Where did it go?!  A month ago you were passionately pursuing goals you set for yourself.  You were making progress!  You were stunning even yourself.  OK, maybe for you it wasn’t a month ago… maybe it was two months ago after you set your New Year’s resolutions.  Or maybe it was a few years ago when you started a new job or began a new adventure.  In any event, remember that?

What was motivating you then and where did it go?

Maybe a better question is this: What knocked your goal(s) out of sight?

For some goals, I know very specific things that happen that cause me to lose my focus.  With exercising, I always lose my momentum when I get an illness that lasts more than three days.  It can be something as simple as a cold; but when I can’t breathe I can’t (or don’t want to) exercise.  It’s like I forget it was ever important to me and after a longer-than-it-should-have-been break, I start all over again.

The crazy thing is that I know this about me; know it’s likely to happen.  And yet, it happens again and again.  How much easier is it to lose motivation when something unexpected happens?  And how much longer does it take to recognize that it’s occurred?

It starts with a day where we are simply “off;” where focus seems impossible and perhaps even futile.  Then another comes after that one where we force ourselves to do what we must, but our heart is somewhere else.  And after that it seems we’re simply going through the motions.  Our goals are out of sight… and when they do come into focus, they seem to be impossible to achieve.

Where did the motivation go?  What next?

We’ll explore that this week.

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