My 2 preceding articles have explained what the rationale and history of Motivation is and how to shift from a Reward Motivation mind-set into a Change Motivation mind-set. But how can you sustain your new found Change motivation mind-set when you get there? How do you stop slipping back into the more blinkered, conventional Reward motivation way of doing things? To maintain motivation and shifting your mind into a change way of thinking can be tough at first.
I refer to this part as the check and rebalancing.
Maintain motivation with your change mindset
It is easy as time goes on to forget new ways of thinking. When things get tricky or complicated we often default back to our old ways of doing things. This is where you need some refocusing to maintain motivation. Don’t beat yourself up about it, it is a perfectly human thing to do, just make sure you recognise you have done so and start again.
Just think back to when you might have decided that you were going to exercise more and go to the gym or take up yoga. Or it could have been something as simple as you deciding to read a really good book regularly.
You start off with those good intentions but, quite naturally as everyday life creeps back in, tasks and work continue to grind on or mount up, your good intentions can begin to wane. Before you know it your times at the gym or reading that book lessen and eventually fall away.
This is where regularly stopping to check and rebalance comes in.
When you’re starting off changing your mentality into a Change motivation you have to take a few minutes, every single day to check that you are accepting, embracing and encouraging change and you’re doing it with a sense of joy and excitement. If you are not, then you need to re-balance so that you are.
The good news is, is the more often you do it, and the longer you do it for the more habit forming it becomes until the Change motivation becomes your new default. Once it is your new default position then the checks and rebalancing won’t have to be done so often. You will find that you can maintain motivation and sustain the new change way of thinking.
What I’m advocating here is subtle but, trust me it’s powerful.
The Change motivation helped me in lots of ways. My life now doesn’t always follow the conventional pathways. I tend to be doing four or five things all at the same time and success has come again but more importantly, I’m having fun while I’m doing it. I am finding that it is enjoyable to maintain motivation when this new way of thinking brings such unexpected opportunities.
Ever since turning away from the Reward motivation and adopting the Change motivation, new ways of thinking acting and doing have emerged. New strategies tools and methodology have developed from my unique experiences which have made any task I now take on easier, less stressful and far more effective in reaching my objectives and goals.
And, more good news, being subtle also makes it relatively easy to accomplish.
When you can maintain a Change motivation it gives you a competitive edge
Imagine that everyone else that you’re competing against will still be rushing around with that old Rewards motivation. They will easily become disheartened or discouraged because the pace of change keeps fluctuating and moving, and they won’t be resilient enough. They will find it hard to maintain motivation while you do not.
However, there you will be striding through with your new Change motivation actively seeking it, exploiting it, moving on and achieving your goals just quicker and often bigger and better than it may have been otherwise.
So:
Understand your motivation and the fact that change happens.
Accept Change.
Embrace Change.
Re-train your mind away from the old Reward motivation thinking and shift into a Change motivation mindset taking care to keep checking and rebalancing until the Change motivation is your new default.