Ah January–what a tease you are. You start off so fresh and full of hope as you tempt us with the promise of a new year, new hopes, new dreams and new determination. But then you turn on us. Your nights are long and dark and your days are cold. The promises that we wanted to so much to believe in turned out to be lies and the goals that we were so fired up about now seem like nothing more than wishful thinking…and it’s only January 10th.

What happened? Where did all of our commitment to a new and improved version of ourselves go? How can all of the motivation that we had in abundance on January 1st now be so, so…gone?

I’ll tell you what happened…we bought into the lies. We were sold a bill of goods and banked our improved futures on these Five Motivational Myths. Fortunately for those of us who were duped, there is a way to counter each of these damaging myths and rebound in a way that can take us even higher than we had originally hoped…keep reading.

1.) Write down your goals and you’re guaranteed to succeed. Okay, in all fairness, there is some validity in writing down your goals. Numerous studies have shown that those who write down their goals are far more likely to achieve those goals than those who don’t. The myth here lies in the notion that writing down your goals is all you have to do in order to achieve them. Writing down your goals is beneficial in that it helps you to begin planning your strategy for reaching those goals but taking action on your goals is what will actually bring them to fruition. To turn this myth around and make it work for you, try writing down your goals and then posting them somewhere where you will see them every day so that you will be reminded to take one daily action step toward them.

2.) Visualize your success and it will come to you.  If you were one of the bazillions of people who watched “The Secret” (so was I so no judgement here) you were told that all you had to do to have everything that you wanted was to visualize those things and feel as though you already had them. If this were true, all of us would be Powerball winners who looked like supermodels. Much like writing down your goals, visualizing your success does have some merit but again, that merit comes from the fact that visualization is a good way to spark the flame that leads to action. As “The Great One”, Wayne Gretzky once said “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. In order to be successful you must take a shot–you can’t just visualize taking a shot. The power of visualization comes from its ability to inspire you, excite you and propel you toward action. Make this power work for you by creating a vision board for your life (mine is pictured here to serve as an example) and posting it somewhere where you’ll see it every day so that it can serve as an inspiration for you to take the strategic action steps that will bring you closer to your goal.

3.) Just do your best. I cringe whenever I hear someone say this because I feel like it gives us an easy out. I mean, in reality, we’d all be slaying our goals if we truly were doing our best–but is that what this phrase means to you? To me, this phrase is one that seems to give permission to be mediocre. I hear it most often when people are expecting me to fail but don’t want me to be disappointed when I do. They say “just do your best” but what they really mean is “don’t get your hopes up”.  Don’t get me wrong–there is absolutely no shame in giving your all on something and yet still falling short, but I feel like “just do your best” is really just setting us up to be okay with failing. This “do your best” myth is only a myth only because of the hidden connotations behind it. Rather than telling someone “just do your best” how about encouraging them to really do their best by pushing themself harder and committing to the goal in the long term so that they don’t become discouraged by setbacks.

4.) You are your biggest motivator. When it boils down to it, this myth isn’t really a myth–it’s true. We are the only ones responsible for our outcomes in life. The problem with this myth arises when we think that we stand alone and that we aren’t affected by the influence of others. We may be super pumped about our goals but if we hang around with negative, lazy, unmotivated people, we are setting ourselves up for failure. For example, if your goal is to lose weight, socializing with those who make unhealthy choices can quickly derail you. Overcome this hindrance to success by creating a strong support network (online and offline) of like minded, committed individuals who want to see you succeed.

 5.) Failure is a sign of weakness. No, no NO! The most successful people on the planet fail many, many times. Do they enjoy it? No, but they understand that failing is just a part of the process on the way to success. Rather than seeing failure as a sign of weakness, try viewing it as a way to regroup and start over smarter. Combat this myth by adapting an attitude of tenacity and determination. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall down on your way to your goal–as long as you get up one time more.

Motivation can be a tricky thing to hang on to but even trickier if we buy into myths that keep us stuck in a life of mediocrity. Take action to bust these myths today so that you can experience your most FabYOUlous life tomorrow.