Do You Have The Right Kind of Motivation?

You have heard me say that motivation is bullshit.

And to be honest, for the most part that’s true. It is not a reliable source for long term success.

That said, if we dive deeper into different types of motivation, you’ll see where the problem actually is.

Controlled motivation is where you probably are right now (or the last time you tried to lose fat). You are doing it for external purposes;

-𝐓𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞

-𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩

-𝐔𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠

-𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞

If any of these sound familiar, they are likely the reason for your lack of motivation. You’re looking for it in the wrong places.

Placing your desires in the hands of other people and situations makes it easier to give up when it gets tough or the compliments aren’t rolling in as much.

Instead, the goal is to look for autonomous motivation, which really isn’t your typical motivation at all.

Autonomous motivation is when you’re driven by the pure satisfaction of the activity regardless of any outside factors that may arise. These include:

-𝐀𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞

-𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝

-𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐥𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭

-𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬

By focusing on the internal benefits of exercise and physical activity, you have a deeper connection to the motivation of it all and are much more likely to follow through.

An exercise feelings journal or a self reflection questionnaire can really help shape your thoughts around exercise and patterns in your life.

Each week my clients are filling out check-in forms to reflect on how they think they’re doing, how they are feeling, where they can improve – as well as various biomarkers (sleep quality, energy levels, mood, stress, performance) to ensure they are in a good headspace to train.

What I want you to do for this week: think of the REAL reasons why you want to keep training. Are they for you? Are they for someone else?

Write your thoughts down and get in touch with yourself again. Now is arguably one of the best times to do so.

If you can separate what you want for yourself and what you expect from others, it will make your fitness journey a hell of a lot easier – and way more enjoyable.