After looking into the “whys” behind all of the actions you take (if you didn’t read that post yet click here) , it is entirely common to still not be able to find the drive, or motivation to take action in this very moment to take steps towards your health and fitness goals. One thing you need to be aware of is that it’s easy to feel good about planning to take your next step…but what you have to realize is that none of that planning is worth a sniff unless its acted upon. It’s great to read different diet books, or listen to exercise audiobooks, but the key to your health goal success is putting what you’ve learned into action…NOW!
There are many ways to become and stay motivated, but I’m going to share with you 8 ideas I’ve used in my life that you can put into practice in yours today that I believe will make a difference immediately!
1. Keep Track of Your Progress
- I love stats, especially when they show the pounds dropping, the amount of weight and reps I can push rising, and the time it takes to run a set distance decreasing. So keep a journal, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time, just write a few entries each day including your current weight (first thing in the morning), a big star or smiley face if you worked out that day, and if there was an improvement or success that you experienced that day like a faster 5km time or the workout felt easier than last time. Also celebrate your successes by sharing milestones with friends and family. Pictures and measurements can also work as a great tool to visualize your progress!
2.Remember How Good You Feel After the Workout
- Have you ever had a workout that you’ve felt bad after? Barring injury or illness (always stretch before and after every activity to decrease chances of injury) it’s nearly impossible to think of a time when you’ve felt worse after a workout…Right??! Remember those after workout feelings; you always feel tighter, more athletic, more awake and more alive after every work out. Every time you feel those feelings, remember how amazing it is, and when the next time an option comes up to work out or sit and watch TV…Remember those fabulous feelings you get from exercise versus the brain numbing feelings you get from TV, then get active and move towards your ultimate health goals!
3. Make Exercise Enjoyable
- Not everyone likes to sweat away in a gym on an elliptical trainer or stand still bike machine. Maybe you like to play tennis or basketball or jog in your favourite park, even snowboarding or roller hockey…if you like the “exercise” you’ll be more likely to want to do it. If you have a specific sport, game or activity you like to do as exercise, please share it with me in the comment box!
4. Get a Workout Buddy
- It’s easy to let your mind talk you out of a planned workout when you’re all alone and have only yourself to convince, but when you can share in experience with a friend who has the same goals as you…it drastically increases motivation levels. When you work out with a friend, you can push each other in ways you couldn’t do yourself…also if you like having conversations about the whats what of what when you workout with your friend then you’ll definitely notice that your workout time flies faster. This way you can have fun, while improving your health and fitness with your friend, (or friends) and reach your goals too!
5. Make Exercise Habit
- Every morning I like to wake up between 5:15 and 6:00 am and get my workout in and start my day with my health goals in mind. I find that the more consistent I am with my workouts (I like to work out a minimum of 4-5 times a week), the more it becomes habit and the easier it is to do it tomorrow morning. Try this; if you’re having troubles staying motivated to exercise, plan your next week so that you can wake up by 6 am latest (no snooze bar lol!) everyday for 5 days straight (unless you work nights…I understand). Keep track in your journal of how it goes day by day, and after the week is up, see how you feel. If you feel great, keep it up…make it a habit, if you feel like crap because you think “I’m not a morning person”, we can either discuss how you can change that thought : ) or we can tweak the schedule…the point is getting into a routine of exercise consistency, which alone can bring you to your fitness goals faster than anything!
6. Set a Goal
- One AMAZING motivator I’ve found is setting specific goals in a specific time frame. The biggest fitness motivator goal I’ve ever set, was June of 2009…I got home after work one day and was discussing potentially trying a triathlon in the future…I personally thought I’d never, EVER do one in my life, but again, with having an exercise partner right beside me to motivate me…in the blink of an eye, I found ourselves booked into the 2009 Vancouver Triathlon and started training. Believe me, I’d never worked out so hard in my life! So set a goal for yourself, enter a 5km or a 10km running race 2 months in advance and start training today! Or if you’ve really active already, set a goal bigger than you’d ever think possible…think big like marathon, triathlon or Iron Man! You’ll feel motivated to workout so you do well in your event and afterwords you’ll be even more motivated to enter your next event!
7. Realize the Importance and Benefits of Exercise
- If nothing else can motivate you to be active and exercise, your quality of life should. What kind of life do you want to live? Do you want to be active and enjoy a healthy lifestyle, or do you want to be sick, overweight, and miss opportunities to experience an active life because you can’t do it? You don’t have to be training for an Iron Man in order to benefit from regular physical activity. It simply is healthy to fatigue your muscles, test your lungs and raise that heart rate, it can only improve your day to day life, so why not…it’s the only life we have, lets be healthy and enjoy it in every way possible!
8. Get a Personal Trainer
- It’s okay if right now you don’t think you can achieve your health and fitness goals on your own, you’re not alone, you don’t have to get down on yourself because you don’t know where or how to get started. You can delegate that chore to an educated professional. Personal trainers can get you started on the right foot, show you how to properly exercise to reach your desired goals and answer those questions you may have about health and fitness. Or if you’re already really active, a trainer can help you to the next level of your game so that you can do what you’re doing now, but even faster or better. I know trainers can cost more than you think you can afford but think about this; how much is that coffee in the morning and bottle of juice in the afternoon? Maybe 4 or 5 bucks at least right…think about a months worth of coffee and bottles of juice…that could easily add up to over $100 – $150. Try for one month to make coffee at home, and buy bulk juice from the grocery store and put that $150 towards as many training sessions you can get and see what happens. It doesn’t have to be coffee and juice only either…it can be cigarettes, (if you smoke…tisk tisk!), muffins, doughnuts…or how about alcohol. If you drink alcohol…add up how much you spend in a month and see if that can’t afford you a few personal training sessions : )
Well I hope you enjoyed this post! I promise you that if you apply even 1 of these ideas into your life right now…you’ll move faster towards ultimate health than ever before!
Check back to my Budget Diet Life blog as I’m going to cover wealth motivation and procrastination! Thank you so much for letting me share my thoughts with you! Please feel free to email or leave a comment and I’ll respond asap!
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