This morning I was woken by a strange noise at around 5 am. Being the mum of two young children I naturally assumed that it was one of them so I waited a good ten minutes to see if they would settle themself- after all, they weren't crying.

The noise didn't stop, so I went to investigate, armed to put them back into bed. Instead, to my surprise, I found a small mouse had fallen into the bathtub and was scampering around trying to get out! Now, this little guy had been in there for at least ten minutes, who knows how long he'd been trying before I woke.

As soon as I was in the bathroom, he took another few turns trying to jump out, and then finally, with concerted effort hopped out and scurried away. He had found that extra bit within himself to get out of that bath, all because he had assessed that I meant danger. This was his motivation.

When people make the decision to change aspects of their lives, they often do it on a whim without finding their motivations to do so. This is often a failure waiting to happen because during the tough times they have no fallback or reasons to stick at it.

In order to make diet and/or lifestyle changes that last, one must first be like that little mouse and assess what it is that they are wanting to escape from or change:

• Do you want to change your health condition?
• Do you wish you looked in the mirror and saw a sexier, leaner you?
• Do you wish you had immaculate skin and hair?
• Do you wish you could bounce out of bed and feel ready to run a marathon?
• Do you wish you could hold your children without feeling like you're about to break?

These are all motivations, but in order to make them the most powerful, you have to make them your own. Take five minutes out of the day and draw up two columns: one for the things you'd like to leave behind, and another for the things you'd like to achieve or have in your life.

Be as detailed as possible, because this evokes emotion. Emotion is what drives us all to succeed. It doesn't have to be as dramatic as life or death (as it may have been in that little mouse's mind), but the more emotion you can pull out of denial, the more you have to work with! I will be writing some more about goal setting and how to implement them soon... stay tuned, and have a great day everyone. CW