All this week, I’ve been talking about simple steps you can take to actually change your life and make your goals/resolutions stick. Since we are in the last day of 2015, I thought I would sneak one last one in for you as you prepare for 2016 and think through what you want to accomplish. To me, this is the most important step you can take and the one that will help you the most. You ready? Here we go.

Know your reason for motivation.

This is by far and away the best thing that I can tell you. There is something inside of you, or something that happened to you, that is the reality behind your drive. It will be the thing that will keep you on track on the days when you want to quit. It will be what keeps screaming at you when you want to give up. If you haven’t actually thought through what is motivating you, then you need to sit down and do that. Otherwise your goals and resolutions just become a list of things that you think would be a good thing for you to do, and not something that you are determined to change or accomplish because deep down you actually have something driving you forward.

For me, my motivation is my mom. She passed away in 2011 because of diabetes. At that point in my life, I was about 40 lbs heavier than what I am today. My glory days were long gone and I was a shell of the confident woman that I was constantly portraying. It was my mom’s death that was my wake-up call to say to myself that I don’t want to end up like she did. I wanted a different life, I took a hold of it and my life changed.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – no one actually wants to go to the gym. On my best day, I still have to drag myself there and kick my butt even when I don’t want to actually be there. But I can choose to sit on the couch and become a potato or I can remember what drives me – and for me, it is and always will be my amazing mom. So, as you write out your list, let me challenge you to write out right next to it what your reason is for doing this. And come January 12th when you want to quit, look at that reason and let it fuel your fire. Here’s to an amazing 2016 – may you seriously kick some butt.