Every year on January 1 we go balls to the walls on our New Year’s resolutions. This is our year and we have the plan to prove it. Then come mid January we start to fall back into our old habits of negative thought patterns, poor food choices, or whatever it may be. The thrill is gone and we’re just NOT motivated anymore. The good news is I’ve got new New Year’s motivation packed with tips and tricks to help you stay on track.
These tips and tricks are scientifically proven to work to increase happiness, decrease stress, and enhance your general well being. At a glance they sound super cliche but I promise you they’re not, read my explanations and you’ll see why.
Get active
You’ve heard it 100 times and now it’s 101. This doesn’t mean you have to invest $200 in a personal trainer, you can do anything that gets you moving. Nothing is more depressing than sitting at home watching other people live their lives while yours is wasting away. When you move you release endorphins, aka happy vibes and those happy vibes get the creativity flowing.
In my personal experience I have never felt more inspired/motivated than after I go for a run, half of my blog posts come to me during a run, which is even more awesome. The trick is – don’t block out the world with headphones. Run with nature as your background noise; take it all in.
Eat wholesome food
Ok ok, I’m sure you’ve had enough of the green juice and kale talk but it really works! I tried an experiment aka I binge ate junk for a week because a. I love sugar and b. I was lazy and didn’t meal prep.
So. What I did was eat like crap, (pizzas, cookies, egg rolls, cake, pasta, and fried bananas just to name a few), for 5-7 days and witnessed the results. I gained some weight, (not surprising), my skin broke out, I was tired all the time, kept eating when I was full, and 99% of the time I was a cranky little brat.
Guess what happened when I ate the good stuff? Yep, I lost that weight, had clear skin, had more energy, and was way more positive about life. The point?
Travel
I get that not everyone can go to Bali for 3 months… yet. But I also get that you can take day trips and discover things you never knew that are close to home. Traveling is one of my favorite things to do, even if it’s to a park down the street.
You are so present, so in awe of the foreign beauty around you… I’ve never felt more alive and more motivated to kick a$$. You realize there is soooo much out there and your seemingly “big” issues turn out to be so small. Things matter less, and you find less is actually more.
If you have the chance to study abroad, do it. If you can take a few months off from the “real world” to travel, don’t give it a second thought.
Hang with nature
On a decent day, would you rather walk on a treadmill or outside? My point exactly.
As humans we have this innate attraction to the outdoors and it’s no coincidence. We feel happier, more alive, and inspired when we connect ourselves with nature. The vibrant colors, wild animals, fresh air, Vitamin D, are all things that are attributed to a decrease in stress and increase in happiness. And happy people are motivated people.
Burn incense
This is probably the strangest tip on my list, but it works. The way I see it the hippies burned a lot of incense and there was a lot of great music made during that time, so if you need some motivation grab some incense and a Stones record and you’re good to go.
In all seriousness incense is aromatherapy, which means it has therapeutic benefits such as enhancing concentration and focus and stimulating creativity.
Wake up before the sun rises
I can hear you all groaning from here…
Wayne Dyer motivational speaker and author of Your Erroneous Zones, (35 million copies sold), wakes up at 3am every day. Mastin Kipp, (The Daily Love), works out at 6:30am. Anna Wintour, (Vogue), plays tennis at 5:45am. Michelle Gass, (president of Starbucks), wakes up at 4:30am to go running.
There is great satisfaction, self-discipline, and productivity that happens before sunrise and these people can prove it. Will you be next?
Surround yourself with successful people
Success can be defined in many ways but I’m using it loosely here: a successful person is anyone you admire who has their $h!t together for the most part. Successful people are clear on what they want and don’t want and have a general idea of how they’re going to get it. Successful people don’t stop until they reach their goals.
So, what does this do for you? Well you are a combination of the 5 people you spend the most time with, so if you hang with successful people, you are more likely to become one of them.
Have something else to add to the list? Leave it in the comments below.
xx
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