As you can guess from the title, today is about Motivation.
Motivation is great! It gets you pumped up, off the couch, and out the door! It gets you shiny-eyed and excited for that new thing you always wanted to try! …Right?
Well, yes. Motivation does do all of these things. But do you think it does it consistently? Will you keep feeling that way for your hundredth jog, class, workout? Probably not. It’s like that first initial spark from a relationship. Everything is all very new and exciting, your heart races, you feel like you never can quite catch your breath. You’re glowing! But that doesn’t stay forever. Ask any married couple the secret to their success and most will say dedication. Dedication to making it work. And exercise is no exception to this.
Motivational sayings over stock photography on Facebook will only get you so far. The thing that will keep you going is routine and dedication. The person who’s successful isn’t more motivated than you. They’re feeling the same begrudging slog to get up from the couch after a long day at work to go work out for a while. This is the hardest part: getting there. Newton’s First Law of Motion: Objects at rest will remain at rest; objects in motion will remain in motion. Unless an outside force acts upon it.
And this outside force is you. Every time.
Whatever it is that gets you up, that is a win. Many people will miss out on a session for whatever reason (hey, it happens!), but the dangerous part is that when you do it once, it’s easy to do it the next time, too. Then you convince yourself it’ll be embarrassing to come back. Then you stop thinking about it entirely. Right back to square one.
If you’re in a good group of people, your absence is noticed. This stresses people out and is the main force behind that embarrassment of coming back. But that same group of people are the ones that won’t give you grief for coming back, they’ll just be glad to see you again. One of my favourite quotes “Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind.”
So, should you go out for them? If that gets you up, then yes of course! It’s a lot easier to hang out with friends. You just happen to be doing it while working out, rather than a café. Will this keep working for years? That’s up to you to figure out.
What is the thing that you will get up for, even on your laziest days? Maybe you like seeing your friends there. Maybe you set smaller goals for yourself: your next belt, a weight target, running 10km. Sometimes this will transform into you wanting to go for a workout just because you really like what you do. Sometimes it won’t and that’s still okay, maybe you’ll move on. The important thing is that you keep getting up and you keep trying. Each day you go is a win. Each day is one more than the person who didn’t.
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