The Truth About Motivation
Many of us depend on motivation to get us moving. And when we don’t have it, we’re often left with an easy excuse: “I just wasn’t motivated to [fill in the blank] today.” Well, the truth is, motivation is like the butter sauce on your vegetables. It’s a nice-to-have when it’s available, but you need to eat your vegetables either way.
Consider: Is anyone actually motivated to brush their teeth twice a day. Probably not. But we do it—whether we feel inclined to or not. It’s not just that it’s good for us; it’s that we’ve made it a habit. It’s so embedded in our morning and evening routines that we don’t even think about it, we just do it.
That’s why it’s essential to build healthy habits into your daily and weekly routines. Key elements of your fit lifestyle—whether that’s exercise or stretching or eating more vegetables—should become something you do as a matter of course.
Motivation waxes and wanes. Habits are consistent.
Sure, there are ways to rev up your motivation. And, you should use the ones that work for you.
Habit expert James Clear, author of the best-selling Atomic Habits, offers three ways to stay motivated for the long term:
Follow the Goldilocks Rule – Stick to tasks of “just manageable difficulty”; for gaining and maintaining a fit lifestyle, this might mean selecting an exercise program that’s challenging enough to deliver a positive outcome without being so difficult as to be disheartening.
Track and measure your progress – Set measurable goals and then regularly track your progress toward reaching them. You can use daily checklists, as well as monthly and quarterly check-ins, depending on the activity you’re trying to stick with.
Get immediate feedback – Whenever possible, get feedback on your activities, progress toward your goals, and any achievements or obstacles. Here’s where it’s a great idea to have an accountability partner.
But don’t depend on motivation to always be there when you need it. When hot flashes have woken you up multiple times throughout the night, where’s your motivation for your 6 a.m. workout? Hitting the snooze button.
Motivation vs habits
Along with the tactics you can use to rev up and stay motivated, you’ll want to transform activities such as working out and eating healthier into habits that are well-integrated into your life. There is a multitude of proven strategies for creating and embedding habits. We’re just going to touch on a few here.
Set up your environment for success: Make good habits easier and bad habits harder. For example, if you want to eat healthier, keep some fruit on the kitchen counter and stash the cookies in the back corner of the lowest shelf in the pantry closet.
Plan ahead: This is another way to simplify adopting a good habit. If you want to work out in the morning, for instance, have your workout clothes on top of your sneakers right next to your bed. When you get up, put them on and go workout. Don’t stop and think about whether you really want to or not.
Stack your habits: It’s often easier to add a new habit as part of a routine than on its own. So, if one of your fit-life goals is to drink more water, have a glass before and after every meal.
Make a swap: One way to add a good habit is to use it to eliminate a bad habit. Say you’d like to stretch right before bed, but you’re always too tired. And say you’re in the habit of snacking about an hour before bed—and it’s something you’d like to stop doing. Swap the snacking for stretching. When you head to the kitchen for that snack, grab a mat instead, and do some pre-bedtime stretches.
Do it anyway: Sometimes you don’t feel motivated to do something and it’s not quite a habit yet—but taking that action is important to meeting your fit-life goals. Then, just do it. I wanted to drink at least 64 ounces of water per day, so I added drinking a glass in the morning before I walk my dog, one when we get back, and then one before breakfast. It’s part of my morning routine, but it took about six months to become a habit. At first, I had to think about it every day because I don’t always want water that early. I drank it anyway because it’s important. Now, drinking that water is automatic.
