I get asked, quite a bit, “Shay how do you say so motivated to eat well and exercise all the time? I have no motivation to exercise. How do you do it?”
There’s one very simple answer to this.
I’ve created habits.
Wanna know a secret? Motivation is fleeting.
Yea, it comes and goes. Even for me. And since I know that, I plan for it. In this post, I’m going to teach you how to do the same.
First, find your WHY
Why do you want to do the thing that you feel like you have no motivation to do?
I’ve established clear goals in my life. I know exactly what I want. My WHY was bigger than just wanting to lose weight.
I recommend you look really deep here. Here’s a question to help: If no one could see you, why would you want to lose weight and/or get in shape?
Once you know your WHY, what do you think comes next? Action or Motivation?
If you said action, you are correct. Action creates motivation. It’s reverse than most people think. But when you think about it, an object in motion stays in motion, Newton’s law. Have you ever started cleaning the dishes and then an hour later you’re on your hands and knees scrubbing the baseboards?
Your action, created motivation. Then, as you continue, your motivation creates momentum.
Now things start to get fun.
When you are in the moments after action and motivation have kicked in, your drive to keep going doesn’t take much effort. Ever notice that?
Once you are running, you usually keep running. Once you start to cook chicken, broccoli, and rice, you probably end up eating that once it’s done. Right?
So, how do you make this action > motivation > momentum sequence reoccurring? How do you make something a habit?
Action >> Motivation >> Momentum >> Habit
You start by taking action. However small it might be. Build one micro habit at a time.
The key here is to start really really small, that’s why I call it a micro habit.
Here’s the first step in building your massive motivation momentum: Find one micro habit that you can start doing today. It has to be so small that you can do it today without any excuses.
For example, if you say, “I’m going to start eating more vegetables but I can’t go to the grocery store until tomorrow.” Nope, that’s not the thing you’re going to pick right now. What you choose needs to be able to be done today.
If you need to be more physically active you can take 15 minutes and go on a walk rain snow or shine.
If you need to improve your nutrition, you can order a salad versus a burger.
The idea is that you pick something so small it doesn’t disrupt your normal life.
Tomorrow you’re going to do it again. No you’re not going to pick a new thing, you are going to do the same thing again.
For the first week just do that one thing. Let it become so easy that you don’t even think about it. And only then can you add on.
This was the first of a number of steps to help you get out of the “I have no motivation to exercise” slump.
If you have ever struggled with building motivation or sustaining motivation I have a workbook that will walk you through step-by-step to find your why, create action, motivation, momentum, and finally build your habits. This is your blueprint to walk you through how to build and keep motivation high.
If you want to know how to build more motivation towards building healthy habits check out the workbook here.
