Every year people make New Years resolutions.  For too many people, those resolutions are too soon forgotten and ignored.

Does that have anything to do with motivation?

To a degree – yes! I believe that it is about how we channel our motivation and keep it going.

I believe that most people are highly motivated to achieve their New Years resolutions whether it focus on weight loss or being a better parent.  Just as we are motivated to achieve certain goals at work, and yet often fail.  The problem is usually not in the initial stages where everyone is excited about the new resolution or goal (go to a gym in the next week or two and see how crowded it is).  The problem occurs when that initial excitement wains, and we fall back into the comfortable and routine.  We might try to regain that edge after one or two fall-off the wagon episodes, but pretty soon we tend to just ignore it or forget about it all together.

What we need is to have a motivational engine that keeps us going. We need to fill that motivational engine with the right type of gas and make sure that the engine is tuned up and ready to go. We need to make sure that we have enough gas to refill when it starts running low.  We need to know when to get it tuned up and change the oil.   We need to make sure that we can fix it when it breaks down.

I think all of our motivational engines are within us.  It is the scheduled maintenance and filling it up that we so often lag on.  What type of gas do you run on?   Is it a personal motivation?  Does it require a reward?  Is it social?  Does it need the turbo power of passion?  Is it a mixture of all four?

In order to achieve our goals we need to understand this about us and put elements in place to ensure that we fill our tank regularly and do all the scheduled maintenance required.

What about you – what’s your motivational fuel for 2011?