President Dwight D Eisenhower, once said that ‘motivation is the art of getting people to do     what you want them to do because they want to do it’.  In this new year, your motivation will     make or break your goals, and the importance of staying positive and focused is essential.

    The power of your positive energy on your workout can be profound, and often essential to     training efficiently and getting the most out of your time.  Leading sports psychologists say     that your ‘positive self-talk’ and ‘internal dialogue’ can significantly improve your     performance while you are training.  Gareth Dutton, a psychologist at Florida State University     says the problem is that most people just are not aware of how destructive their thoughts     really are.  “The thing that precedes your behavior is a thought, and we sometimes aren’t good     at getting in touch with our thoughts,” he says. “We’re on autopilot.”  Rather than telling     yourself that this exercise is too hard, it hurts too much, I am too tired, I’m not getting          anywhere, or any negative thought when it comes to exercise, try preceding your exercise with     a positive thought and set yourself up for success.  Try telling yourself while you are working     out, “I feel tired, but I know there is more inside me to give”, “this is tough, but I know I can     do this”.  That positive self-talk will have profound impacts on your performance not only     during your workouts, but also in making the right decisions when it comes to eating a healthy diet.

It can be difficult for beginners to master the skills necessary to adhere to an exercise plan, but give it time.  If you can stick it out for six months it begins to become a part of who you are rather than what you do.  You will begin to see more results as the weeks go by that will continue to motivate you further.  You will begin to see more muscle tone, have more energy, feel stronger and fitter, and even to sleep better and feel more focused at work.  Your confidence will begin to increase, and that will motivate you even further to continue to your goals.

Even the most dedicated among us experience dips in our motivation and long for something to relieve the boredom of repetitive training sessions. In fact, sport and exercise psychologists have demonstrated a strong association between boredom and exercise dropout rates. Whatever your performance level, enjoyment is a key motivator for adherence and output during training.  Outside sources, known as ergogenic aides, namely music, can be an incredible motivator during your workouts.  Recent studies are contributing solid evidence that listening to music can increase your effort and reduce your RPE (rate of perceived exertion). And these days more and more exercisers are turning to music as a source of inspiration that can aid in their performance.

Another aide in getting and staying motivated in the weeks and months ahead is to do some goal setting. Goal setting is a simple, yet often misused source of motivation.  People tend to set either a goal towards something (running a half marathon), or away from something (not being lazy and unfit anymore).  Setting a negatively enforced goal can be arbitrary and unwise in the long run.  Set yourself up for success by being positive from the beginning and setting a goal towards something.  Goals give a focus and the key to effective goal setting is the S.M.A.R.T. principle: 

·      Specific:   not just generic, do-your-best type goals.

·      Measurable:  Your progress needs to be specific and measured, not just arbitrary gains.

·      Adjustable:  In the case of unexpected gains and improvement the goals can be increased, or in case of injury, they can be decreased.

·      Realistic:

·      Time frame: If you don't give yourself a specific time frame in which the goal must be achieved, then the urgency for attainment is reduced.

If the SMART principle is followed, you will be heading out on the right foot to reach those goals, and able to remain motivated as you make your progress along the way.

Every one of us has an untapped energy source that can be drawn upon to bring about superior results. Enhancing motivation is fundamentally about a change of attitude, developing a positive mindset and engaging in goal setting that facilitate improvement. Stay positive and focused on this road to improved fitness and performance this year.  There will inevitably be ups and downs along the way, but if you stay determined and positive, you will make it happen.