If You Need a Push…8 Top Coaches Offer Irresistible Motivation

By Sara Reistad-Long


What the Brain's Got to Do with It?

Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD: Harvard Brain Bank spokesperson and author of My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, about going through a stroke and rebuilding her brain

You have two halves of your brain: The left is saying, "I need to get my work done"; the right, "I want to be in the present moment and play." Motivation is about finding the balance. My right brain, for example, helps me pay attention. When I want ice cream—my weakness—I'll pause and ask why. Then I get a visual of wanting to go to sleep, which happens when I eat sugar. Is that what I want? It's not—which allows me to move past the craving. To get into your right brain, slump in your chair, breathe, and allow your mind to go foggy. Just let yourself melt into the beauty of this moment.