Senior Neurological Recovery Specialist Steven Sala, has been working in the rehabilitation & recovery space since 2014 but his passion for living an active lifestyle and wanting to share that with others runs deep into his bones.
As he celebrates his birthday (today!), we asked him what it takes to set goals and actually reach them. Here are his four tips for how to stay motivated.
It’s 2 months into the new year so how are those resolutions going? For me this is a great time to check in (not only because it is my birthday) but because it makes me realize how far I have to go to finish the year. I seem always to look back and think about where did the year go, but this is one time I can still look forward to the year to come as ahead of me.
The thing that this time of the year is lacking is motivation and that is because motivation is a fleeting feeling and not an emotion that we can hold onto and use to harness our energy, direction, and drive. The thing that I have noticed is that motivation is personal, as in what gets you going might not do anything for me. There are certain strategies that some of the most successful people use that you can apply to keep other lasting emotions involved to stay more motivated.
Tip #1 - Design Achievable Goals
The way I stay motivated around this time is to always set a goal at the start of the year that I can reach by the end of February. It is a great way to start the year off on the right step and an easily implementable time period which can lead to drastic results to start or break habits for the future.
Tip #2 - Find Effective Rewards
Everybody loves treats, and the only thing that is better is a treat that you can give yourself. Once the goal is reached this is a great way to instill excitement for not only reaching the goal but for the next part of the journey. The quality of the reward should be based on the quality of the work but always make sure that the rewards are not pervasive or detrimental to your overall goal.
Tip #3 - Sustain Progress
Progress usually seems to come in bursts and waves along with slumps and stalls that seem to the point most people get stuck. Now is the time to start looking into sub-goals that keep the motivation going or to look back at the progress already made and how far you have come.
Tip #4 - Harness the Influence of Others
The greatest asset, besides yourself, is to put your goal to the world and more
specifically to your world so that others can keep you accountable. In order for this to work, to motivate yourself is to tell the world not only your goal but what you have achieved and to be as specific as possible.
Everybody has good and bad days...
Motivation is a fleeting feeling and can be great to jumpstart an action, but if you’re like me it usually comes at 2 am in the morning when you are trying to solve the world's problems. The way to move these feelings into action is to design achievable goals, find effective rewards, sustain progress, and harness the influence of others.
Everybody has good and bad days, but the key is to make sure you give your best account of yourself each and every day.
Chillin'
Steve
Steven Sala
Senior Neurological Recovery Specialist