has to pay $5. It may not seem like much, but there’s a significant psychological boost. My fitness level has been fairly stagnant for a while; I’ve been working pretty hard but haven’t been improving all that much . Hopefully this helps me break through to the next level.
We’re also thinking about adding another competition that involves more of our friends. It would include many different events, testing to find the most well-rounded physically. I hope we come up with something soon- it’d be all but guaranteed to help us achieve more.
I think it would be cool to develop some sort of a ‘financial challenge’ thing. This probably wouldn’t be as fun to the typical college student as a physical challenge, but it could be immensely beneficial.
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