Motivation or Action. What comes first?
How many times have you said, I’m not motivated to start yet……or I’m waiting until I’m motivated to start something specific? Well, here’s the thing, if we keep waiting until we are motivated, it might never happen. That’s because Action creates Motivation. That’s right, starting something will create the motivation. We have to act first, before motivation appears.
Let’s use a water pump as an analogy. Before you can start pumping water through it, you need to prime the pump by pouring some water init. A small action! If you don’t prime the pump, you won’t get any water out of it.
Our first action will create a reward or a satisfaction response. Put another way it creates an enabling effect in your brain. This enabling effect creates the want or need for another reward. It motivates you to get that next reward. If it’s to do with exercise, yes joining the local gym, or engaging with a personal trainer might seem a little daunting to start with, however if you start with small steps, eg going for a walk, no pun intended, this will start the process. You may also simply do some squats and push ups in the comfort of your own home. You’ll go for the walk, feel better for doing so, and look forward to your next walk. On your next walk you may goa little further or a little faster or maybe so some exercise at the local park exercise station and bang, some self-esteem will form as you have improved. What will then happen is that you actually feel motivated to proceed further. Before you know it, you’ve joined the local gym or hired the local PT and you are starting your new healthy lifestyle!
Let’s look at comfort zone.
No one said this is going to be easy! Yep, sitting in front of the TV, spending time scrolling through FB and reading / contributing to the comments is easy and doesn’t take a lot of effort. However, it is destroying our quality of life. The instant gratification is not we get from these is not the answer. Add to these, eating fatty rubbish foods, alcohol consumption etc, is all heading down a path of chronic illness as we age.
So, that sometimes tough first step is all it will take to start the motivation cogs turning, building on your enabling effect which will tell your inner self, I can do this and I am motivated to continue and improve my life. What was first deemed getting out of your comfort zone will become your normal. You will be motivated and what will happen is that your need for motivation will disappear. What comes next is the habit.
Yep, you will not require any more motivation, because you have developed a habit. Getting up at 5am to do your training sessions, or driving straight to your PT session after work will not feel out of place, you will just do it because you have formed the habit of doing it! You may even spend 30min during your lunch break exercising rather than scrolling through mind numbing social media.
So, stop waiting for motivation to start something. Contact your local Personal Trainer Like Bentleigh East's Leading personal trainer. Take control and take action of your life and watch the transformation of your life happen right there in front of you!
