How To Stay Motivated

With the recent launch of my latest book and the success of my Motivate Me Workshops for Women, I have been asked the same question over the past couple of weeks, 'How do you fit it all it?'

The honest answer is, 'It just happens!'

I have always been able to multi-task, I think this is the Gemini side of my personality, and having multiple projects on the go keeps my mind active and (hopefully) keeps me young!  This question did make me think hard about how I manage to motivate myself, and I wanted to share my findings in the hope it may help you to stay motivated.

First of all I revisited my story on the Female Entrepreneur Association website.  This was an interview about how I motivated myself to start my own business, 'Body & Soul Holistics'.  I was so proud of this feature and received some amazing feedback.  You can read that interview here.

Motivation can come from any situation be it good or bad.  My entire life changed on one single day and that was my initial motivational seed.  I learned then how important every experience was to my self-discovery.  I stopped being a victim and became a strong, independent woman.

So what else helped me on my path to motivation?  Here are my top 10 tips -

1. Don't compare yourself to other people, your journey is personal to you and can't compare to anyone else's path.
2. Take it one day at a time - Rome wasn't built in a day!
3. Vision boards - my regular readers will know how much I love vision boards, they concentrate your motivation to one place and can be a powerful tool to help you achieve your goals.  If you want more information you can read my post about Vision Boards here.
4. Be positive - surround yourself with positive people and cut any negative people/situations from your life.
5. Believe in yourself.
6. Reward yourself - this can be as simple as a new top when you lose weight, a trip to the cinema when you manage to avoid self-doubt for a week or anything you want, be creative.
7. Use your support network.  Family, friends, professionals, forums, support groups are all there to help you cope with anything life can throw at you.  These supporters WANT to help, all you have to do is ask.
8. Acknowledge your best bits.  This will be different for everyone but to give you an example, when I escaped my abusive marriage I felt totally alone, frightened and lost, but over time I began to acknowledge my achievements - this was as simple as getting my 2, 3 and 5 year olds dressed and ready for nursery and school on time.  My 'best bits' evolved over time but the smaller achievements are just as important as the big ones.
9. Read success stories.  There are so many publications and online resources available that share unique stories of how other women overcame their demons.  Read them, learn from them.  The Female Entrepreneur Association is a wonderful place to start.
10. Allow yourself to have an 'off day'.  When I feel my motivation waning I lock myself away with a bag of popcorn, a mug of tea and a good book or DVD.  Even the most inspirational guru on the planet would be allowed a day off every once in a while, so you can too!

Keep on eye out for a future post about my favourite female bloggers - these are the women who motivate and inspire me on a daily basis and I am excited about sharing their talents with you all.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated?
Have you overcome a demon of your own using a motivational tool that you can share?