How I Stay Motivated Every Single Day

As I think back on the questions I often get asked - from running shoe recommendations to what Search Engine Optimization means and everything in between - there are a few topics that consistently come up as they relate to me personally. One big topic of conversation I am often pulled into is how I stay motivated every day to train so hard in running and manage my business while being a mom and living a (hopefully) pretty balanced life.

Without any false sense of pride, I truly do work hard in every area of my life. I wake up early, put all of my energy into the task in front of me - whether motherhood, training, or work - and I never have excuses for why I couldn’t get it done. I cannot think of any major goals I have missed in my life in any of those areas, and the time and effort I put into all the things I do is why I have achieved success. I am not naturally talented in business, sports, and DEFINITELY not in parenting, so hard work has been the key to all of these.

Naturally, I have been asked a lot how I ‘do it all’ and continue to grind every single day, tired or not, so I’ve given this topic a lot of thought over the years. Here is how I stay motivated every single day, and I hope the takeaways give you motivation for the next task you have to tackle:

1. I never ask ‘if,’ the question is ‘when’ and 'how.’
   I do not give myself the luxury of deciding whether or not to do something - whether a run or a business task. Instead, I spend energy figuring out when and how I will get it done. Sometimes this means a change in another area of my life, and sometimes it means pushing through my own feelings to keep going. I do not always want to do the task that is before me, but the bottom line is that it will happen, even if other things have to adjust to fit it.

2. I call out my own excuses in my head.
   This is a skill I have learned over time, and it’s still not easy. When I look at the next hour, day, or week, I can sometimes feel overwhelmed and unsure of how I will accomplish what I need to do. As every human does, I start to make excuses: I’m too tired. I’m too busy. I didn’t sleep well last night. Yes, some of these are legitimate, and sometimes I need to accommodate for a change, but oftentimes I am simply afraid of failing and thus, the excuses begin. Calling that out has been transformational, and a lot of these ‘reasons for failure’ have simply fallen to the wayside.

3. I give myself grace.
   This might seem like the opposite of #1 and #2, but without this third component, the first two wouldn’t work. Once I’ve walked through the process of figuring out how I will get the task done and working through any excuses, I give myself a lot of grace in between. If I need to go home and take a nap, I do it. If I need to watch a movie with my 5-year-old instead of staying on my feet all night, I am confident that the time I spend with her means more than the activity. If I try my best and come up short, I simply move forward and forgive myself. This is the hardest part for me, but if I dwelled on all my failures and shortcomings, I would get stuck in the mental fog of never-good-enough, and I know my happiness - and even my achievements - would suffer as a result.

That, in short, is how I continue to get up and grind, whether I feel like it or not. How do you stay motivated to do what you do? I’d love to hear some tips that can help me, too!