WT 033: How Do I Stay Motivated?

Every. Mom. Deals. With. This. Okay, every woman deals with this! With so much going on in our lives, what are the best ways to stay motivated? Karen and Sunny talk about it on today's episode of Wire Talk!

Question 1: Often time I read a book or go listen to a speaker (like Birds on a Wire conference Soar) and I hear great advice. I always go home charged up and ready to do better. Sometimes I have new ideas to implement in my family and sometimes  it’s just a new way to approach things. My problem is following through with those ideas when I get home. I end up back into the daily grind and nothing really changes. My question is, “How do I actually change things for the better instead of just continuing down the same path?”

Karen's Answers: I LOVE your honesty!!! I want to say for the record, “Me too!”.

My suggestion is try not to change everything, but go in with the approach of taking baby steps. Change one small thing at a time, and then once you are consistent with that, then move onto another change. Always keep in mind, Rome was not built in a day.

Of course! I think it’s hard, because you go to a conference, or read a book, and you are learning from that person’s perspective and how they handled it in relation to their own personality.  Conferences are great! But, I look at them sort of like a big pep rally and those pep rallies give energy and new ideas to almost jump start us back in the mommy world. They are needed, but then I have to figure out how I can take what I learned and apply it to MY world with MY personality.

I would focus on one thing you want to change in your life or in your home.  Just one thing. For instance, if I want to get my house more organized, I need to start by focusing on one room in my house rather than the WHOLE house.  The whole house is too overwhelming but I can tackle one room at a time.

Don’t get discouraged.  We are all learning and growing, the important thing to always keep in mind is to keep moving, don’t give up!

Question 2: I have to start making health a priority for me. I have never needed or wanted to work out, so I haven’t my entire life. Now that my kids are in elementary school they are picking up on the fact that “we have to eat healthy but mommy doesn’t” and “my friend’s moms all run” – I’ve relied on good genes so far, but now I need to start setting a good example for my kids. What would you say is step 1?

Karen's Answer: Figure out what it is that you like to do. Your friends run, but do you like to run? I hate running, so I’ve always leaned into workout videos, more with a dance theme, or I enjoy the elliptical while watching a Netflix series.  You’ve got to figure out what works for you.

You are talking about my entire life. I never worked out, and always stayed small. I will say it catches up with you in your mid 40’s and REALLY by 50. I’ve had to begin to carve out time for myself too, and almost make myself do some form of exercise, even though I truly hate it.

Just start. Set a goal for yourself that you will work out for 20 minutes 3 times a week. Start small and then work your way up to more.

I’m just proud that you are wanting to set a good example! Way to go!

Question 3: Karen, my faith in God is strong and constant…but it’s not growing.  Since becoming a mom, quiet times are rare, and I’ve stopped journaling all together which was something that gave me so much joy pre-kids. Every day I tell myself I will do better tomorrow, but I never do. How can I stay motivated and follow through?

Karen's Answer: Spiritual growth takes discipline, just like working out.  I think you have to make time for it, even if it’s just 5 min/day.

would for sure get into ruts in my spiritual life to where I was just going to church on Sundays and could never seem to find time to have my own one on one time with the Lord. Like you, I loved God and I had a lot of faith in Him, I just found it so hard to start my day with Him or to carve out anytime for Him.  But, I finally said, “Enough is enough!” I’m going to get serious about a quiet time.” And that’s what I did, I started off, just reading one chapter a day, and journaling my prayers. Like you, I love to journal and just writing out my prayers kept me engaged with God and I grew to love my quiet times and if I had to miss one on a given day, I truly missed it.

I made all of the devotions in my devotional, Moments with God, geared for moms, kept them short and even included a prayer, so that if a mom only has 5 minutes, she can accomplish her quiet time.

Question 4: Karen, I love a clean house. Cleaning has always been natural to me and never something that I struggled with. Now I work full time and spend free time chauffeuring kids, or going to sports games. When I finally get free time I am exhausted and can’t bring myself to clean. How did you find cleaning motivation when your kids were young? 

Karen's Answer: I got a maid! Seriously, I got a maid when I worked because there wasn’t enough hours in my day, AND when I did clean, if the children messed anything up I would get angry with them.  So, in view of our relationship and my sanity, a maid every other week worked really well for me!

Moms, we know your time is precious. Thank for spending it with us. We hope you feel encouraged, equipped and most importantly—the peace of God. If you want to have weekly encouragement emailed to you, visit birdsonawiremoms.com to sing up for free weekly tips of motherhood.

Thank you moms, have a great day!