Always Know Where You’re Going-Setting Your Relationship Direction

​     There’s a saying that if you don’t care where you’re going any road will take you there.  
    
    You want to be deliberate about the road you’re travelling.  In order to make lasting change, you have to set a goal.  Setting a goal will help you Win Your Relationship Game, but there’s some planning to do first. 

            Winning Your Relationship Game has a lot to do with habits and behavior change.  Many of the lessons are based in research that’s proven to support positive relationships and behavior change.   You aren’t going to rely on will power.  Anyone who’s had to try to diet knows that will power is very unreliable.  You’re going to set goals that allow you to capitalize on motivation.  

     Your initial goal, I like to call a personal motivation statement.  This is where you’d ultimately like to end up.  Take just a minute and focus on what change you’d like to see in your relationship.  What is it you’re hoping to improve?
         
      Now, go back and look at it again.  Does it focus on changing something about your partner?   You can’t change anyone’s behavior except your own, so if you thought about something your partner needs to change, think again!!
           
     This is the beginning of your personal motivation statement.
           
      Right now it can be fairly broad.  As you go on, it will change, you’ll gain insight and tweak it to fit.  Remember, this is the foundation for moving forward so it’s worth some thought.   

​       Having a Personal Motivation Statement is good, but to really ramp up your motivation, you have to know why that Personal Motivation Statement is important.   You might be able to tell that I like to play games whenever I can.  It makes life more fun. 

       To clarify a Personal Motivation Statement I like to use a game called “The Five Whys”. The five whys are actually business concepts used to do what’s called root cause analysis.  It’s also a really useful tool to help you dig deeper into your thoughts and feelings.

     Refer back to your personal motivation statement.  You’re going to ask yourself WHY it’s important to you.  You’ll get your answer and then you’ll ask again WHY that is important to you.  Then you’ll have another answer and you’ll ask WHY that is important?  You’ll continue to do this for five cycles.  Don’t rush through this.  If you are persistent, it will lead to a very clear idea of the value of your personal motivation statement
           
     To give an example:

     My Personal Motivation Statement might be:  I want to feel closer to my partner.

1.  Why is it important to feel closer to my partner?  Because closeness feels good.

2.  Why is it important to have the good feeling of being close?  Because I feel more secure when I’m feeling close.

3.  Why is it important to feel more secure?  Because feeling more secure reduces my anxiety about belonging in my relationship.

4.  Why is it important to have reduced anxiety about belonging?  Because then I can be relaxed and really be myself.

5.  Why is it important to feel more relaxed and be myself?  Because then I feel have a stable foundation for all the other areas of my life.
 
            Just walking through this exercise reveals something deeper about of what is important to me.  I know exactly why it’s important for me to be closer to my partner.  It’s going to put me on the road of changing the right behaviors creating more closeness with my partner. 

     That’s the basics of setting a Personal Motivation Statement about your relationship.  Having a Personal Motivation Statement to focus on is a habit you can start today.  It can be revised as needed, but every day, you want that statement front and center in your awareness.  I want you to find such value in focusing on that statement so that by this by the time this program is over, you’ll continue to use it to motivate you to your goals. 

The recap: 

1.  Develop your Personal Motivation Statement about your relationship.
2. Focus on your Personal Motivation Statement for this work you’re doing.   It’s your foundation, so it’s important.
3. Go deeper and know the WHY of your Personal Motivation Statement.   Knowing what you’re working on and why you’re working on it will help pull you through.

           
     Practice time:  Take all the time you need to work through this.  It should take you a while and it might be frustrating.  Don’t rush it. 

            If you have an answer that just doesn’t seem right, sit with it.  Trust yourself.  We all have a deep inner knowing, so when it’s your truth, you’ll know. 

If you get stuck, send me an email at allison@allisonvelez.com .  I would love to hear from you!

In the meantime, sign up for my email list and I’ll share some great relationship tips with you!
 
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