08/09/2023
Let's get one thing clear: motivation is not feeling inspired to take action all of the time.
Seeing a super cool body transformation might inspire you to want to hit the gym and change your diet. But it won’t motivate you to get up out of bed when you could spend that time sleeping, or motivate you to skip the takeout and cook healthy meals at home.
So what is motivation, then? And how do you get it?
Motivation is valuing your long term goals over the short term satisfaction of taking the easy way out.
Motivation doesn’t mean being gung-ho happy about making healthy choices 24/7. Getting up at 5:30am isn’t something I particularly want to do. But what I ultimately want is to be fit and healthy, and I want that more than an extra hour or two of sleep.
If anything, recognizing that there IS an easier way out, and knowing that you are CHOOSING to do the harder work, is a huge factor in cultivating motivation. It reinforces the idea that you can do hard things, and as I discussed, making healthy long-term choices isn’t always easy. Understand that you’re not going to always want to do the hard work, and that is perfectly natural. There’s nothing wrong with you if you’re not in love with every step of the journey.
The good news is that building and using motivation is a skill, which means that even if you feel you aren't motivated now, you can get there with practice!
A good first step is to implement delayed gratification.
Step 1: Identify the hard action, and allow yourself a reward after completing it
Step 2: Do the action and reward consistently
Step 3: As you start to build the habit, the reward will become less of a factor, and you’ll get satisfaction from doing the action itself
Step 4: Once the action has become an established habit, you’ll do it regardless of feeling or reward, and that consistency will bring about results
As always, it’s important to remember that finding your path on your journey will take time, and much trial and error. But by using these techniques, you can build resilience and motivation that will carry you through the hard days and out the other side of your goals!