Day 47: Motivation

                The internet is filled with motivational quotes, memes, & videos designed to inspire. It’s easy to get a quick jolt of motivation through a simple ‘motivational video’ search on Youtube. While these quick jolts of motivation can be helpful at times, what is more challenging is developing the type of motivation that is enduring, that will push you through your workouts day in & day out, regardless of the way you feel or what else is going on in your life. This type of motivation is more challenging to acquire, & in fact cannot be acquired at all; it must be internal.

                Today I discuss a few strategies on how you can cultivate & renew the motivation that you need to push you through a fitness routine, or anything else that you are trying to achieve in life.

What is motivation?

                Motivation is the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. Motivation is the guiding influence that leads us to make our daily decisions. Unfortunately, motivation can be incredibly fleeting & is often difficult to nail down or sustain. Motivation can be burning hot in one moment & absent the next. The challenge with motivation is that it is impossible to sustain the white-hot motivation that leads one to set PR’s in the gym or on the trails, as any attempt to maintain this level of motivation would lead to burn out in a matter of days. What follows is a strategy for instead developing a type of long-term internal motivation.

Have the right goals

                The first key to staying motivated is ensuring you have the right goals in the first place. You can pump yourself up all you want, but at the end of the day, if what you are trying to achieve is not important to you, it is highly unlikely that you will be successful & any attempt to motivate yourself will ultimately be futile. Dwight Eisenhower once famously said that “motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” You cannot force yourself to achieve a goal; you must want it. There is no sense trying to motivate yourself to achieve something that isn’t important to you, so make sure you are setting the right goals for yourself! 

 

Remember your ‘why’

                Building upon the point above, once you have the right goal, you must constantly remind yourself ‘why’ this goal is important. Whether it is getting in shape or achieving a target at work, you must remember the major reason behind why achievement of this goal is important to you. Whether it is personal or for your family, keeping a clear vision of why you want to achieve your goal will provide you with the motivation you need to push you through the tough times.

 

Be consistent

                An object in motion stays in motion. Consistency in action can help build momentum that will push you through even your most challenging days. Yesterday I discussed the concept of non-negotiables; if you want to achieve a goal, make 1 or 2 of the steps that are critical to achievement of that goal non-negotiables in your life, meaning that no matter what, come hell or high water, you will complete those tasks each day. You will find that as you make it to 4, 5, or 6 days, it becomes much easier to find time to complete the task & you will want to keep your streak going. It is important that you leverage the momentum that you build early on when motivation levels are high to power you through the ‘down days’ where motivation wains.

 

Take credit for your achievements

                Building on the point above, when you find your motivation fleeting, it can be helpful to look back at where you started & where you are now, giving yourself credit for all that you’ve achieved & reminding yourself of the hard work you put into those achievements. This is where journaling comes in handy, as it provides an easy way to look back at the success you've achieved. A strategy that I use is to think ‘if I give up now, look at all of the effort that will be wasted.’ Looking back can be a powerful motivator because it both shows you that you can do it while also reminding yourself of all you have already invested into achievement of your goal, which can be the stimulus you need to keep pushing on.

 

Leverage the power of incremental gains

                Rome wasn’t built in a single day. Remind yourself constantly that a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. Have confidence in the impact of incremental gains. While what you do today may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, the reality is that consistent action will have a huge impact over time. Remind yourself also that this concept of ‘incremental gains’ works both ways; while the more consistently you work, the faster you will achieve your goals, the more days you take off will also build incrementally & move you even further away from your ultimate goal. I spoke at length on the concept of incremental gains in my day 32 post.

 

Manage setbacks

                Regardless of how motivated you may be to achieve your goal, setbacks will happen. The key then is to manage your setbacks & not allow them to snowball into a greater problem. If you take a day off at the gym or cheat on your diet, the key is to not allow the cheat meal to turn into a cheat day, or a cheat week. I spoke at length about how to manage setbacks in my day 27 post.

 

Master your internal monologue

                Self-talk can either be deflating or extremely motivating. Far too often we allow our minds to run wild without recognizing the thoughts in our head, & our brains often become plagued with negative thoughts very quickly, especially when first setting out to accomplish a goal. The key is recognizing these thoughts & replacing them instead with positive, self-affirming thoughts. Each morning I complete a journal entry which includes 3 self-affirmations. I strongly encourage you to do the same, or to at least try to catch yourself when you are feeling de-motivated & analyze the thoughts in your head; is this how you really feel, or have you allowed your thoughts to run wild? If it is the latter, remind yourself of your 'why' & get back to work!   

 

                At the end of the day, all of the fancy quotes & videos on the internet are not what is ultimately going to get you into the gym, or to work on your goals; it will have to be yourself. Sustainable motivation is intrinsic & is not something that comes easily, you must work at it. On this Monday morning motivation may be difficult to find, so remember the concepts discussed above & keep on pushing. Aroo!  

100-Day Spartan