Motivation: The "thing" that gets us started. The thing that quickly goes away when life happens. The myth is that we think it has to be present for us to be in action. Here's a secret I'm going to let you in on, you're not always going to feel motivated.
What is something that you want to either start doing again, continue doing, or start? Think about it. Do you have that goal in mind? I want you to take out a piece of paper and write it down.... I'll wait.
Here is where we get tripped up with our goals. We think... I wish I could do that... for the sake of having complete understanding I am going to use "Betty" as an example. Betty wants to start working out 3 days a week and eating healthier. On Sunday night, Betty feels MOTIVATED! She is ready to start this new lifestyle! She has her gym clothes set out to head out after work to the gym, she packed her lunch and has her snacks ready and dinner is prepped. She wakes up Monday morning and gets ready for work, has a healthy breakfast, water bottle in hand and attacks the day! She does everything she planned. When she gets home from the gym, she is on a high from the endorphins, she eats her prepped dinner and hops in the shower and starts to prep for her day tomorrow. Tuesday she wakes up and does great again on her morning. The end of the work day comes and her co-workers invite her out for drinks... she tells them she has dinner prepped and is going to hit the gym. They reply with, "Oh gosh, you look great, you don't need to lose weight! Work out tomorrow... come with us!" She obliges. Her prepped dinner can wait and she could go to the gym tomorrow.
Wednesday rolls around, she doesn't wake up when her alarm goes off because she is tired from the drinks last night. She scrambles to get ready and leaves the house just on time without breakfast. She hits a coffee shop on her way to work and figures she needs something in her stomach, she decides on a bagel and a mocha... she will work it off at the gym later... oh crud, she forgot her gym clothes. She will get them after work and go to the gym.
She is dragging all day at work, spent $7.50 at the coffee shop, and $15 at lunch, on her break she grabs a juice at the store for $2. She has also been trying to save money and now feels tired, down on herself, and like a failure. After work she decides she is tired, goes home, skips the gym, and throws away her prepped dinner she was supposed to eat yesterday because the chicken looks weird. She orders a pizza, the day is ruined anyways right!? She repeats this exact habit loop tomorrow because this is the pattern she has ingrained in her life. She gets motivated, she gets derailed, and she accepts failure.
Now... this is where discipline has to come in if we want to be successful. Betty had a lot of opportunities to get back on the path she initially set down. She could have told her friends no. She could gotten up early even though she didn't "feel" like it. She could have gone to the gym anyway, eaten her prepped dinner anyway. She could have started fresh on Wednesday. SO many times she could have interrupted that habit loop that comes so natural to her. How many days/week/or months will have to pass for her to feel motivated again? Has this been you? THIS has DEFINITELY been me... too many times. Now, how are we successful even we don't feel motivated? That's the point of this whole thing right???
Here's the secret... Do it anyway! You don't feel like going to the gym, too bad... do it anyway. You don't feel like eating a salad but need to lose 50 lbs so that you can get off of your medication, do it anyway. Your husband/wife is not supportive of your new lifestyle, it would be so much easier to quit. DON'T, do it anyway. Seriously, I cannot make it any more clearly. Decide what you want, make the necessary plan and follow through every day until it becomes your new habit! No one can decide for you, no one can do it for you, you are the only person who can make the choices and take action. Here is the biggest question you need to answer...
Is your future, your goal, so compelling that you are willing to give up the comfort, the easy, the mediocre for it? I hope so. If not... start thinking bigger.
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