How do you keep yourself motivated?

[SunsetRunner]

I want to know how you keep yourself motivated to get fit! Sometimes I have trouble keeping on track and really need to get a good motivator!

[WavyDavey · Accepted solution]

One way is to keep a solid memory of how crummy being out of shape feels.

Another is to break up your overall goals into smaller ones that seems easier to reach. This month I might work on strength, maybe next month work more on cardio conditioning, or peak conditioning. Little achievable goals bring satisfaction. 

Funny, just this week someone came up to me at the gym and asked how I seem so motivated.

My secret is to not looking at it as getting fit, or working out. I actually just look at it as play time.

[MagsOnTheBeach]

I can't be motivated all the time.  I have been exercising and healthy eating since January, and I just get tired.  What I am learning is to rely - not on motivation (let's face it, we have a reserve and can tap out), but to rely on the good habits I built while I was motivated.

Plan meals, measure serving sizes, plan snacks, have a run and a walk schedule, check in with friends, weigh daily, try a new workout a couple times a month, wear fitted clothing, toss all clothing as it gets too big), make sure your family knows your schedule (my daughter knows on my non run days I am up for a walk at night so she joins me or asks me when I'm walking), make sure my family knows my needs (instead of a gift card for clothing, this year I am vocal about a gym membership), instead of a fancy Valentine's and birthday celebration dinner, I want an upgrade on my fitbit. 

[Daves_Not_Here]

I suggest reading Smarter, Better, Faster by Charles Duhigg.  It speaks to recent neurological research that has discovered how the brain functions differently when someone is motivated, and the conditions that tend to lead to people having motivation.

I would never have guessed the answer, and it sounds like one of those "weird tricks".

He found that the most motivating condition is when a person feels they have a choice, and the most demotivating condition is when they don't.  So, if your inner dialog is, "I HAVE to go to the gym", you set up internal resistance within yourself.  However, if you say, "I'd like to receive the benefits and results that come from going to the gym.  I have time today.  Do I want to go now or two hours from now?"  Once you make a decision, you have exercised your power to choose, and it is then pretty easy to follow through on the choice you made.

I've been trying this myself to get past my tendency to procrastinate on administrative work, and it's working for me.  Weird.

[Esya]

@Daves_Not_Here

That is something I realised last week all of a sudden. I have been struggling for a few months and I was getting tired like @MagsOnTheBeach and I realised I was getting myself stressed out with all those "I have to" and "I really should" etc. I was unable to do and enjoy the things that I enjoyed before, including following way less yoga classes as well as seeing cooking as a chore where I loved to experiment in the kitchen. So instead of "I have to" I say to myself "I don't have to do anything". I can skip yoga class and that is ok. I can make a quick meal instead of extensive cooking. It freed up my mind, there is space now and energy is starting to come back. Now I find myself picking things up again from the energy I get back. I would judge myself so hard if I did not manage something, that it would only make the experience even more negative. I am a perfectionist so this change in thinking is really new to me and I have to learn it by applying it actively.

Now my baseline changed:

Before: I would judge myself compared to what I feel I should do and have to and see it as a failure when I did not manage that.

Now: I judge myself not feeling I have to do anything and celebrating my activities and achievements that I do.

I also feel my anxiety has gone down another notch by seeing it in this perspective.

Different things will work for different people. For me it is this mix of that new perspective with the new baseline of better habits as described by @MagsOnTheBeach. Despite the fact that I was struggling, I would still get 10K steps every day where a few years ago that was 3K.

[Daves_Not_Here]

@Esya - there's a lot of wisdom in your post.  Avoiding perfectionism is something I need to remind myself to do.

Another book that speaks to this dynamic is Change or Die, by Alan Deutschman.  Ironically, the title is misleading - Deutschman found that when the gun is to someone's head (such as right after a heart attack) and they must either change or face an early death, they don't change.  They may be able to make a short-term change, but cannot sustain it over time.  The pressure from the negative stimulus is actually counterproductive.

He outlines the conditions for lasting change in his book.  Here is an article he authored:

https://www.fastcompany.com/52717/change-or-die

[etvete]

I completely understand this feeling. I have chronic migraines and it is all too easy to just go home after work and go straight to bed. I have found though that working out is better at relieving my pain than my doctor prescribed medication. Another motivator for me is that since I go to a group workout class at the same time and on the same days every week I have become friends with the other people and we hold each other accountable and motivate each other. Last night was partner workouts and after a day with a bad migraine it was really nice to have someone else there right beside me to push me and encourage me when I was feeling weak.