Welcome all. Thanks for choosing to spend time here at Carol’s Corner. I hope you find your time here worthwhile, educational , and above all , motivating. What I ‘m going to discuss in a little bit, I hope is going to be motivating for those who need it. There are times we all need to be inspired and motivated to continue on the path we set for ourselves. That is just life, so we’ll get to that in a minute. You’ll laugh when you hear why I chose this outfit for today’s picture. I wanted something blue, so I could wear one of my new FitBit bracelets I had ordered from Amazon. Funny thing is I don’t have too much blue, for some reason. All the blues of this outfit work really well together, down to the cami shaper I’m wearing under my top. Too bad you can’t see the bling on the back of my jeans, and of course I love the blinged out belts I can now enjoy. Love that I can wear a shirt tucked in and wear an awesome belt. That’s a whole new world for me. Oh, and by the way, I made my step count today, totally without my workout. By the time I finish this , it will be way past midnight and whatever workout I’ll do will go on tomorrow’s stats. So today we’re going to explore ways to get out of a slump, something that has probably happened to everyone , as we navigate through the journey of weight loss and fitness goals. I’m using information I found from an article I found on zenhabits.net, by Leo Babauta. It’s entitled,”Get Off Your Butt: 16 Ways To Get Motivated When You’re In A Slump”. I’m not sure If I’m going to do this in two parts or not. We’ll see how it goes and let you know later in this post. Well now that I’m proofreading this , I’ve decided to break this up into a four part series. No matter how motivated we are, there are times when we have a hard time keeping that level of motivation up , and we fall into a slump , albeit in our diet plan or our exercise regimen. Whatever it may be , the same principals apply. Sometimes we fall into such a slump, that even the thought of making the positive changes we need to make , just seems too difficult. But it is not hopeless, we just need to take small steps, baby ones, to get started on the road to positive change. No matter how impossible things seem , remember , you are not alone . There are things you can do, to get back on the right track. All these same steps can be used to break out of whatever slump you find yourself in. Step number 1 is called ONE GOAL. Sometimes a slump happens just because you have too much going on in your life, and you’re trying to do too much. This sound familiar to anyone? When this happens, it just saps all your energy and motivation right out from underneath you. Is this sounding more and more like you? This is one of the most common mistakes people make; taking on too much, trying to accomplish too many goals at once. You can’t maintain your energy and focus, ( the two most important things in accomplishing a goal) if you’re trying to accomplish two or more goals at once. Choose one goal and focus on it completely, for the time being. You can do your other goals when you accomplish the ONE GOAL. On we go to number 2, INSPIRATION. Find Inspiration. Find other’s who have achieved what you want to achieve or who are currently doing it. All the ladies from SIS, that should be a piece of cake. There is motivation and inspiration there, daily. Read blogs, books, magazines. Google your goal and read success stories. Seeing that you’re not alone, and that other people have succeeded in doing what you’re trying to do, should help motivate you in a big way. Number 3, GET EXCITED. If you want to break out of a slump, get yourself excited about a goal. But how do you do that when you don’t feel motivated? Well it starts with inspiration from others , as in number 2, but you have to build on that excitement. Talk to other people , read as much about your goal as possible. Visualize what it would be like to be successful. If you can see it in your mind, you will get excited and stay excited. Live it, breathe it, believe it.(that line is totally mine) . Number 4, BUILD ANTICIPATION. Now this might sound a little strange, and hard , but I see where it just might work. You have found, or found the inspiration you thought you lost , and want to get started toward your goal. Don’t start right away , that would be a mistake. Set a date in the future, maybe a week or two weeks from now. Make that your start date. Mark it on your calender. Get excited about that date. Make it the most important date in your life. In the meantime start writing out a plan. So, let’s build the anticipation for the next Carol’s Corner. You’ll be able to use things in tomorrow’s segment to help build anticipation for that all too important date you chose , to get refocused and recommitted to that One Goal you have chosen. Meanwhile, get started on the things we talked about here today , and we’ll continue on with some more great tips , on how to break out of that slump, in the next edition of Carol’s Corner. Till next time, God Bless.