How To Get Motivated (And Stay Motivated)

Motivation! Arrghhh. 

It seems like everyone else has it but you sometimes! Those people you know who get up at 5am to get to the gym. They must just be naturally motivated people right?

Wrong. Motivation is not intrinsic. People are not born with it.

I'm going to share with you two simple strategies that you can do right now to get you feeling motivated and moving closer to your goals each day. 

1. MAKE TIME FOR YOU

This is a commitment to YOU and YOUR values, priorities and goals. Making time is a crucial survival habit. If you don't make the time, time will be taken from you. You'll be pushed and pulled by other obligations. Something will always come up, and there's never a perfect time! So don't wait for the perfect time. MAKE the time. Book an appointment with yourself to move each day or to do whatever needs to be done to move you closer to your goals. 

Making time for yourself also helps you to develop practical and valuable life skills such as:

• Identifying what's important to you. What you choose to spend your time on reveals what you really value. If you value living a healthier lift, then give it time and attention.
• Asking or negotiating for what you need. If you want to implement a new fitness routine, then you might need to ask your partner for more help with the kids, say no to things that will compete for your time.
• Looking ahead, planning and preparing. This can be a simple diary check each day or looking ahead at your diary for the week, blocking out time for you to exercise, meal prep etc.
• Anticipating obstacles. Let's face it, life is full of them! So make sure you have a Plan B, Plan C etc in place.
• Viewing unexpected challenges as normal. Rather than falling off the wagon, change your mindset so that you can flow with the ups and downs of life and practice resilience.

2. TAKE A 5 MINUTE ACTION EVERY DAY

When we are trying to implement a health and fitness routine (or any new lifestyle change) it can all seem very daunting and overwhelming. Not knowing where to start, feeling overwhelmed at trying to do it all and do it right. We can get stuck in analysis paralysis

But none of that helps if we don't do something. The best plan is useless if it only exists on paper. 

Like making time, taking a 5 minute action teaches us valuable life skills and truths such as:

• Action comes before motivation, not the other way around. Often we try to look for the secret to motivation so that it will push us to take action. But it's usually only after we take some sort of action that we feel motivated.
• Very small actions help us to beat procrastination and feeling "stuck". We just have to get started which is often the hardest part. That might be just putting your workout clothes on, or getting out the door to the gym, starting to cook a healthy meal at the end of a long day
• You'll always feel resistance. Often all we need to do is push through the first few minutes of resistance and we're rolling. 
• Small actions create momentum. 5 minutes on one small thing usually can lead to other things. For instance, maybe you decide to do just 5 minutes of exercise at home. This might then lead to doing a bit more exercise, then making a healthy breakfast for yourself and then turning down that usual morning muffin. It can become a snowball.

ACTION is empowering! The more we act, the better we feel, the more we want to take action.

ACTION is satisfying! It actually happened - you feel good about it!

ACTION is evidence. If we currently don't identify ourselves as a healthy, active person, it's usually because we don't have the evidence (of taking action) to support it. Each little bit of action is a tick or a vote towards being the person we want to be. The more votes we have, the more we will identify ourselves as a healthy and active person.