It's kind of funny how people use Mondays as a kind of new beginning. If you want to start something it helps to have a real starting point, too. You don't necessarily have to wait for January 1, which is a starting point for many people. You have lots of different starting points.
Mondays are the new beginning of a week. So you can start something 52 times a year, giving you a natural kind of momentum.
The beginning of a vacation or the end of a vacation can also be a good starting point. Just consider how often you have a vacation and how often this then gives you a starting point.
Your birthday or the birthday of loved ones of yours.
Then there are certain holidays.
So you have many different points to have natural momentum.
You may know the "After the weekend, I'm going to start." That's not saying much yet, but you have to start harnessing that natural momentum when you want to take advantage of it.
Of course, in addition (op-ed) a roadmap must exist. How are you going to tackle something? Most plans fail because there is no plan.
Exercising more is not a plan. A plan is that you go to the gym on Monday at 8:30 p.m. and sign up for a membership and have a counselor there for the first few weeks. That way you have a few hard commitments to keep so that with your self-knowledge you know you're going to keep going instead of sitting on the couch again.
So that natural momentum is there, like Monday. But grab that momentum with a good plan.
The good plan will work even on a Tuesday, but that natural momentum can give you just that extra spark to have the energy to execute the plan.
So take advantage of that 😊.
How do you tackle it?
Most people use goals that are too big. These want to be somewhere already right away. For example, I am the top crossfitter who deadlifts 240 pounds, who is super fit and can also run a marathon and has 7th dan aikido.
That's very nice, but where am I at right now? I'm nowhere near there yet.
So what can I do now with small steps so that I can move in that direction.
Then I have to crossfit anyway. I do that a few times a week.
If you really have certain goals, such as with deadlifts, you should start deadlifting. Or you should ask help from your trainer that you do deadlifts a little more often so you can reach your record faster.
Those are slightly smaller goals and more concrete points you can get started with.
Imagine you are completely at 0 and want to become a good crossfitter, a good first step is to go there.
This sounds very simple, but you might find it scary. Then you see all those people...
The first time I found it quite scary if I'm completely honest. But I had an appointment and of course you don't let yourself be known. Then you see all these bare-chested men slinging weights and loud music. Then I come in there like a dickweed who thinks he's fit.
But the outside looked very different to me "Yeah, we're gonna ff this."
Well it was hell on earth, but now it's not scary anymore. Now it's the comfort zone. In the beginning it was just a little exciting.
Makes sense in itself, everything you do for the first time is a little scary and exciting. But somewhere you're going to take a first step.
Make the first step smaller until you can take it
If going there is too big a first step, you can also take another first step.
Like just looking up on the Internet what's near you. Or watching videos on a video site of people who think it's really cool. So you collect the positives of something you like.
If you want to play the piano, you might first have to look for a key-board on marketplace or some such site. Then that's the first step.
Then on a Monday you can grab that natural momentum to start doing something new, but keep it small. That way you can do something every day, just look something up in the morning and read up or do something in the evening.
Depending on your goal, you can watch and engage with it. Because that will ensure you keep the momentum going. Then you don't have to go to the gym 6 times a week, because most people can't manage that, but maybe you are one of those people.
You're usually lucky to get 2 saves a week. So then you can already be happy.
It's necessary, too, that exercise, and you don't necessarily have to go to the gym, but go for a walk, go for a run, go outside. Go do something.
Especially at this time (corona time), it is important to take a nice walk outside or get some exercise.
Then you're also working on your overall well-being. You can also take a moment to listen to a podcast, this can be done at home or when you walk. Sometimes you just want to walk in silence.
But what's important is that even when you're not feeling quite 100%, work with your body. Take a cold shower, for example. You'll find that you'll be more clear-headed again.
It's intense for a while because you're going out of your comfort zone, but it helps.
So take advantage of this and grab your momentum to start doing something. Also listen to this podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/195236/4177559-pak-je-momentum?play=true
People who want something from you also use this technique
Making that smaller the first step is also a strategy other people use to create momentum so that people more easily conform to behavior or an action that is not accepted at once[1].
For example, if someone says to you, "I want you to ring the doorbell of 10 people and ask how they're doing." You probably say no.
But then when someone says, "I want you to talk to someone on the street and ask how they're doing." Is already much more likely to say yes.
Then the request can go one step further and further until eventually you have no problem ringing the doorbell of 10 people and asking how they are doing.
This is momentum for someone else's goal, but so you can just as easily use that technique for your own goals.
Momentum in recovery from illness
Other goals related to your health often come with rehabilitation, for example. Research shows that having goals can also help you experience daily momentum in the steps you take toward regaining good health[2].
So basically what you see is that setting goals and sub-goals gives you a sense of momentum when you achieve them. It doesn't matter if it's getting fitter, mastering a skill, your personal development or health.
Goals let you experience momentum.
Help in experiencing momentum
Would you also like to experience momentum but don't know where to start each Monday? Then hypnosis can help you find what you want to develop and come up with a plan with sub-goals.
This can be done, for example, with an exercise where you visualize where you will be in a year and how you got there. This is an advanced technique, though.
On the other hand, do you suffer more from procrastination or fear of taking the first step toward something you really want? Then regression may be just the technique to help you.
In this case, you go back to the moment in your life where procrastination started or where you decided somewhere that that goal is not achievable for you after all. Then you start doing something with that moment in your mind, with the help of a hypnotherapist, which changes your interpretation of the moment. This usually changes the unconscious belief as well. As a result, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to take that first step.
Want to learn more about hypnosis and what you can do with it? Then come to the free online master class on hypnosis.
Or enroll in one of our training courses to get started with the techniques mentioned above. Super fun to help yourself or just others.
[1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1901/jaba.1996.29-535
[2] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09638288.2013.825653
