The one way you haven’t tried before.
Brad is a university lecturer with a master’s degree in Kinesiology and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He has competed as a drug-free bodybuilder, is a cancer survivor, and a 21 year veteran of the Air National Guard. Brad has been a Primer contributor since 2011.
Motivation seems synonymous with getting in shape, whether it’s building muscle and strength or losing stubborn body fat. While countless books, podcasts, and YouTube channels are dedicated to hacking the motivation mindset and promising to supply us with endless tips, tricks, and strategies, we still find ourselves wanting.
We tend to set ambitious goals and then let the excitement and energy carry us toward that goal never preparing ourselves for the day that that huge gas tank of motivation runs out. Our once unstoppable will and intoxicating buzz will eventually become depleted leaving us scratching our heads and wondering what the heck happened.
The concept of motivation is still an important factor in accomplishing goals. Our concern should be less about winging it and letting pure excitement gauge our progress and more about deriving and growing our motivation from a different place.
The problem with getting motivated and setting goals
As I mentioned, we tend to rely on our newfound excitement for setting a lofty goal to get us there. We want to believe we can simply ride the motivational wave to our goal, hoping it will carry us to the end. Set a goal, get pumped, then accomplish said goal. But this is rarely an effective strategy, especially for long-term, training and diet practices.
If you want to change your physique, no matter what that may look like, it will take more than just a haphazard method of instinctual motivation. Your initial reservoir will quickly empty leaving you not only shell-shocked, but it also may demotivate you and tempt you to quit altogether.
Motivation fades. Think of the runner who starts the marathon race bolting off the starting line, sprinting ahead of everyone else. They leave everyone behind which puts a huge smile on their face. “Nothing’s going to stop me!” they think to themselves.
Not long after that thought is registering in their head they begin to tire. Their energy quickly fades. Their legs start to burn along with their lungs. Other runners are starting to catch up to them, gaining ground quickly.
How can this be? They were so motivated–more than anyone in that race. How can they be falling so far behind? Now the word quit starts to enter their mind. What happened to their perfect plan?
A better way to accomplish goals
If you’re no stranger to the self-help industry, then you’ll be well-versed in the popularity of developing habits—but not only habits, micro habits. That is, performing small, repetitive tasks day in and day out instead of focusing on the distant finish line. It’s a form of staying in the present moment–concentrating on what is directly in front of you without looking too far ahead, which can intimidate and sometimes overwhelm your best efforts.
This is different than motivation. Motivation is an idea, a feeling of inclination that we rely on to propel us forward. This works for a while especially initially, but it oftentimes is finite and ephemeral. Our motivations will ebb and flow, come and go without prediction or expectation.
A well-developed, realistic habit is an action. It is a plan, a process to enact that serves as small, daily progress inching us toward our goal.
But how do we do this? How do we develop effective habits that can sustain and move us forward?
Let’s focus on the term micro for a moment.
Since we will focus on small habits, we can accomplish this in a few ways. We can choose a habit that is not only small but easy–very easy. Do you want to start training five days per week for an hour at a time? That’s not particularly small or easy. Instead, choose two days per week at 20 minutes each. Is that doable? Sure it is. Anyone can find 20 minutes on most days of the week.
After a week or two, increase the frequency or duration by a small amount. Let’s say you decide to increase your time to train to 30 minutes twice per week. Again, an easy habit to work on.
This can apply to dieting as well.
Do you need to clean up your eating habits? Maybe you want to start eating a high-protein, complex-carb, low-fat diet full of fruits, vegetables, and fiber. That’s a tall order all at once. Simply start with slightly decreasing sugar intake. Maybe you cut out sugary soft drinks for a couple of weeks. Then, once you’ve mastered that, start focusing on protein for three of your daily meals.
The goal isn’t to overhaul your entire diet overnight. It’s to start very small, let that stick for a while, and then adopt another small change. Over time, you’ll have built some rather impressive habits that will finally give you the change you’ve been after all the while not suffering over massive changes that aren’t all that sustainable.
The connection between motivation and habit
Over time you will notice something interesting happening to your mindset. You’ll naturally develop a different type of motivation than previously thought. Not the overly-excited type of motivation that has you looking at the top of your figurative mountain of a goal, but small motivating feelings for accomplishing the next small step of your journey.
Remember those big emotions are fleeting. Instead, focus on the very next small movement. The next inch of progress. Those small steps are building the foundation that will eventually become a massive, reinforced machine of accomplishment.
Your habits become your motivation.
How to navigate setbacks and low points
The greatest advantage of practicing small, easily executed habits is your ability to weather the impending storms. You are guaranteed to experience setbacks and points of low energy. Some days you’ll either have life hit you in the face or just not feel as energetic to get things done. The important thing is to avoid panicking by shifting your mindset from an “all or nothing” paradigm to one of “pick up where you left off.”
This gives you two main advantages: One, you don’t have to start all over with anything you’ve already built, and two, your habits are so small that getting back up and dusting yourself off isn’t that big of a deal. Simply get back up and start building on those tiny habits once again. No need to rethink anything or reinvent the wheel.
Over time setbacks will be easily handled and you’ll also be better able to weather low points. It’ll become such a positive instant reaction ingrained into your habits that you’ll hardly notice them coming and going. The outcome will be steady forward momentum without the drama of starting over or from scratch every time the stuff hits the fan.
Examples of small habits to implement
As I stated before, your task should be to choose from a wide variety of small, easily attainable habits that can eventually be built into huge slabs of motivational meat. Below I’ve broken down some examples of habits that can be instantly adopted. But be sure not to overload yourself with too many at once. Take one on, give it a couple of weeks, then move on to the next. Let’s start with low-hanging fruit.
Training
- Start a resistance training program twice per week for 20 minutes.
- Add 15 minutes of training each day to your existing program.
- Add 10 minutes of cardio on nontraining days.
- Add one exercise to each major body part (legs, chest, and back).
- Increase your daily steps by 1000.
Diet
- Start eating a small healthy breakfast (oatmeal, fruit, or yogurt).
- Cut out dessert three times per week.
- Cut back on soft drinks once each day (if you have multiple per day).
- Eat a healthy recovery smoothie or a small post-workout meal.
- Increase water intake with a 12 oz. glass of water with each meal.
In closing
Motivation is great. It gets us off the couch and busy with our goals. But if you want sustainable progress, even the most minute, building small habits one at a time will create the type of momentum that is built on a solid foundation. One that will stand the test of time and weather the storms ahead. Give it a try. Build some easily attainable habits and you’ll soon realize just how far you can go.
Happy lifting!