Motivation is a funny thing… sometimes we have it, sometimes we sort of have it and sometimes we wonder if we even had it at all! Definitely something I have been struggling with the last few months. Yup, not even I am motivated 100% of the time!
I think it’s really important to acknowledge times when our motivation is lacking and explore if it’s just a need to dig a little deeper and refocus or if it’s actually a time to step back and maybe take a break. The latter was the case for me… you can only go 100% for so long before you need a change of pace. For me, 2015 was a VERY intense and focused year, full of learning and gratitude. Starting last January 2015, it was 100% intensity right up until well after the Olympia. My training and diet didn’t falter much… until I hit a wall and got really sick, a reality check that I too am human! So I did what I had to, took 6 weeks off from the gym (which was a challenge let me tell you!) and relaxed the diet. OK, maybe relaxed the diet too much but I enjoyed myself and life is too short to not enjoy 🙂
I had a coach years ago (Scott Abel) tell me “when you gently lead the body, it will respond. When you force the body, it will rebel” (or something like that). I remind clients of this all the time, yet forgot it myself at times. Again, I’m human.
Anyway… back to the motivation part.
I often have clients ask how I am so motivated. Well, I’m not motivated every day. It takes consistent effort. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. It’s a practiced or learned habit, just like anything in life… it takes time to turn into just what we do, like brushing our teeth. Remember when we were little kids how our parents would force us to brush our teeth and we’d cry, scream, have tantrums? Ya, we’re still kind of like that… but eventually, we just do it without thinking.
Start by setting small goals… like you are going to exercise 3 times this week, increase your water by 1L, eat 5 times, cut out the junk or get to bed earlier. Small things. To help people (and often myself) get into the motivation groove, I like to focus on PERFORMANCE based goals or ACTIONS. If we focus on the actions we take every day, those eventually turn into habits and get us closer to our goal. Start small, start realistic and focus on one day at a time. It’s very empowering developing new habits that contribute to a goal, like you want to high five yourself you are so dang proud! If you can accomplish exercising 3 times this week, what can you do NEXT week?
We often focus on physical outcomes as a goal. You want to be a certain size or weight, look a certain way, compete, whatever. I like to shift the focus onto things like beating my lifts in the gym, doing more pull ups, getting to bed earlier. When myself and my clients focus on these things, the results we desire WILL come!!!! And the best part? Because you’ve created healthy habits along the way that support these goals, you will KEEP the results. You’ve now built yourself a new lifestyle.
Maybe this doesn’t apply but a little analogy I’ve been using a lot lately I’d like to share. Let’s say you’re in med school, studying to be a Doctor. All of your university buddies may be out on a Friday night, partying it up but no. You have to stay home to study so you can become a Doctor. But once you ARE a Doctor, you’ll be pulling up to these parties in a sweet car and talking about your amazing career. See where I’m going with this? Short term sacrifice, long term reward. Important to think about.
Motivation and commitment go hand in hand in my opinion… you can either commit or not. You either jump out of a plane or you don’t. You either buy a house or you don’t. You don’t “kinda” buy a car, right? If you want to change, make that commitment to yourself… build small habits and focus on those habits. Motivation will come.
*If you are looking for help to get started, I am currently running a 6 Week Program and offering 2 additional weeks FREE! Here’s the link: 212 6 Week Program