I was talking to a friend a couple weeks ago and he mentioned he was feeling a bit out of routine with his fitness goals.
Between feeling under the weather, a vacation down south during a cold winter, and some other commitments, he wasn’t feeling as motivated as he was before.
I know I’ve felt the same, and imagine you have – or maybe are right now – as well.
And it can be tricky – if you aren’t motivated, or don’t feel like a motivated person, the first step is to get motivation, right?
We think it works like this:
Motivation → Action → Results
That’s backwards.
In reality works like this:
Act motivated → Feel motivated → Think motivated → Even more motivated actions
- Action creates evidence
- Evidence shifts belief
- Belief fuels more action
Your behavior (action) influences emotions (the feeling of motivation) & thoughts (the belief that you can do the thing) and creates this wonderful, positive feedback loop.
This leads to more action, more evidence, and more belief.
All of the sudden, you start to feel motivated, and it all started with your actions.
This is the motivation loop, and it can either work for you or against you.
Here’s an example.
When you aren’t feeling motivated:
- You Think: “I’m not motivated”
- You Feel: Low energy and low motivation
- Your Action: To do nothing or distract yourself with something else
Because of that inaction, you have even more negative thoughts about motivation, leading to more negative feelings about motivations, leading to even less action.
To break this cycle, you start with action:
- Your Action: Show up at for your workout, even when you don’t feel ike it
- You Feel: Better than you did before you worked out, and have a sense of accomplishment
- You Think: I can do this
Because of this action, you do the next workout, leading to more positive feelings of motivation.
Over time, you start to prioritize your workouts and believe that when you don’t want to workout is the time you need it most.
That leads to more action.
Even when you aren’t feeling it, or you had unexpected snow after a gorgeous spring day and you wanted to stay inside… for your next workout, act like a motivated person would act.
You’ll find yourself feeling motivated, and believing you are that motivated person you were pretending to be.
And if you need help getting started, click HERE to book a call with a coach for a FREE assessment.
