Intelligent Fitness Blog

The Key to Motivation

Dean Karnazes

Do you want to know the real secret of long term motivation? While having exciting but realistic goals,working out a plan; making yourself accountable; having social support and setting SMARTER targets are all pretty central, the whole thing collapses if you have a belief like this:

“In order to do a task which leads me to my goal successfully, I must feel like doing it before hand.”

In my experience of 30 years of training and 16 years as a coach, nothing could be further from the truth. While you have to have a strong desire for the overall goal, if you wait until you feel in the mood for doing the tasks which lead you to your goal  before you do them – you may wait till hell freezes over. So if you wait until you feel like planning  and recording meals, doing exercise, shopping for healthy food or any other of the tasks which lead you to success – you might never reach your goal whether it’s fat loss, strength or fitness.

Often, it seems as if many who struggle with motivation believe that unless you feel a bit like the TV personality “Mr Motivator” appears to feel, you are not motivated. This idea of motivation as kind of a “relentless upbeatness” or keenness to do a task is in fact slightly damaging to your real motivation, because motivation is more about just doing it, rather than always being “in the mood” for tasks.

If you wait until you feel like doing exercise or planning meals – you may wait a very long time.

Recently I asked a class of very fit Target Toning and Fitness members to raise their hand if they always, or even often felt like exercising before hand – not one hand went up.

So I ask clients to do things, not just to read things. Get into the habit of doing things when you don’t feel like doing them, so you can start learning and improving immediately. Action leads to Motivation  – and not the other way round.

If in Doubt, Do Something – Don’t Just Ruminate.

For example, the best way to get motivated to exercise is to begin doing it. The best way to get motivated to plan meals is to start planning (it sounds laborious, but in fact in takes a few minutes – and it’s quite nice, working out exactly what you like to eat).

Often people get this the other way round. They think that in order to do something successfully, they have to feel “motivated” first. In reality, we do lots of things perfectly well when we don’t feel like it – like working, doing the dishes, paying the bills and so on. Putting exercise in a different category from these essentials may not lead to results. I find clients feel most motivated to exercise after the exercise exercise or even mid way through a session (It’s always a bit sticky, the first 10-15 minutes), when inertia has been overcome.

 

Build Momentum and Win £50
If you have been relatively immobile or sedentary for for years, weeks, or even a couple of days, then inertia builds up. Dean Karnaze (see left) is one of the world’s top ultra runners. He has run continuously for over 350 miles and has won the gruelling Badwater Ultra (135 miles running non-stop through Death Valley in 130 degrees heat). He says that after a couple of days on the couch, he can’t be bothered and feels heavy, tired and unmotivated. So, even he can’t be bothered if he stops moving for a relatively short period and he seems like a “motivated” type. So, build momentum and keep it up – if you are considering missing a session don’t be surprised if it gets harder to get moving again.

As always, test this out. Over the years I’ve bet more than 2000 people to rate their mood and motivation out of ten pre and post exercise at The Scottish Government. I promised them that if they genuinely felt worse after a comfortable exercise session – I’d give them £50.

No takers yet – except people who got in touch to say they DID feel more motivated afterwards. Test my theory and see 🙂

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