Finding Motivation

Let’s talk about motivation. I find that motivation can be the easiest and the most difficult to find. When it comes to planning a vacation, finding the perfect cocktail dress, or getting to know someone new, motivation is like air—easily accessible and instinctive. But when I find myself trying for the fifth time to break my sugar addiction, motivation is as dry as the Mojave Desert in August.

But I found something true, something that makes sense and is helping me to build motivation one attempt at a time.

Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., author of Eight Weeks to Optimum Health, describes motivation in a very motivating way. Dr. Weil uses cigarettes as the analogy.

“Research into cigarette addiction indicates that making an attempt to quit is the best predictor of eventual success, even if the attempt itself is not successful…. Attempting to quit is commitment to changing behavior, a measure of motivation, and whether you succeed or fail is less important than making the attempt. Even if you resume smoking in a week, you lose no credit for the effort. In fact, the effort adds to a reservoir of motivation that one day will be full enough to initiate the sudden change that enables people to drop habits without struggling. Such is the power of motivation, but it must come from within.”

While I push forward toward my goal of a sugar-free lifestyle, I realize that the new me I am struggling to create is still deeply attached to the old me. Old addictions, old habits, old surroundings. I recently visited a place I used to live years ago. Within two days I found myself falling back into the habits that ruled my life then: big meals, rich desserts, and little exercise. The progress I had worked so hard to access dissipated rapidly.

But today I am starting again. Next week I will most likely begin once more. I will probably falter all over again in November. But each time I recommit, the water level in my growing reservoir rises another inch. Each time I take a fresh approach, I learn a little more about myself. And with knowledge comes freedom. So, start today. And freedom will seep into your life one day at a time, one inch at a time, until it defines your future and pervades your choices.