We have to stop thinking of motivation as something that happens first. Motivation usually kicks in once you’ve kicked yourself in the butt and checked some serious shit off your list. Then motivation carries us into the next task to be crushed. So let’s think of getting started another way. Start with small baby steps towards your goal. It can seem impossible sometimes, trust me I’ve been there. Just remember motivation is crap if you allow it to be, but there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Align those little ducks in a row and waddle right towards that end goal!

MAKE IT HAPPEN 

#DoItAnyways – think of our kids and what we expect them to do without question. Motivation is crap if we allow it to be that way. We have the ability to do it anyway, and sometimes all it takes is a small family affair where everyone gets involved and can actually make a little fun out of it. 

As adults, we have plenty of things that we just have to suck up and get it the f@*! done, right? Laundry, feeding our kids, right? They don’t seem to starve quietly. Motivation is crap if we can’t suck it up and get it done.

Do I always feel like running? Heck no! But I love some time to myself to run 1x a week. The feeling afterward of getting my brain endorphins going makes me feel less stressed too. Making habits will help propel you to the next level of success and make motivation less crappy!

Another biggie of mine is prospecting at work. It makes me uncomfortable, but if I want to get closer to the next step I need to #5secondrule pick up the phone and touch base with a prospect on my list, or drop them a useful article I found in the mail or email to them. Those little things get me closer to where I’m “happy at myself” or closer to my goals.

 START SMALL 

What helps me beat “feeling like it” is by breaking things down so they don’t feel so un-achievable or like the mountain I’ll never reach the top of. My big tip. Stop multitasking!

If you can conquer small steps you are achieving something. Remove the thinking you have to tackle the entire pile of laundry NOW. Wash, dry AND put it away? Hello? Not a superhero, no other mother of multiples could do that and get anything else done. Period. By dividing yourself into a million pieces no one gets YOU fully nor does your tasks. Try taking bites, just get one “bin” of clothes washed and dry (putting away is another story – we live out of baskets and I’ve just come to be fine with that.)

For example, I’ve had luck with cutting the anxiety of cleaning the entire house in one sitting especially as Gracyn is putting everything in her mouth and wiping up the floor on her belly (yes, now I need to spot treat your outfit before I wash it, thank you sweet one for the extra “giving” to mama)…so on Tuesday or Wednesday mornings (depends on my workout day), I’ll wake up 15 minutes earlier while everyone else is asleep and clean as many bathrooms as I can. Making sure I’m at least getting the toilets cleaned….once again thanks to my Lil’ pot licker, trying to avoid her contracting more germs.

{Like the one morning while I was getting ready and turned around and found she had gotten the toilet brush in her hand that was BEHIND the bath toys in the closet! I didn’t see her chew on it so I’m just going to pretend that if I didn’t see it, it didn’t happen!}

DIG DOWN DEEP INSIDE OF YOU

The line of not sweating the small stuff is one I recently had to dig down deep and take seriously. Until you are really sick of the person you are becoming, and you tearfully realize your kids are following in the same footsteps, you won’t make a change. When such situations arise, you find it in yourself to actually shift your mindset in order to shift your behavior. I needed to shift my mindset in order to shift my behavior and look for things that fuel my energy instead of depleting it. The only person who is going to turn your life around is you. When you look in the mirror, that’s the one person you cannot lie to.

It won’t happen overnight. I say this often, I don’t have it all figured out and probably never will. But that’s the gift life gives us each day to try again and keep working at it. It will pay dividends over time and that’s the reward to yourself that it is working. Learning from your mistakes and doing it better the next time around will give you confidence for the next time around, and if you stay humble and kind it will show the confidence to your kids that they can accept their behavior and confidently learn from their mistakes as well. 

What type of schedule do you have for your weekdays? If you have none and would like help from an outside-non-judging perspective, please let me know. You don’t have to drown in the overwhelming level of life changes you’ve been handed. Trust me I would not think down on you at all if you wanted some advice. Remember, I’m your OCD-planner friend so use my psycho skills to your bene! 

BE AWESOME TODAY!