What moves you?

In reply to Steph's comment on my last post about reading about one's motivations, I thought I would share a little bit about what motivates ME. It is probably different from the next blogger, but also frighteningly similar!

Knowing WHY you want to do something is absolutely essential to your success no matter what it is you're trying to achieve. As I work in the health and fitness industry it seems logical to focus on this area, but there is so much more to knowing WHY - how is what you want to achieve going to better you, your relationships, your work - how is it going to impact on other areas of your life? What else are you going to achieve by nailing what seems to be just one little goal?

Losing body fat and getting fitter or getting competition ready is what most clients come to me for. They are looking to find "the push" they need to make it to where they need to go. I can provide excellent extrinsic motivation all the way through to the end. What needs to be developed by the client is intrinsic motivation so that when extrinsic motivation falls away - the coach is ill or the competition is over, there needs to be reason to keep on keeping on. Many competitors crash and burn because they have failed to see what is important to them AFTER they have reached the physical goal.

For me, my personal time has been focused lately on intrinsic motivation. Although I have a few external events coming up in my future where I need to look really good (not a comp!) , my main reason for getting into shape is purely internal. Because my work requires me to coach others, I tie my own authenticity up in my work - for me, I want the outside (external appearance) to reflect what is inside - a fit , strong, healthy woman! Where I have been going these days is asking myself "what do I really want?" and "why do I want it?". It's what I call a "jellyfish" response to just say "I want to lose weight", because you can't "hold" on to that why. However the response of "I will lose 3kg in six weeks, see my physio regularly, work on my rehab because I need to be fitter, faster and stronger for taking a shot at becoming an RPM presenter" - well, that's got more teeth. I think I've ticked off most of my New Year's goals - this is the last one - so I want to be well on the way to achieving this by the New Year.

I hope this little ramble makes sense, it's one of those "off the cuff" Liz written diarrhoea moments!

In other news, I finally found a dress to wear to hubby's work Xmas function on Friday. Found a great "little black dress" at the Cue outlet at the DFO. There's another advantage to being fit - all the size 10s on the rack fit beautifully!