Lets be real, the majority of us struggle to get motivated for the majority of the tasks we need to complete. Most often than not, it is taking care of our bodies which ends up on the back burner to life's never ending grind. For me, I was usually in different stages of "fit" up until my late 20's and early 30's, just about the time I started having children. Then, health sort of ended up at the bottom of the list of things I found motivation to accomplish.
In 2014, I broke my toe while at Crossfit one morning. I haven't entered a gym since. I used a combination of working a lot, kids have a ton of stuff to get done, and my injury to justify not working out. In reality, I had very little motivation to do anything.
For the past few weeks, I've been forging small amounts of motivation from different sources in an attempt to get my lazy butt back in some form of decent shape and shed this dad body I've worked so little to cast.
External Motivation from Friends
I'm lucky enough to have a small group of friends who are in a similar situation I am. We are all in our mid 30's, have 2 or more kids, and work full time. There isn't much time to get into the gym or create an at home workout plan for any of us. Despite that, they've been getting up at 4 a.m. and hitting the gym, running outside, or build a small at-home gym where they've been grinding for the past few weeks.
As they've been documenting their workouts by posting a few pics on Instagram, talking about it through text messages, and posting videos on Facebook, it's pushed me to want to join in little by little. Once I expressed my desire to jump in, they were very well receiving. This past week, I joined a gym and started speaking with some of them about how excited I was to get back in there. Now, they text me with nutrition, workout, and personal fitness information all the time. This external motivation I received from friends is a huge boost in generating motivation for myself. Simple pushes from the individuals we surround ourselves with are a great way to conjure motivation where there once was none.
Internal Motivation
External motivation is a great way to get your engine started when you don't have much motivation at all. It is like an ignition switch. However, if you are out of gas, then that engine isn't going to turn. There has to be something inside you that really wants to change. You need to ask yourself, "Why"? Why do I need to change. Do you need to work harder to get that promotion at work? Do you need to get into they gym because you don't want to have future health problems? Once you figure out the "Why", then it is much easier to move on to the "How"!
Getting a game plan together is a huge factor on why people lose motivation. The "How" is the hardest part. We all figure out at some point we need a change, but many of use struggle to find out how to change. Look to friends for advice, do a lot of research if you're unsure how to accomplish your goals, and seek guidance from a professional are some ways which might guide you to figuring out your "How".
Outside Sourced Motivation
I get a lot of motivation from the internet. I follow a guy, Joco Willink, who is a former Navy Seal Officer. He runs a leadership podcast where he breaks down how to be a leader, how to pull motivation from within yourself, and just great advice from a really hardcore dude. It's easy for me to listen and respect this guy because I once served in the military as well. Try drawing from sources that also relate to you in whatever realms you may come from. Work in the sales industry and want to start preforming better? Try and find people who are sharing their story and cultivate parts in your performance in order to gain a boost.
Here is a video from Joco that give me goosebumps every time I hear it. It is definitely my outside sourced motivation.
GOOD
Taking Action-Discipline
In reality, even with push from friends, internal motivation, and outside forces it is up to you to take your own individual action. Jeff Bezos, the guy who started Amazon, once said that, "Big things start small. The biggest oak starts from an acorn". This is invaluable information to any just starting out in any quest. When honing the spark of motivation try and remember that quote. Nothing great will be achieved overnight. It takes discipline, hard work, and realize that there are no shortcuts.
Keeping Motivation
This is probably the most difficult part. Every January 1, gyms see a huge boost in membership for that annual New Year's Resolution. By the beginning of March, most everyone has quit. I struggle with this as well. I recently started an on-line coding class. It was fun at first, but as things begin to get difficult I found myself not really wanting to go back to it. We tend to want an immediate return/reward for our efforts. In this case, I was just taking the class for self improvement without any reward other than the knowledge and acquiring a skill that didn't help me in my everyday life.
Conclusion
Motivation is the life blood of progress. It is very difficult to keep and harness however. It comes and goes often times without warning. It is important for us as friends, family, and humans to foster motivation in one another. I hope that if you are struggling with accomplishing something that you want or need to get done you can draw from some form of motivation in order for you to complete the task.
I'll leave you with one more Joco video which gets me motivated.
The War Path
