It’s 2008 and no doubt we all have at least one New Years Resolution or Goal for the year ahead. As the title suggests this is supposed to be an article about how to get motivated to do the things on your “to do list” for this year but actually it is really about getting inspired. If we need to get motivated to do something then it probably means we are not that inspired by it.

If you are passionate about something you don’t need a push to get stuck in, you will just be in action. Have a think about the things you love; it might be for example going on holiday, going out with friends, playing in a sports team, working on your business. Do you ever feel like you “have” to do these things but can’t really be bothered? I doubt it, if you really love something it excites you to do it and you find the energy for it no matter how tired you are.

So how do you get inspired? To be inspired to reach a goal or get something done it needs to be linked in with your highest values. For example if money is one of your top values and by doing something it means you will make more money then you are likely to want to get it done. If family is a high value and what ever you need to do will benefit your family in some way then you won’t think twice about doing it.


The way you can work out your values is to consider the following things:

What do you think about the most?
What do to talk about the most?
What do you surround yourself by, for example in your home?
What do you have energy for, what will get you out of bed even if you are tired?
What is important to you?
What do you love doing?

A few examples of values could be; money, children, family, friends, love, honesty, integrity, trust, fun, excitement, business, investment, respect, growth, knowledge, excellence, health, exercise, music and the list can go on and on.

When you have a goal for something you want to achieve take a look at it and consider if the end result will help you to experience one of your top 3 values. If it doesn’t you are likely to not fully go for it. It might be that your goal is something that you feel you “should” do, however “shoulds” are usually when you are living by other people’s values and are not something you are really inspired about doing yourself. For example imagine your father was an estate agent and your parents own their own property, so high on their value list is owning a home. You might feel like you “should” get on the property ladder and have felt like this for a while but months are passing and you are still not doing anything about it. If you look there will be other things higher up on your value list that you want to spend your money on and dedicate your time too. The idea of buying a property in this case is linked to you parents values not your own.

If you really do want to achieve a goal but you are just not feeling inspired by it then it is possible to adjust the priority of your values. The way to do it is to look at how your goal will help you achieve you top values. For example, you might want to save for your future but spending your money on something else might be more important to you so you just never do. In this case write a list of 50 ways saving money is going to help you achieve what is most important to you and what will it mean for your future. I bet by the end of the exercise saving as a value will have gone higher up on your list. Another example could be exercise, you might want to get fit and loose a bit of weight but for some reason you just can’t get going. Sit down and, again, write a list of 50 ways regular exercise will help you with experiencing your top values.

In life people often spend a lot of time doing things that don’t really inspire them, so it’s good to take some time to really think about what does excite you and give you energy. Then look at where you can delegate the other tasks that you don’t have any interest towards. You might also find that some of your goals are really not want you want at all, but someone else’s dreams, isn’t it a good to realise that now before you waste any more of your time on that? Living an inspired life is fun, exciting and full of rewards.

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