WHAT CAN I DO TO STAY MOTIVATED?

HOW CAN I INSPIRE MYSELF TO STAY MOTIVATED? 

I want to workout so I can be healthy for myself and my family, look HOT in a bikini or nothing at all, and do all the things when I am older… but:

• It’s hot

• I don’t have time

• I don’t feel 100%

• My head hurts 

• My knees are killing me

• I have 1000 zoom calls today 

• I have to cook

• I have to clean 

• I have to teach my kid

• I just washed my hair...

Sound familiar? I have struggled with all of these reasons on the daily and worked with clients who have as well. Last week, we talked about the types of motivation: intrinsic, extrinsic, love; and what incentives drive or inhibit them. But what about working out? What motivation does that fall under? It seems extrinsic, a “do this to get this” kind of problem, but I need a greater sense of purpose to even start doing it, so intrinsic? Also, what greater love is there than self-love… so is it motivated by love? 

Yes, it is all of those. And yet, we can all still struggle with staying motivated to show up AND workout.

THE INTRINSIC & LOVE INCENTIVES

Often when we want to empower ourselves, plans for starting a workout regime enter our thoughts. We can have a great start but old habits and narratives die hard and we end up faltering. Motivation is not our only obstacle, our mindset is one too. 

Remember when you were a little kid and you just played. You ran, you fell, you got up and ran to mom got a band-aid and a pat on the head, and went back out to run and play? It is a time before you wrapped yourself in a shame bubble gifted to you by others and critical thinking gripped your mindset playing tracks of “why/how/what” are you doing. 

Let’s start here with CHANGING MINDSETS. 

Listen to yourself, pay attention to what you are hearing inside, when do you hear shame and critical thinking start to speak? Sometimes it’s a soft voice, other times it screeching; listen and take note of when it is happening. When you hear the shame track start, gently stop it. This is how you love yourself back to a healthier space. Remind yourself that is an old way of thinking and that you are forming a new one then speak the new narrative in place.

“You never finish anything” becomes “I am great at starting, and today, I am going to try and finish”.

When critical thinking comes in, observe it, and tell yourself that is great data on “how/what/why” I should be doing something but now is not the time. My body knows what to do and today, I am going to play. Yes, I said “play” instead of “workout”. This is more than “make it fun” & “be positive” stickers.

When we abandon the outcome -turn off critical thinking- we tune into a deeper part of ourselves that enjoys life. When we grow up we close off the ability to play. We spend so much time thinking about how we should do, what it should look like, and why we can or can’t; that we think ourselves out of the fun and we lose touch with that intrinsic higher purpose. 

We become so locked in our thought patterns that we are frozen to even attempt trying because we might-probably-will-definitely-fail. When we were that kid who just played, we didn’t think about how it looked, if we did it right - we just did it. We just played. 

You have watched a dozen videos from professionals on how to do exercises, you have a million workout plans pinned, and now it’s time to get out of your own way. Ask your body to do what it has seen how to do correctly and just play. 

You will have won 90% of your battles by just showing up. Give yourself permission to have a sh*tty workout. What matters in developing your new habit is showing up. By setting the intention of just getting there to play and being OK with it not being the “best” gives you more of an opportunity to be successful.

But how do I motivate myself to leave my very comfy bed? 

A technique that I learned from Mel Robbins is the “Starting Ritual” she takes the mindset of a rocket ship and counts down from five to blast off and starts doing whatever she can’t seem to motivate herself to get done. Its genius is in its simplicity. It also layers into the idea of play and just showing up for yourself. Try it, 5...4...3...2...1 BLAST OFF.     

WHAT’S THE ADULT VERSION OF GOLD STARS 

We have covered the intrinsic and self-love side of motivation to work out, but it is also going to require a few extrinsic tools as well. No, you don’t have to make yourself a gold star chart (unless you want to… I happen to love stickers!) But keeping a record of your progress can be in the form of data collection. Take your measurements for your body and for your routine progress. This has the same effect as a done list that we talked about in “The Bane of List Making”. 

Do yourself a favor and set your expectations at the beginning for experiencing small - tiny - minuscule changes. We damage our motivation by setting big goals at too close of a range. Let, “Being faithful in the small things gives us faith to do the big things” be your mindset. This is a more elegant way of saying the “only one way to eat an elephant…” message. If you can accomplish the small seemingly insignificant things then you are working your way to accomplishing the big stuffs. 

When you do hit those tiny goals, freaking celebrate that win.

GOOD OLD-FASHIONED GRIT 

There are going to be days when nothing feels worth doing. These are the days to make a choice, either you take it off and relax or you dig deep and grit your teeth.

On the days you choose to chuck it all and relax, love yourself enough to not spend any time overthinking it in hindsight. Remember the “shame game narrative”, this is your friendly reminder to stay away. One day, two days, or even a week off is not going to undo everything you have been working toward - but shaming yourself will.

Sometimes no matter how much we have followed sage advice, worked hard, and loved ourselves we are just not motivated to keep going. These are those times when you have inexplicably run out of magic. You are going to have to choose grit.

Good old-fashioned grit.

It is not fun. It is not always going to feel great afterward. You may hate it the whole way through. But you did it. You got through it, and that is going to feel great. For me, there have been days when it does not feel great until after I have woken up the next day, but I always end up feeling that way. 

So, when all else is failing, even after you have tried everything from above, try grit. 

Next week we will talk about “When Is It OK To Quit”.

Click here to download your PDF guide with steps to empowering yourself in changing your mindset