Look in the mirror and accept yourself!
Coming to a place of acceptable about your current position in life is a key component in making changes to that position.
You’re thinking right now, “Wait a minute, we have to accept our less-than-optimal situation so that we can change? I thought motivation came from the refusal to accept that! Now you’re saying we should just lay down and accept it?” Not quite. I agree that motivation comes from wanting more than what we have. Once you have the desire to change, you can use acceptance to fuel that desire to a higher level of motivation.
Allow me to explain.
Get honest about yourself, learn to accept the negatives, and use them as fuel to overcome and maximize your potential.
Take someone who is overweight. He’s done the research and developed a diet/exercise plan to help him reach his desired weight loss goals. He is all ready to go – he has purchased the food, downloaded the calorie/macronutrient tracking app, and has the gym membership or at-home workout equipment. The perfect thing that he should do at this point is to stand in front of a mirror, take off all clothes, and thoroughly look at himself. To examine all the areas that his body can improve, in full effect.
Then, mentally, he should be in a place of acceptance. An uneasy, painful acceptance, but an acceptance, nonetheless. This isn’t an exercise in beating himself up and getting discouraged. This is seeing his starting point. Many of the before photos in before/after shots come from a level of this sort of acceptance. Combined with the desire to change, this can help fuel greater success.
This doesn’t just apply to weight loss, but any change that we hope to make in our lives. Accepting where we’re starting from, mixed with what we know we’re capable of given the right amount of effort and dedication, can provide the perfect long-term motivation to keep and stick to our goals in life.
Get in front of that mirror and really have a good, long look at yourself. It has the benefit of keeping you honest with yourself from the outset, allowing you to see the full scope of your victories as you make progress.
Don’t use acceptance as a means of tearing yourself down before you get started, if at all possible. You want to maintain motivation, not destroy it. That is the goal here.