A good friend of mine once told me the story about NASAís first flight to the moon. He asked me an interesting question. ìWhat percentage of the time do you think the Apollo space ship was on course to the moon? I figured that since the Apollo made it to itís destination it was on course 100% of the time. The truth, however, was a bit surprising. He told me that the Apollo was on course only 12% of the time during its voyage to the moon. The other 88% of the time the engineers were engaging in something called ìcourse correction.î In other words, each time the shuttle veered off course, the engineers had to redo calculations and correct the ship's course. Another way to look at it would be to say that if the engineers hadnít engaged in any course correction the Apollo would have never made it to the moon.

 Where I think a lot of people go wrong in life is that they donít follow the same advice. Yes, a New Yearís resolution helps define your journey through self awareness of where you want to go in life, but as you actually move through life you are probably going to have to engage in your own course correction to get where you want to go. All goals have to be readjusted from time to time and understanding that makes room for mistakes, wrong turns and unexpected events. If you simply state your goal but donít realize that along the way it may have to be modified, adjusted and altered a bit then youíll more than likely give up when you encounter detours, stop signs and yellow lights.

I'm really big on goal setting but not too big on New Year resolutions and Iíll tell you why. Most people donít follow through on a goal that isnít part of a long term vision. If you have a goal that is a part of your long term dreams, aspirations and desires youíll be more passionate about it and more likely to follow through on it over however long it may take for your dream to materialize. I guess the real question here is why do some people accomplish more and reach their end goal while others are motivated at first and then drop out? The answer can be found in Psychology 101.

Motivation to change can happen immediately. For example, a near death experience can motivate a person to dramatically change their behavior because they suddenly see life through a different filter. Being diagnosed with cancer, surviving a heart attack, getting divorced and a host of other dramatic and emotional experiences can serve as a huge motivator for a person to suddenly change. Maybe youíve experienced something similar and find yourself telling others ìthat experience, was the best thing that every happened to me!î Regardless of how bad an experience seemed at the time, the tragedy often causes you to ask the deeper questions of life that wouldnít have been asked had you not gone through the experience. So, a single, life altering event can create change almost instantly within anyoneís life. Comparatively most goals we set for ourselves donít have the dramatic event attached to it and therefore doesnít alter our behavior in quite the same way.

People are generally motivated in one of two ways; they are either motivated to move ìtowardî something or ìawayî from something. By understanding this concept of human behavior you are in a better position to decide exactly what is the driving force behind your desire to change and use it to your advantage. By the way, both are great motivators. Some might think itís better to be motivated to move toward as opposed to away from, but in truth, everyone has altered behaviors and changed aspects of their lives utilizing both directions of motivation. If you canít get motivated than chances are pretty good you arenít using the state of mind of moving toward or away. When youíre not in one of these two different stages of motivation what occurs are excuses, not action. So if you find yourself unmotivated you simply arenít in enough pain to move ìawayî from what needs to be changed or you really donít want to engage in the work it will take to move ìtowardî what you want to get.

Here are a couple of examples of using these two different directions of motivation. For the sake of this article Iíll use losing weight as the goal. Letís suppose that youíve been eating out, not exercising and generally not worrying about the way you look. One day you go shopping only to discover that you canít fit into size 4 jeans anymore and the size 6ís are a little snug. Suddenly you get alarmed because youíve always worn size two jeans and not too long ago you had to move into size 4. While not what you want, moving up one size you rationalized that youíll do something about it later. However, since youíve never been this big before and wearing a size 6 is not just a possibility, but is becoming a reality, the fear of getting too big to fit in your clothes scares you enough that youíre ready to begin doing whatever it takes to get back down to your normal size. In this case youíre motivated more by moving ìawayî from your fear of gaining more weight and the idea of getting bigger and bigger. In other words you are moving away from the pain, discomfort and stress of being fat.

Now, letís suppose that everything mentioned above is exactly the same. But in this case, along with gaining weight you donít feel good. You feel less energy, your cholesterol and triglycerides are elevated and you genuinely value your health. In this case youíre motivated by moving toward making changes to regain your energy and health. The natural by-product of eating better and exercising to be healthy is that youíll be able to fit into smaller clothes. Or put another way you are moving toward the comfort and pleasure of taking care of your body and living longer with less health problems. In this case you are motivated by moving toward better health. Whatís interesting to note here is that regardless of which motivational style you use, both will create the same positive end result.

This is why some people simply arenít motivated to make changes when a practitioner talks about becoming healthy. Or why some people arenít motivated by fitting into smaller clothes or looking better but others will be. Understanding what style of motivation works for you allows you to focus on your values and helps you figure out what type of inner language you need to use to get more motivated. It brings us back to another basic principle that how people think about something makes a crucial difference in how they will experience it.  Do you want to get closer to the things you really want or do you want to move away from the pain that is associated from getting things you donít want?

How painful does a situation have to get before youíll move away from it? I think that life starts to feel good again when you still have a choice and you donít wait until the pain and discomfort forces you to make your move. But if youíre going to get motivated it all starts with the simple minded concept to start moving while the discomfort is small rather than waiting until it gets too overwhelming. Lastly, donít ever focus on what you are giving up because that will never feel good. Rather, focus on what you are getting by making the changes. You see, youíre not giving up sweets, youíre getting a six pack of abs or getting to wear the bikini!