The One Question I Get Asked Daily.. How To Get Motivated?

So it’s New Year’s Day and you are READY! You’ve made the commitment to yourself (and signed up for that gym membership.. or better yet, ordered yourself some workout DVDS!) New gym kit, washed and laid out – you’re amped and raring to go! 

And you go! Smashing out your goal sessions, making gains, losing fat, improving your technique and you are seeing some great results. All January and February you feel unstoppable. But March rolls around and you start to get bombarded at work. And April, your entire extended family decides to visit for 2 weeks at Easter. These life events are starting to throw your routine out of whack and you are feeling like you are regressing.

And regressing can be depressing! You lose your mojo, your motivation. Sounding kind of familiar?

You’re not alone. Literally ALL of us struggle to get our routine going and keep our motivation high – especially when you aren’t seeing the results you want.

So HOW do you keep your motivation high??

Well, it’s not easy. I wish I could tell you the secret recipe or wave a magic wand and POOF! Maximum motivation.

It’s not that easy, but it IS SIMPLE. I have found that the key to keeping your motivation high is theoretically as simple as starting to roll a ball across the floor.

ACTION > MOMENTUM > MOTIVATION

Mark Manson, author of “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck”, originally came up with the DO SOMETHING PRINCIPLE – which is what I have adapted here and changed to my own equation of ACTION > MOMENTUM > MOTIVATION.

Have you ever heard the saying “a body in motion stays in motion”? Well it’s basically that.

You won’t get motivation BEFORE you get action. Starting the journey, or the task, and taking all the small steps to complete that task will help you build MOMENTUM, as you slowly make changes in the right direction. With the momentum comes motivation – you are MOTIVATED by the momentum, which is when you get going and begin to see results. 

SMALLS STEPS TO BIG CHANGES guys – it always comes back to the small steps.

Here are some practical small steps you guys can use to GET STARTED!

1. Start small! Get yourself going for a 5 minute walk and chances are, after those 5 minutes, you will want to continue on! 
2. Make small changes to just one meal per day – heap veggies on your plate instead of only chips.
3. Drink an extra glass of water each day.
4. Add in a 5 minute stretching routine before you go to sleep or when you wake up
5. Add extra protein into one meal
6. Begin a meditation or yoga routine for just 5 minutes each day
7. Look at healthy swaps you can start to make in your diet
8. Examine your day to see how you can incorporate more incidental exercise 
9. Set yourself a sleep schedule to include 7-9 hours per night, consistently
10. Reflect each night on at least ONE accomplishment you made that day and set an intention for tomorrow!

Before I end it there I just want to leave you with this really interesting quote from Mark Manson’s blog that sums up the fact that getting moving, beginning to take action, is really how to get yourself motivated.

“My math teacher used to tell us in high school, ‘If you don’t know how to do a problem, start writing something down, your brain will begin to figure it out as you go.’ And sure enough, to this day, this seems to be true. The mere action itself inspires new thoughts and ideas which lead us to solving the problems in our lives. But that new insight never comes if we simply sit around contemplating it.”

Getting started will end up giving you the motivation you desire!

Like I said before, there is no magic trick or formula that will get your motivation rocketing sky high. It’s a matter of getting started, and doing all of the little things that add up to the big one. When you get going, you’ve started, you build momentum and chances are you will continue to keep going.

Remember, it’s all about the small steps you take that add up to the ultimate goal, and once you realise that getting started will actually aid you in getting motivated – it can change your whole mindset. So don’t sit and wonder how to find the motivation, JUST GET STARTED!