What Motivation is to Me and How I Deal With It!

Contrary to what everyone believes, motivation will not get you to the gym and it won’t keep you from eating an entire box of pizza. Instead, discipline will do that.

However, that's not to say that motivation will help you get started. Motivation starts with “I need to lose 10lbs for my wedding”.  This will definitely get you to start working out and eating healthy but it won’t keep you there. What about when the wedding passes? What will motivate you then? Getting started with an extrinsic motivation such as losing weight for a wedding is great but in order to keep up that motivation we have to dig deeper and convert that extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. What do you actually care about? Do you want to lose those 10lbs simply to look good in a dress or is it so you’re healthy to be able to get pregnant. Or perhaps you want to be more agile at work or do more physical activities with your spouse. This is what will keep you going in the long run.

It won’t be easy and sometimes we get so caught up in the end result that it can be intimidating because it's so far away. Why not focus on small wins and positive things that come out of this. For example: you prepped all your meals for the week instead of eating out! That's a small win towards the BIG goal at the end. Another thing you can focus on is to set smaller goals that aren’t necessarily physical. Learn something about fitness and set that as a goal. Perhaps learning how to track macros. These are the things that will keep you going even when motivation is not there, which is ok and to not be motivated all the time.

I deal with lack of motivation by setting smaller goals for myself. I also use my clients to help me get through a day that I am really lacking the motivation. I want to get better for them. I want to be stronger for them.

What are some ways you will use these tips?