How to Get and Stay Motivated
Do you think pro athletes are more motivated than you are? Do you think John/Jill down the street “just wants it more?’ The truth is both the pro athlete and John/Jill from down the street have the same struggles with motivation that you do! The difference? They know how to get motivated (and what to do when they don’t feel motivated at all).
Sometimes they don’t feel like working out. Some days they just want a slice of brownie cheesecake.
So why do they work out anyways? Why do they stick to their meal plan when things get tough?
Here’s how to do it—and the great news is that you can use the SAME strategy they do.
TIP 1
Get a coach. You need to be accountable to an objective third party. Your significant other will let you off the hook. And your friends may not be all in for your results.
You need someone to:
Remove the guesswork
Hold you accountable. You can “ghost” someone over text, but you can’t miss appointments.
Provide a “pain” for failure. That means you have to pay for coaching. That’s what we like to call “skin in the game.” And you’re more likely to follow through when there is “skin in the game.”
Get a really fast result. Our brains are wired to reward quick wins and novelty. If we don’t see results quickly, we lose motivation. We will cover next week how to get those fast results.
It’s key for someone to say, “You did really well at X” and cheer on every success and help with any setbacks.
TIP 2
Set up a short-term “challenge” for yourself … but have a plan for after the challenge ends.
A four-week sprint is great for motivating yourself. But after the four weeks do you typically drop off the edge? In our experience, people will do short-term diets (like intermittent fasting or keto diets) usually gain back the weight they lost and far more. The unsustainable nature of the diet, plus the long-term damage to their metabolism, actually leaves them less healthy.
You can do these things; don’t get us wrong. We have a nutrition kickstart that is similar. But having the second step all lined up and ready to go is what makes the kickstart successful.
Again, a coach can build this plan for you.
It will eventually become a habit. It won’t always be hard to go to the gym, or shop for groceries, or prep your meals. It WILL get easier, but only if you keep the habit going. Usually it takes around 90 days for our behaviors to become habits and then a few more months for our habits to become “just what we do.”
Track everything. Track your workouts.
Note your personal bests.Track your food intake.Note your wins. Track your sleep.
Note how they all tie together.
If I sleep less, we want more caffeine. When we drink more caffeine, we want more sugar.
When we eat more sugar, we lose motivation to work out. When we don’t work out, we get more stressed. And when we get more stressed, we sleep less. Then we are tired, grumpy, bloated and sad.
(Maybe that’s just us…but we know some of you can relate.)
TIP 3
Use your tools to plan.
For example, instead of just putting today’s food in MyFitnessPal before bed, enter all of your meals in MyFitnessPal in advance. Then add or subtract carbs, fats and protein to make your macros, and voila – you have a food plan for the next day!
Trust me: It’s far better than cramming dry Rice Krispies into your mouth at 8 p.m. because you’re not hitting your carb goals. Uh, at least that’s what my friend tells me …
Check your progress.
Look, you’re not going to have a personal best on every workout. But that matters zero percent. What really matters is consistency. People who show up every day, even if they put out 50% of their best effort, get better results than people who crush it once a week.
The people who “sprint and crash” usually get amazing results, and then they get fat again. Or they get strong, and then they get injured. The people who just show up for their appointments get strong, lean and happy for life.
I want you to know this: The days when you feel the LEAST motivation are the days you’ll get the BEST results.
Consistent, imperfect action always wins.
TIP 4
Clap for yourself (Positive Self Affirmations)
It's time to acknowledge how far you've come (even if its weekly). Every inch of improvement matters, so let's think back to Day One and remember some of the things that you wanted to change when you initially began this fitness journey.
Compared to where you started, what has been the biggest thing you've made improvement on?
Where have you gained an inch of improvement? What has minimally increased but it's still a win?
What's still hindering you? What's lurking in the back, unchanged, or something you maybe didn't devote enough attention to?
