A simple brain hack to increase motivation

I came across a post on a Weight Watchers message board that sums up beautifully the biggest mistake that so many of us make …

“ I was Ms Perfect all week and lost almost nothing!

I’ve been feeling down ever since. I’m really not motivated.

Last night I got up at 2 am and ate

two slices of cinnamon raisin bread and a Fiber One bar.

Heck with it. I’m going to skip my weigh-in and meeting tomorrow.” - Karla

What’s so heartbreaking about this story is that Karla lost weight. She was making progress. She just lost less than she expected.

The only problem was she got frustrated and did some f-it eating.

I hope Karla’s doing well. But, over the years what I’ve seen is one skipped meeting becomes two, three…

It just gets harder and harder to get back on track. Eventually they go “off their diet” and gain back the weight they’d lost.

Until one day they get to a tipping point.  Maybe nothing in their closet is fitting anymore. They decide once again that they have to “go on a diet”. And so it continues – the all or nothing approach.

This “on-a-diet” “off-a-diet” cycle is something that would NEVER happen with my clients because I’ve shown them a completely different path.

To start, I help them understand what’s happening in their brains. When they understand why they do what they do, weight loss becomes so much easier.

For example, one thing they would have learned is that as humans we’re hard wired to notice the things that aren’t going well. (It’s an evolutionary thing, I'll write about it in a future email).

The reason this matters is because we're so much more likely to stay on track when we’re feeling good about ourselves.

So what I do with my clients is we spend time looking at the whole story.  Beyond the number on the scale. Beyond the missteps they may have taken. What do they think they were doing right?  What makes doing that valuable?

And there's this simple brain hack that we use too

I ask my clients to be very intentional. To pay attention to all the things that ARE working. All the things that they are doing to move them towards their goal.

This is such an effective step because each time we acknowledge a win, we get a little dopamine hit. That’s the feel good hormone. And we’re hardwired to want to repeat things that make us feel good. Step by step.  As we continue making choices like these again and again we reach our goal.

You might just want to give it a try. It’s a simple hack that will absolutely contribute to your success.