Stop relying on motivation!
This is what you’ll hear repeated by fitness coaches all over social media.
“Motivation won’t get you to your goal because it’s temporary,” they’ll say. On the extreme end, some coaches will argue that “motivation isn’t real.”
For the most part, there’s some truth to this argument. The actions that lead to positive changes are the repeated behaviors you complete daily. With enough repetition these behaviors become habits. Discipline comes from holding yourself accountable to these daily behaviors, no matter what. The benefits of these habits you won’t likely experience until some point far off into the future, and that makes discipline hard.
Motivation is, in fact, a temporary state of inspiration. It’s a sudden, short-lived urge to act in a desirable way. This is why motivation gets a bad reputation. What good is it if it’s only providing a temporary urge to act?
I’ll tell you what good it is. Sometimes life will present a unique opportunity. These pivotal moments can dramatically alter the course of your life. These moments often boil down to a single decision.
In these moments, 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.
The Start of A Transformation
My fitness journey began as a result of one of these moments. As a junior in high school, one day after school a friend randomly asked if I would go on a (sort of) blind date to junior prom. In all other circumstances my shy, introverted self would surely have said no. And yet, uncharacteristically I said yes.
I’m still unsure what led to that decision, but it happened in a single moment. That single, from-the-gut decision ultimately led to my first romantic relationship. It’s the decision that would spark my journey of self-transformation. In other words, that decision—sparked by motivation—changed my life.
The Start of A Career
I experienced another such life-altering moment after graduating from college. After graduation, I began working at a local gym as a personal trainer. After almost a year there I began to realize that no matter how well I did building my clientele, I couldn’t make enough to support myself under their employee pay policies. It took a lot of courage for me to quit my personal training job to start my own business in 2014.
I was 23-years-old at the time, knew very little about business, and had been working as a fitness coach hardly a year. The reality was that I wasn’t making enough money to support myself. This was before I learned the power of my own voice, and it was nerve-racking to consider telling my boss that I was quitting. (Especially when he was trying hard to get me to stay.)
Do you know what helped me walk into his office and quit? It was a 12-minute motivational video on Youtube. (That I listened to repeatedly for two days leading up to that meeting.)
It was motivation, a temporary moment of inspiration and urge to act, that helped me walk into that office and quit my job — not discipline. The reality is that 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁. It can lead you to jump at an opportunity that you would otherwise ignore, like a blind date or quitting your job.
- A moment of motivation can lead you to book a ticket on a trip that will forever change your life.
- A moment of motivation can lead you to say yes to a date that leads to your future family. (And maybe a newfound desire to improve your health, too.)
- A moment of motivation can lead you to enroll in a program with a fitness coach you really connect with. A program you otherwise would have ignored. A program that could transform your life.
Motivation has power. Motivation is the precursor to all great stories. Yeah, I’d say let’s give motivation another shot.
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…Afterwards, be sure to check out more articles from the archives: