Happy Sunday purples!

Today I want to talk about a subject that my friend talked to me about yesterday. It is something that I know a lot of us struggle with, and that is motivation.  In particular, motivation to exercise.  There are 2 types of people in this world when it comes to exercise.  You either exercise because you “have to” or because you “want to”.  For those that exercise because they want to, it is a whole lot easier!  I am NOT one of those people and I know there are a lot of people out there just like me.

To be perfectly honest, I hate exercise. It is hard work!  However, it is the best thing that I ever MADE myself do, and now I MAKE myself do it almost every day.  You don’t have to exercise to lose weight.  It is definitely possible to lose weight just by changing your diet.  It is not all about losing weight though.  What we should really be concentrating on is creating a healthier lifestyle across the board and that means not only changing what we eat, but also adding in regular exercise as well as some other lifestyle factors which I won’t go into.  The benefits of exercise as so many and varied and there is absolutely no reason why anybody capable of it should not be doing some form of exercise regularly.  It is so important for our general health and wellbeing and it is even more important as we age.  As much as I hate doing it, I love the benefits of it.  I love how it makes me feel.  I love that instead of getting every cold and flu going around, I very rarely get any of them now.  I can FEEL how healthy and strong I am and that feels awesome!  I have learnt over the last 5 years, that there are some things in life that we just have to do.  We don’t have to like it, but we have to do it.  Exercise is one of those things.

So if you are like I used to be and have a problem with keeping motivated to exercise, below is a list of 10 things that may help you.

Your reasons why

Write a list of reasons why you want to exercise. Make those reasons really good ones.  Put a lot of thought into it.  Try and find some with a lot of emotion behind them.  We have to either be in a lot of pain to motivate ourselves or be able to see that where we are going has a lot of pleasure attached to it.  If your reasons why are strong enough, you will do anything, whether you like it or not!

Set specific goals

This ties in with your reasons why. Make them specific.  You need to know where you are going.  Make them SMART goals – Specific, Measureable, Achieveable, Realistic, Time Based.  The clearer the picture is, the easier it will be to keep motivated to achieving it.

Record your progress

Take regular measurements of some kind, whether it be body measurements or fitness measurements such as time trials etc. When you can see in black and white that you are making progress, it will keep you going rather than becoming discouraged and giving up because you don’t feel like you are making progress. 

Have a visual reminder

Have some kind of visual reminder of your reasons why and your goals and look at it on a daily basis. Keep your list on the fridge or somewhere else where you will see it every day, or make a vision board.  Don’t only look at it every day, but actually read it and visualize what life will be like when you are at your goal.  Actually FEEL the feeling of being at your goal, whatever it may be.  Whenever it feels hard and you want to give up, visualize your list or your vision board and remind yourself of why you are doing what you are doing.

Plan treats

Don’t undo all of your hard work by making bad food choices, but don’t totally deprive yourself of treats either. Plan them.  Allow yourself to have them from time to time and enjoy them when you do.

Subscribe to motivational pages online

Find motivation wherever you can and online is a wonderful place to look. Social media has a wealth of inspirational and motivational people and pages which you can tap into.  Whenever you are online you will constantly be inspired and motivated to keep on your fitness journey by the words and stories of others.

Find a friend to work out with

Make a commitment to a friend and have them make a commitment to you to workout together. When you know you are meeting someone for a workout, you are less likely to not go, because you feel like you are letting someone else down.  It is harder to make an excuse to someone else than it is to ourselves!

Sign up for an event that you need to train for

Sign up to something that you really want to do for whatever reason. Maybe you want to raise money for your favourite charity.  Maybe you want to run 5km.  Make sure it is something that you really want to do and pay the money!  If you have had to pay for it, you are also less likely to give up on it.

Buy a gym membership or some other kind of exercise program

Paying for something is a really good incentive to go. Just don’t set unrealistic goals for yourself.  The best time to exercise, is when it is best for you.  So don’t plan to go to the gym at 5am if you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning.  If you are not a morning person, then you are probably going to have a better success rate if you plan to do an afternoon workout.  Figure out what works for you and your schedule, and then schedule it in.

Reward system

Set mini goals and when you achieve one, reward yourself in a way that means something to you. You worked hard for that!  You deserve it!

I hope that some of these ideas help you. Exercise is really hard for some of us.  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  That won’t get you anywhere.  Find some really good reasons why you want to exercise regularly and keep focusing on them.  You don’t have to like it, but if you want to get to your goals, then you just have to do it.  I promise you, that it will be the best thing that you ever made yourself do and it will make you feel amazing.  The sense of self achievement and pride that you feel when you achieve a goal through hard work is so worth it!

Have a great week everyone!!

Shari

xoxo

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