What Motivates You?

By angie5 on September 8th, 2009

MOTIVATION

What I get most of the time when I ask my clients what keeps them from achieving their fitness goals, they always tell me motivation. And I get that, I really do. There are times when I am not as motivated as well and I understand how much work it can take to get yourself in a place to feel motivated and start making progress again.

Let’s look at what motivation is:

Motivation is a desire to achieve a goal, combined with the energy to work towards that goal.

So my guess is that for most people, its the second half of that description, “combined with energy” is what is the hardest part of motivation. Anyone can have the desire to achieve a goal, we all do that on a daily basis. Our goal is to get up in the morning, our goal is to be productive at work, our goal is to get home safely…its easy to set and achieve a goal.

But how do we get the ENERGY to work towards that goal? Well, getting up in the morning its pretty much something we have to do. The longer we lay in bed and think about how we don’t want to get up, the harder it is to get up. I am guilty of this one at times. But if we jump out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off, without even allowing those negative thoughts to go on in our heads, it makes not only getting up easier, but our entire day goes much smoother!

The same concept applies to motivation. If we set a goal and keep putting it off, allowing negative thoughts into our head such as “I’m too tired”, “I don’t feel like working out” or “Ill do it tomorrow” it makes it harder and harder to even get started. But if we set a goal, and get started before we even have the chance to start making excuses or allowing those negative thoughts into our heads, we will get done what needs to be done and be one step closer to achieving that goal!

I have to admit, I have been going back and forth with my motivation the past 6 months. Setting goals, working towards them for a little while and then falling off the wagon. Until a week ago, when I just decided no more of this! I was going to do what I needed to do and keep doing it!

My biggest struggle when it comes to motivation is my eating. I know that I eat a lot better than most people, but in my own head, I know I can do better. So I PREPARED for the week ahead. By preparing my meals for the week, I was in the right mindset of “Ok, now I have healthy foods ready to go so I can eat clean, even if I am short on time”. And I did. Last week was a great week for me and I felt great! That feeling was enough to motivate me to continue doing the same thing this week.

My clients tell me that the reason the come to me for either training or boot camp is because they need that accountability to keep them motivated. They need the guidance and support to keep them on their toes and keep them coming back.

Motivation is different for everyone…you just need to find what will motivate YOU!

Angie Schumacher is a Certified Fitness Professional who trains clients in her home and is a Women's Boot Camp Instructor in Colorado. She is the author of The Fat Blasting Boot Camp Program and has offered a one stop website to help you with all of your health and fitness needs. Please visit www.BuildingABetterU.com to find exactly what you are looking for!