Staying healthy means regularly exercising, eating well, drinking enough water, not drinking too much alcohol or caffeine, getting enough sleep and avoiding stress where possible. But when life is busy and gets in the way of the best laid plans, how is it possible to stay motivated to do all of these things?

Many of us struggle with motivation and sometimes we need a gentle push in the right direction. Here’s three sure fire ways to ignite that motivation and start firing on all cylinders again.

Have realistic goals

Nothing is likely to ruin motivation more than failure and failing is generally because we’ve set expectations too high. If you need to be motivated to exercise then having one far off or unrealistic goal will sabotage you from the start . You’ll lose focus, motivation and give up.

Instead its far better to set small goals with incremental steps to achieve a more realistic goal. Working towards slowly building up the number of minutes you can exercise for or the amount of weight you can lift is far more achievable than going straight into a 10km race or deadlifting your own bodyweight.

Try a mood board

A mood board consists of images and words that inspire and motivate you. You can create a mood board for each of the areas of your life you need motivation in.

For example, if you need motivating to eat your five a day, make a mood board full of images of your favourite fruits and veggies or recipes they appear in. Cut images out of magazines and stick them onto a board to hang in your kitchen. This is especially helpful to look at if you do your food shopping online as you can use it to inspire your shopping that week.

You can also use Pinterest to create a digital mood board online. It’s full of motivational ‘pins’ for all kinds of things including diet, exercise, home décor and mindfulness for stress relief.

Celebrate your achievements

When you do get motivated and you achieve whatever it was you set out to do, it’s such a great feeling – one that needs to be celebrated! Revel in the feeling that you’ve succeeded and don’t shake it off. Instead use this great feeling to empower and embolden you to go further.

Smile and be proud, have a little fist pump, tell a loved one how good it feels and take a moment to congratulate yourself.

Often, all motivation needs is a little kickstart to get the momentum going. Whatever that might be – getting off the sofa, putting on those trainers or saying no to dessert – don’t just reserve that great feeling for that moment. Use it to spur yourself forwards. Who knows what you might achieve next!