Motivation matters

“How do you stay so motivated all the time?” As a personal trainer I often get asked this very question. The simple answer is - I don’t. At least, not all the time. There are productive days and not so productive days, happy days and not so happy days. This is perfectly normal. No one feels motivated 365 days of the year. We are only human and there are always going to be fluctuations in our levels of motivation. 

 

The truth is that motivation isn’t actually a tangible thing, rather more an internal process – it’s just the desire and determination to achieve something. There is no secret way/technique to maintaining motivation. You can feel motivated from reading a quote, following a fitness page, seeing an inspirational post online or simply be inspired by someone you may or may not know. A good personal trainer should also be a good motivator.  

 

However, in order to start the process, it is first necessary to commit to being self-disciplined and determined in your mindset. The overall success is mostly down to you, no one can keep your motivation alive for you, but a mentor or like-minded training partner can certainly help. Nowadays people can often be very needy, have lazy habits and unhealthy lifestyles – but still demand fast fixes to their problems and expect immediate results. They resist the need for commitment and real effort. A good example may be someone wants to lose weight and likes the idea of losing fat, but doesn’t want to go through the process of working hard to achieve this. In order words they baulk at the idea of giving up unhealthy choices and adopting a well-balanced diet and following the necessary workout programmes. Another recent trend, especially popular amongst women these days - big glutes. Women want to develop their glutes and like the idea of having a ‘bigger bum’ but do they have the patience and mental determination to go through the process of working hard to achieve this? 

 

Here are some tips that you may find helpful and which I regularly use to help my own motivation: 

 

1.      Write a daily plan and ticking things off as you achieve them 

At the start of the year, I bought a diary, one where I could track my day-to-day activities and visualise what I had planned. I found this helped me to feel more organised and therefore less stressed. It also gave me an incentive and a way of visually recording my mini-goals and achievements.

 

2.     Setting short-, medium- and long-term goals

Goal setting is a huge factor when it comes to motivation. Having realistic and sustainable targets is key to overall success. When I have new clients joining my online coaching, I often ask them; where do you want to see yourself in 4 weeks, 3 months and 6 month’s time? They soon realise the importance of breaking goals up and not expecting too much too soon.