The hardest part of any challenge, whether it’s losing weight, eating healthier, quitting smoking or finishing a project, is staying motivated.

No matter how fired up you are in the beginning to get started, eventually the enormity of what you are taking on becomes emotionally, physically and psychologically daunting. This is when we are at our weakest and most likely to quit, when we don’t see the light at end of the proverbial tunnel and know that it’s still quite a ways off.

How can we fight that irresistible urge to slip back into our comfort zone of inactivity, bad habits and procrastination? You need to find your inspiration. What inspired you to improve your quality of life in the first place? That is your motivation! You may find that as you progress towards your goal your inspiration may evolve and change but you MUST continue to remind yourself to keep motivated!

Keeping track of your progress in a journal, posting pictures of someone you look up to or encouraging messages around your home and reminding yourself of the end result your WILL achieve are some ways you can keep that motivation going.

When my sister-in-law had my 2 amazing nieces in less than 2 years she wanted to get back into shape. Not an easy feat with a toddler, a baby and a household to run. Her inspiration? Her daughters. She wanted to be able to be an active mom, run around and play with her kids without losing her breath or getting tired too soon. So she began making changes, ate healthier, found a little time every day to do some physical activity and sure enough she started to see results.

Eventually her inspiration changed, after hearing about a local run for breast cancer awareness she became motivated to join and complete the 10K run. She started training harder and became more focussed and sure enough completed the race in 32^nd place. No Olympic records were broken but she had achieved her goal by staying motivated and inspired.

Here are some inspirational quotes you can use to help you stay motivated and reach your goals:

Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

-Joshua J. Marine

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Great changes may not happen right away, but with effort even the difficult may become easy.

- Bill Blackman

Never, never, never give up.

- Winston Churchill

You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.

- Professor Harold Hill (The Music Man)

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.

- Abraham Lincoln

The greatest wealth is health.

- Virgil

Rian