Locating and Preserving Motivation
It’s the end of the year and you are enthusiastically anticipating the New Year and the resolutions you are about to fulfill. January 1st goes by, the gym population swells to capacity, and everything is going well. By the end of January that surge of gym goers has declined greatly, I see it at my gym every winter. Why do some people make such a promise and then seemingly so easily give it up a few weeks later? And it’s important to note that this lack of motivation isn’t just for the gymnasium newbies. It affects me and historically I have been dedicated when it comes to exercise. As a matter of fact, I am in a valley right now and have been for the last several weeks, it’s actually my motivation for writing this article. Regardless of your exercise history, working with a lack of drive or motivation can impact anyone, whenever, for a variety of reasons. A change in income could cause stress, a child now taking piano lessons during your fixed workout time, anything can cause a lapse in wanting to push yourself physically. And as we all recognize, a lot of the time, the relationship between your physical state and the mental and emotional ones, are very closely connected. When you feel low emotionally, it’s extremely taxing to find the drive necessary to raise your heart rate and burn some calories. And to look at it from the other direction, which is the one that gnaws and nags at the back of my mind, is when I’m feeling negative about myself physically; it definitely weighs on me mentally. Let’s try to avert those low points. If we keep discovering a source of motivation, and where you find it might keep changing, we will never approach the down times. We are going to look at a couple of ways to try and keep, or restore, that juice in your stomach.
One way to see a purpose in your workout and perhaps healthy eating habits is to set goals. Setting goals is important for this and for many aspects of your life. If you wake up each day without some purpose, any goal, your whole day, week will be rudderless. It is significant to set a couple of different types of goals. Ideally you’d want at least a short term, an intermediate, and a long term goal. If you set only a short term one, you’ll obtain it quickly and be left without a new direction unless you set another. If you only have a long term goal you might become disheartened and stop when you feel like it’s taking too long to see your progress. Set your first one that you feel you could realistically acquire in the next week or two, and then set an intermediate one that you could make in like 2-6 months. For your long term goal, set one for 6-12 months. Perhaps revisit your goals every week and modify as needed, especially the short term one as you cross them off your list. Make them realistic and achievable. Keep them visible so that you see them every so often. Repeat these goals to yourself. I try to participate in wrestling. I have been doing it for about five years and I still put one or two goals on 3X5 index cards and tape them to my bathroom mirror. Seriously, one right now reads “DO NOT let them smash you in half guard.” Might not make sense to a non-grappler but the meaning is identical. I see it quite a bit and I see it typically right before heading out to the gym. I have known people to tack their goals opposite their bed on the wall that they face when they roll out of bed, they are the first things they see each day. Some examples, from short term to long term, might be: to shave 30 seconds off your pace time by the end of next week, then to run at least 4x every week for the next six weeks, and then to complete a 10k by the end of spring. Note your progress towards these goals. Some people keep logs, others scratch their notes on those goal cards. Set little achievement goals to obtain so that when you are recording your achievements you feel like you have accomplished something huge. Maybe it was an extra five pounds on the bench today, or that you lost five pounds without really paying attention to your weight.
One of my main issues with finding my motivation is maintaining a schedule. Exercise especially has to be an automatic part of your day. After a while it becomes second nature to arise, grab your gear, and head out the door. When I fall out of this schedule, it is usually because I have changed that item with another, and unfortunately it is almost always with an item less valuable. Be cautious of excuses if you are like me and this area is your weakness. Well I can take today off because I really pushed it yesterday or I don’t need to go to the gym this evening because making supper will take too long, blah blah. Get rid of the excuses. This could be an entirely different category but we will dovetail into this topic. If you feel like you just don’t have time today for cardiovascular work, ask yourself if you had, or have, time for Facebook? What about television? Or remind yourself how much better and full of life you’ll feel immediately after working out. That runner’s high, go get it. No, you won’t experience that high unless you really push yourself but the smaller effects are still the same on your psyche. It is so obvious to tell from the parking lot of the gym those that had a good, meaningful workout. People exit the gym with smiles usually, flexing or stretching their arms or backs, and then they have the entire day to reflect on that butt kicking workout they survived. Use those feelings you’ll be certain to have after as drive. Don’t you almost always feel better and more sure about yourself after exercise? I know I do. I am a little guy and don’t lift these big huge weights. But I sure feel invincible knowing I pushed myself. Here is my personal little nugget; this is what makes me feel invincible during and after pushing myself. I think of how 95% of the population probably couldn’t attempt the workout I just did, nor would they desire to. I hate jogging and ask myself, who else is up doing this right now in the dark, inhaling this fresh air, experiencing nature and the sunrise? Too few and that pushes me to take another step forward.
Lastly you want to make sure you are enjoying it and having fun. If not, why are you doing it? People who train because they HAVE to often times are the ones who end up waning off and then stopping. So let’s say you work out to get in shape. But you hate working out. Why then would you workout in order to prolong something you abhor? No, exercise isn’t happy, fun joke around time but if you are able to envision the results you’ll see in a couple of days or imagine how you’ll feel to cross off one of those goals that should make it enjoyable. Try to bring a friend with you. Not only will this improve the social aspect for you. It will more than likely have two more effects as well. One, consciously or subconsciously it will build a sense of competition. You don’t want that person to outperform you too much so you’ll push yourself. Second it will motivate you to go as you will disappoint the other person by not going, or you will feel down as you know they are there, pushing it and sacrificing while you liked some little kitten video on the web. Above, it states the importance of setting up a routine. It is just as vital to schedule some down time as well. I wouldn’t modify that day around week to week unless you have to. If you set up your time to always have certain days off, again you have a goal to press towards. You know with certainty that if you can just make it to Friday, you get all Saturday off. Use that relaxation day as motivation while you are straining to get that weight up.
Making exercise enjoyable, setting both readily achievable and more difficult to get goals, and establishing a schedule are all great ways to find or restore your motivation. Motivation can be a tricky concept to grasp a hold of and many people struggle with it every day. Try to find what works for you and implement those strategies. There are so many more besides those three, ideas like committing publicly, discovering inspiration, and taking photos. Now I am actually motivated and can’t wait for the gym session tonight.
Steve Larsen currently lives in Memphis, TN by way of Seattle, WA. He participates in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has always wrestled. Five years ago he decided to change up his lifestyle and got into the basics of exercise and diet, which are the two most important components if you want to change your health and appearance. If you have a concern like the side effects of creatine or are curious about taking creatine, the site Does Creatine Help? has all the information you could want.
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