When you set out on a journey to reach your goal, it’s easy to start with all the excitement in the world. Most of us can relate this to January 1^st of each year when we set New Years resolutions to have a healthier, more successful life. Most of us do really well with our resolutions for a couple of days or even a couple of weeks, but only a small percentage of people are still hanging in there by the time February 1 rolls around. It seems that the big obstacle is always burn out. We start strong, but don’t have the motivation to avoid the burn out that ruins everything. If you are starting on a journey towards your big dream, here are some tips to help you avoid motivational burnout along the way.

Make a Commitment to Stay In It Long-term

 Don’t think of your goal as a short-term journey. Instead, think of it as a new way of life. Many nutritionists advise dieters to ditch the thought of temporary diets for a more positive outlook that indicates a total lifestyle change. By looking at the situation as a whole new way of doing life, you are committing to a long-term effort to accomplish your goals. Changing habits is only the initial starting point, but living out those changes long term is going to require some motivation.

Be Sure to Pace Yourself 

Just like a long distance runner should never exit the starting gates at a sprint, you need to pace yourself too if you want to avoid burn out. Instead of expending all of your efforts and energy and to be successful in the first few days or weeks, pace yourself and slow down to a sustainable pace so you can continue on the journey for the long haul.

Remember Why You Started 

If you start to feel yourself slipping into frustration and you sense that you are about to burnout, take a minute to regroup and remember why you started in the first place. Why is this really important to you? Motivational Speaker Doug Dvorak asks that you take time to  examine your starting motivation, this will allow you to regain some momentum so you can keep going. Sometimes, you will have to remind yourself of these things seemingly everyday. As you work through obstacles, you might need to write down your reasons and post them somewhere prominent so you can constantly go back to them for an extra push to avoid burning out.

Motivational speakers know that, no matter what, you can accomplish what you set out to do! Stay positive and take things one day at a time. Instead of focusing on the sacrifices you are making, focus on the positive steps you are taking to invest in your future.