Show Notes:
Starting a new habit is easy when you’re excited, but what happens when that initial motivation fades? If you’ve ever struggled to stay consistent, this episode is for you. We’ll explore why motivation is not something to wait for and how connecting with your deep, personal “why” and celebrating your progress can provide the fuel you need to take action and achieve your goals.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
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Motivation’s Secret: Why motivation often appears after you’ve taken action, not before.
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The Power of Your Why: How to get crystal clear on your purpose and connect it to your daily habits to make consistent action easier.
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Write It Down: Why the simple act of writing down your “why” can reinforce your commitment and help you stay on track when you don’t feel like it.
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Celebrate Your Progress: The psychological importance of celebrating big and small milestones to reinforce positive behavior and boost your drive.
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Planning Your Milestones: How to identify and plan your celebrations in advance to reward your consistency in a way that aligns with your goals.
Resources Mentioned:
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nickmaizy.com: Find more resources to help you live a purposeful life.
Your Next Step
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Write Your Why: Take a few moments to write down why your goals and values are important to you.
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Plan a Celebration: Identify a specific milestone you’re working toward and plan a reward that aligns with your goal.
Episode Transcript
Hello and welcome. Welcome to the Claim your Day podcast. If you’re just joining us for the first time or haven’t caught the last few episodes, we’re right in the middle of a series all about consistency. Because if you want to claim your day, if you want to make the most of your time, you know, and really make, make progress in the areas that you want and to determine what’s your life’s going to be like, if you want to live that out, then you got to be consistent because it’s what we do on a day to day basis really builds, you know, our lives, our habits, what we experience, what we’re able to accomplish and all those things with us, you know, really trying to live out our values.
We’ve got to be consistent to make it happen. So I said we’re right in the middle of a consistency series on that, just on that topic. And, and right now this is episode six of that series. So if you missed any of the previous ones, make sure you go back and check them out. And then also you can make sure you stay tuned in for the next two.
We got two more after this for our, for our whole series on consistency. Okay, so let’s just go ahead and dive in today. You know, we’re talking about, just give it a little bit of a little spoiler on what we’re going to talk about. It’s all about connecting with your. Why? Because let’s face it, staying motivated and having that, that emotional push to stay consistent, to do the things we have to do, it is tough.
It is challenging. You know, and the thing about it is we can’t just wait for motivation to hit us. You know, I was, I always say, you know, motivation, it’s not going to hit you on the couch. You know, it starts after you do so. Have you ever struggled with staying motivated to do the things you need to do? If so, I would say, or at least it is for me, that motivation is even harder when you’re trying to stay consistent with something because it’s that day in, day out and if you’re anything like me or, or I’d say just about anybody, you know, that motivation is going to fade.
Sometimes it’s easier to start off being really, you know, enthusiastic, really excited, you know, you’re starting something new, hey, this is going to work out great. It’s going to be smooth sailing. I’m going to knock it out the part. And then over time, you know, that motivation is probably going to wane a little bit. It’s going to Fade, it’s going to become a little bit more difficult, a little bit more challenging.
You know, judging day in, day out, that initial spark, it just seems to fade. And it’s harder and harder to be consistent. And it’s really easy to begin to lose sight of why we started in the first place or what we’re really working toward. You know, it’s after a little bit of time, you know, that that enthusiasm, that excitement, it fades. And with that goes the motivation. So if you’ve ever felt like the motivation either to achieve your goals or especially to be consistent with pursuing them, if you ever felt like that motivation begins to fade, you’re not alone, by no means.
And that’s why. Exactly. That’s exactly what we’re going to explore today. So before we can really hold tight to that, our why, to keep that motivation, our reasons on why we’re pursuing what we’re pursuing, why our values, why our goals are important, before we can really hold on tight to that, we gotta be able to connect with it first. We gotta be able to, you know, determine what it is, get crystal clear on that big why.
And that’s what’s gonna help us to keep moving forward. So have you taken some time, you know, and. And gotten. I did a little deep dive, you know, mentally even writing it out some on why certain values that you have are important to you or, or why the goals that you have that you want to accomplish, you know, and how you want to live your life, how those connect with your values and why that’s important.
See, this is not for anybody else, for you to share with them or even to post online or something like that, but making sure that you spend some time and really connect with your reasons why you know, why your values are important to you, why they are what they are, you know, why your goals and what you want to accomplish, what you want to achieve, how you want to act, the habits you want to have, you know why those things connect with your values.
You might know it in your head, you might know it intuitively, but really writing it out and exploring it, that’s going to help you. It’s really going to help you when times get tough and over time you end up, you know, that motivation fades a little bit, or you almost like forget that connection in the day out, day out day, daily grind. Because it’s the things you do daily.
That’s what we’re talking about in this consistency series. It’s the things you do daily. But sometimes what you’re doing daily, it’s Tough to remember that that really does have a huge impact on your big goals, your values, how you’re living your life and when you can even sit down just for a minute and write out why. Your goals, your values, why, they all connect. And then that will translate into why what you’re doing on a day to day basis connects with those things.
That’s going to really help you. It’s going to really help you maintain that motivation and be able to stay consistent in what’s important to you. Another way to help you to connect with your why and to really live it out is to go back and remember to celebrate some of those achievements. Celebrate some of the progress that you’re making. The big, the small. Even, even if it doesn’t feel like a lot of progress, you’re not seeing the immediate results.
If you’ve been being consistent for those few days in a row or for one week, make sure you celebrate that. Give yourself some acknowledgement, you have a little fun, a little bit of celebration and recognition of that. Even if that’s just giving it to yourself, it reinforces that positive behavior that is huge. It boosts the motivation, but it’s also helping you to see the value in what you’re doing by a little bit of celebration.
It is so profound how big that is because then you’re, like I said, you’re going to reinforce that positive behavior, you’re going to make it stronger, you’re going to make it easier for you to be consistent because you are celebrating that progress and those milestones that you’re having along the way. It’s going to help it to keep you on that right path that you want for you and your life.
You know, there’s all different kinds of ways that you can celebrate. You know, you can share your progress with some people. You can just take a few moments and reflect on the journey. Sometimes even like mentally reviewing how far you’ve come is a great way to celebrate that. It might be with a little bit of self care, you know, like having a, you know, just doing some things for yourself that could be good.
There’s a whole thing on that. We’ll probably do a whole episode series on self care because as you’re trying to be the best that you can be, you got to take care of yourself, you know, but just really thinking about things that you can do to reward yourself, not things that are going to get you off track. Like if you’re trying to be consistent with your diet, you don’t want to eat a whole cake to celebrate so, you know, make sure that you’re, how you’re rewarding yourself and you’re celebrating your progress and your milestones makes sense for what you’re trying to achieve.
But make sure that you give yourself some of that. It is so powerful, it helps reward what you’re doing. All right, so really connecting with your why and celebrating some of those milestones, it is crucial for you maintaining that long term motivation for you to be able to maintain that consistency is making sure that you’re connecting it with your why, why it’s important, why it’s valuable to you, why it’s going to help you to live the life that you want to live now.
You know, connecting with that, why it is important for a couple reasons I mentioned a little bit of it. You know, sustaining that motivation, motivation, it’s going to ebb and flow. It’s not like you’re going to be super motivated all the time, but when you notice that it’s, you’re not really feeling motivated, you’re not feeling that emotion, a feeling, then going back to why it’s important will help you in your head realize the value of what you’re doing.
And that’s going to help you to, to take those actions and be consistent to do what you need to do, even if you don’t feel motivated. But that’s where the interesting thing with motivation comes is a lot of times it starts after you do. So once you get back into connecting with your why and then and you’re taking the action, you’re back on track, you’re being consistent, you’re doing what you need to do, then all of a sudden that motivation might come a little bit afterwards, but that’s a great way to make sure that you’re still doing what you need to do to be able to live that life and really to claim your day.
Connecting is also, like I said a minute ago, it’s also really important because it reinforces that positive behavior. You know, that’s a little bit of psychology terms right there. I’m sorry, but basically what I’m saying is that it’s going to really help you to make that behavior. You know, that action that you’re taking that you want to take, it’s going to help it to make a stronger connection with you being able to consistently do it.
It’s like it’s almost turning it into a habit in and of itself because you are celebrating the progress that you’re making. You understand the value because it’s connecting with your why. And that just makes it more of an easier choice for you to do those things, especially when you don’t feel like doing it. And bringing those things together really just solidifies, you know, the, the sense of purpose that you have in what you’re trying to do, how you’re trying to act, you know, the values that you’re trying to live out for you and your life and how they’re guiding you towards your goals, you know, and your purpose.
Really connecting that why across the board has a huge impact for that. And once again, that just makes those actions more solid. It’s going to be an easier choice for you because you see that purpose. All right, so how can you apply all these things that we’re talking about here, as I mentioned a little bit earlier, is I think it’s great to write it down. You write down your why, why, why your values are important, why your goals connect to your values, and why, what you’re going to do on a regular basis, why the things that you’re being consistent about, you know, why those connect with that.
Like, what value does that have for you? Write that out. You know, it’s not anything you have to share with anybody, but when you write that out, it helps make that connection stronger in your mind. And then your mind’s going to guide your actions. So that’s how it’s going to really play out. So writing those things out is going to be huge help. And we talked about celebrating milestones and acknowledging the progress.
So what you can do in advance is actually identify what you’re going to celebrate. You know what milestone you’re going to celebrate. Hey, if you’re, you’re being consistent with a diet, so, you know, after one week, a month, whatever it is, you know, you’re gonna, you’re gonna identify that milestone, that consistency, and you’re going to celebrate it a little bit. Or maybe if it’s, you know, going to the gym, you’re going to do that.
You’re going to have some sort of celebration. You’re going to acknowledge that. That progress that you’re making. If you have a reading habit, hey, I’m going to read so many minutes every day. And then after three weeks, I’m going to do this to celebrate and acknowledge that there’s a new book that I want and it’s a little expensive. Oh, hey, I’m going to get it because I’ve already developed this habit and I’m celebrating it.
This milestone right here. And this is how I’m going to do it, whatever it is, and make sure that they said, you know, make sure your celebration. Make sure your acknowledgment of yourself and your consistency and rewarding your behavior, it lines up with what you’re doing. Again, if you’re trying to get into better, you know, increase your health. So you’ve gone a month on this eating plan that you have.
Don’t celebrate by eating a whole cake, you know, maybe a little bit. But I’m not giving you nutrition. I’m not a dietitian or anything like that, so I’m not giving you that nutrition advice. But make sure how you’re celebrating really is in line with what you’re trying to achieve. And then, you know, look at it. You know, then the next step is you’re going to write this stuff out.
You’re going to identify it, and then go ahead and commit. Go ahead and commit to your why. Go ahead and commit to celebrating these milestones. Make that plan, because this is where you’re going to actually live it out. You know, in a previous episode, we talked about tracking your progress. You know, this is going to be a great time to be thinking about how you’re going to track your progress as you’re writing things out.
That way you can see the success that you’re having, and that’s going to be encouraging in and of itself. But you can go back and listen to that previous episode for a little bit more on tracking your progress. It also can help you to celebrate your wins, too. Look, let’s just be real motivation. It’s going to ebb and flow. It’s going to fluctuate over time. That’s life. Just try to be patient with yourself.
Give yourself a little bit of grace. And if you’re not feeling like doing what you need to be doing, then that’s okay. That’s just normal. We’ll say like that the connecting with your why it is going to help you to do that. Look, this is on that I struggle with sometimes, the motivation side. I don’t feel like doing what I need to be doing. And that happens really often.
But that’s. It’s like, okay, it’s okay that it’s not easy to be consistent. It’s okay that, you know, it’s not just automatically always going your way. That’s human. That’s natural. That’s okay. But. But don’t say that you can’t do anything about it. That’s. That’s not okay. You can if you don’t feel like doing something and you know, oh, golly, I’m just Not motivated. I don’t feel like doing this today.
That’s okay. Acknowledge it, claim it, call it out loud. But instead of staying there, ask yourself, what can I do to help me do what I need to do? What can I do to give myself that little push so that I’ll take these actions that I need to take today so that I can make the most of my day to day? What can I do to help myself?
Ask yourself those things. Because when you start to ask yourself those questions, you’re going to come up with the answers. And after listening to this episode, I hope that when you ask yourself, what can I do to get myself moving today, I hope this episode comes up. Or maybe at least some of the things we talked about, maybe if it’s looking back to that, where you wrote down why your goals and your values are important or why what you do daily and this, this habit that you’re trying to have that you’re going to be consistent with why that’s important for what’s most important to you.
Hope you go back to that. Because you have the power to maintain your consistency. You have a power to influence your motivation. Maybe you’re not going to be super motivated all the time, every day 24 7, but you have the power to impact that motivation and to stay consistent. You really do. And connecting with your why and your purpose and what’s most important to you, I think is a great way to do that.
So just to wrap up the episode, make the most of your day. Use this as, take some of the things we talked about today. You know, use them with your life. See what works best for you. Give some a try. If it doesn’t work, if it doesn’t resonate with you that well, I’m not gonna say it doesn’t work. I know some of the psychology behind this, so I think, I think it does work.
But if it just doesn’t resonate with you, you want to try something different, that’s great. I’m not offended by any means. I want to give you tools and resources so that you can claim your day and make the absolute most of what you have and the time that you have so that you can live according to your values, achieve your goals, and to live that best life. All right, my friend, we just have two more episodes in the consistency series.
Join us for that. As always, you can go to Nick May dot com. I’m continuing to build that site up with some more resources just so that you can, you know, drift left, be more intentional, and make the most of your time. All right. Here’s to you, my friend. Can’t wait to talk to you in the next episode. Take care. It.