You made your SMART goals, broke them into eatable pieces but now what? How do you get the motivation to keep going toward the goal line? That is where the motivation piece comes in.
Prioritize Working Out
Since regular physical activity isn’t seen as an urgency, modern humans regard working out as optional. Nothing can be further from the truth. Regular exercise isn’t optional. Let’s first look at the benefits of working out.
Working out regularly…
Makes you happier and healthier,
Your skin becomes more vibrant and your posture improves.
Is proven to improve productivity,
Expands your freedom by allowing you to do activities that were previously limited due to physical abilities.
Reduces the stress hormone cortisol which in turn makes you feel happier,
Makes you an inspiration to your loved ones,
Improves your self-respect and confidence,
Makes you likelier to develop other good habits.
If your brain isn’t convinced that you should work out, it will keep coming up with excuses to not work out. For example, the common excuse that “I don’t have time to work out” can be rephrased as “I don’t prioritize working out.” As for other excuses, we’ll get to them in a minute.
Don’t Frame It As A Sacrifice
A common mistake that wreaks havoc on your workout motivation is to frame it as a sacrifice. Sacrifice, by definition, is to give up something of higher importance in favor of something else of lower importance.
Working out is the opposite of sacrifice. In fact, you’re making a sacrifice if you skip your workout in favor of an inferior activity. There’s nothing sacrificial about working out. Don’t needlessly demotivate yourself by framing it as a sacrifice.
Stop Forcing Yourself To Love Working Out
Modern people have this weird obsession with positive emotions. Mantras such as “do what you love”, “love what you do”, “chase your dreams”, “pursue your passion”, etc. are dime a dozen. Take it from me. There’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t happen to love working out.
Look, life is not a fairy tale. If you only did the things that you love doing, you would get very little done, if that. Sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do even though you hate doing it. A lot of times, actually.
There is nothing wrong with you if you don’t love working out. Loving to work out is obviously a bonus but it’s not a requirement. By all means, try to find a workout that you love doing, but it’s foolish to count on love in order to be able to work out regularly.
Love is an emotion. Emotions are volatile. Volatility directly contradicts your workout goals because you need consistency. Stop forcing yourself to love working out. If you’re looking for an emotion, you can be ambitious or obsessed with your workout goals.
Don’t Think It’s Necessary To Join A Gym And/Or Buy Fancy Exercise Equipment Or Expensive Supplements
Fitness is a multi-billion dollar business. They need to sell those gym memberships, fancy exercise equipment, and expensive supplements. Fortunately, none of them is essential for working out regularly, especially if you are a beginner.
Most of the time, walking or running can be done outside. We all know, my mother makes it a point to walk regularly. Walking outside is not always possible due to bad weather, lockdowns, or other reasons. She loves Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home Videos so that she can train at home when she can't walk outside.
She’s been training in her living room in front of her TV especially during lockdowns.
In most cases, joining the gym and buying fancy exercise equipment or expensive supplements are pseudo actions that achieve the opposite of what they are trying to achieve. It makes people think they’re doing something for their workout habits when they’re not.
Joining the gym doesn’t magically ensure going to the gym consistently. Most people who join the gym quit after a few visits. Fancy exercise equipment doesn’t work out on your behalf. Supplements are massively overrated.
Schedule Your Workouts
Allocate time in your schedule for working out and stick to it bar emergencies. Don’t bother waiting for workout motivation or inspiration to strike. Most of the time they won’t.
Discipline trumps motivation. You need to be consistent with your workouts. One workout here, another workout there won’t get you anywhere. Discipline is what ensures consistency, not motivation.
There’s a reason why routines are so popular. They work. Work, eat, sleep, and exercise
are the 4 pillars of a well-lived life. Developing a daily routine for these basics is always a great idea.
When It’s Time To Work Out, Put On Your Exercise Clothes But Give Yourself Permission to Not Work Out
I know it sounds weird, but seriously, give yourself permission to not work out. Give yourself permission and allow that compassion.
Let’s say you regularly work out at 5 p.m. every day but sometimes when workout time arrives, the last thing you want to do in the world is to work out. What do you do?
You put on your exercise clothes and give yourself permission to not work out. Go to the gym if you are a member but permit yourself to come back without training.
Most of the time, you will end up working out. Why is this? Your actions have a way of convincing your brain to finish what you’ve started. Remember that we’ve already talked about how convincing your brain plays a crucial part in beating procrastination.
Track Your Workouts
Keeping track of your reps, sets, and workout time and measuring your waistline, weight, and body fat percentage provide feedback on your progress which makes it likelier for you to stick to your workout schedule.
If your preferred type of exercise is walking then smartphones have apps that count your steps. If you train for strength as I do, you must count your sets, reps, and workout time to know if you’re progressing.
Even marking the calendar on the days you worked out can be greatly motivating. Once the marks on your calendar pile up, you’ll be proud of yourself and you’ll not
want to break the chain.
Tracking your progress has another great benefit which is to fire up the reward centers of your brain. The dopamine hits you get at the times you make progress will boost your motivation to improve more.
Weighing yourself to notice you’re losing weight, measuring your waist to notice it’s shrinking, completing the exact same workout faster than before are examples of progress that causes dopamine spikes in your brain which in turn makes you feel good about yourself and want to continue doing what you have been doing.
Considering that dopamine is the hormone of addiction, measuring and tracking is a great w
ay to become addicted to progress. An addiction to making progress is probably the only useful addiction that you can develop.
Exhaust Your Excuses
We’ve already talked about the “I don’t have the time to workout” excuse when talking about prioritizing your workouts. People have many other irrational excuses when it comes to avoiding exercise. For example, average people commonly have the excuse that fitness is something for the rich as if someone is asking them for payments for walking, jogging, doing pushups, etc.
The human brain is an excuse factory. Your brain will come up with tens of excuses to stop you from working out because your body is lazy.
I long noticed that my brain is an expert at coming up with excuses to talk me out of doing my workouts but I am so used to its excuses at this point that I easily debunk the excuses and proceed to work out.
Utilize excuse exhaustion in order to exhaust your excuses. You can make a list of your own excuses and debunk them one by one until your brain runs out of excuses and gets out of the way so that you can start working out regularly.
Keep Your Workouts Short Or Make Them Productive
If time is genuinely a constraint, you can either increase the intensity of your workouts or do something productive during your workouts. Walking is another favorite wo
rkout of mine. I highly recommend walking for it makes losing fat a breeze. However, walking takes time. Yet, not all is lost.
Walking is a great way to cultivate your thought processes for a problem or task. You can also listen to audiobooks or podcasts during the time you walk. There are even people who utilize walking as meditation.
Another way to make your workouts productive is to use them as a way to socialize. Socializing is a basic human need anyway. You can work out and socialize at the same time by joining group workout activities. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.
Find An Accountability Partner
Some people like to find an accountability partner to work out together. Talking about our workouts with the friend who started me on bodyweight training motivated me to continue working out.
Finding an ac
countability partner can be massively motivating for you to keep working out. It should go without saying that being around people who regularly work out increases your chances of finding an accountability partner.
Conclusion
Life is short. Our days are numbered. Your ultimate goal is to make healthy living a habit and achieve our goals. Let's take those steps to reach our goals by looking at our motivation.
For more information to create motivation in your life, check out this article: How to Motivate Yourself to Work Out: 32 Tips for All Levels (healthline.com)