THE MOTIVATION MYTH – DEBUNKED!
What’s up, my friend! Today I want to share with you three vital strategies that will enable you to progress faster EVERY single workout; regardless of how motivated or de-motivated you may be some days. Let’s face it – motivation can’t always be with us for every single day of the week!
THE MOTIVATION MYTH – DEBUNKED!
Motivation – that one little bugger that always stops you from achieving the results you deserve. If you have ever skipped a workout because you ‘didn’t feel like working out’ that day, it’s because your lack of motivation got the better of you. BUT IT’S OKAY, as we all make mistakes, and it’s those lessons we learn from our mistakes that evolve us into stronger individuals, so don’t beat yourself down if you’re struggling to remain consistent with your workouts.
The reason these types of situations occur, however, is because ‘motivation’ is a short-term phrase. Motivation refers to doing something based on ‘how you feel’. (As mentioned previously – if you have ever skipped a workout because you “didn’t feel like working out”, it’s because you lacked the motivation to actually workout.)
So how do you actually stay motivated all-day, everyday, come rain or shine?
Here’s the irony, my friend: YOU DON’T! “What?! That’s impossible. Surely I need to be motivated if I want to workout and stick to my nutrition plan?!” Believe me, my friend – motivation will never cut it, because it’s discipline that truly demolishes all the negative thoughts & emotions that hinder you from making the progress you strive for, as DISCIPLINE refers to completing a task REGARDLESS of motivation.
A prime example of this will be a regular job of yours: have you ever had to wake up in the morning whilst dreading to get into work before 9am? If so – why is it that you still get to work on time every-time; despite not being motivated to do so what-so-ever? You’re disciplined, my friend. You’re disciplined. That’s the missing key!
With that said – if you’re disciplined to workout on the days you set yourself to workout, and you continue to eat your good nutritious whole-foods as opposed to binging out on KFC and then feeling disgusted in yourself for actually doing so (c’mon, even I’m guilty of this!), the results will do the talking when you remain consistent with your efforts.
And so without further or do, here are the 3 secret strategies I promised I’d cover with you today that will enable you to exceed personal records every time you train; regardless of how de-motivated you may be:
1. THE A.I.M PRINCIPLE
With that said – when working out may be the last thing you want to do after a long tiring day, simply take action by beginning your warm-up to combat your lack of motivation. Get your earphones on and set-up your favourite playlist on Spotify for you to zone out to, and then the next thing you know: you’ve just had an awesome workout! Take action, my friend, and the motivation will follow!
2. REFER TO YOUR ‘WHY’
Why did you start working out? Why do you want to get in shape? This is imperative because acknowledging the reason as to what got you started will be your primary fuel to continue striving forward when the going gets tough.
BIG TIP: your ‘why’ must be emotionally empowering to truly be strong. My original ‘why’ was to peak my biceps in a way so I could attract more girls, but when I became extremely de-motivated, this ‘why’ never sparked a light in me. Why this was is simple: my ‘why’ wasn’t strong enough! Now however, my ‘why’ is to continually progress in order to improve my ability to help others reach their goals within fitness & calisthenics faster so they don’t have to suffer all the mistakes and pitfalls I’ve already had to face. See the difference?
“Change doesn’t happen without pain,” meaning that if your ‘why’ may cause you to become emotionally unstable, it’s likely because your ‘why’ is truly valuable to your internal self. THAT’S GOOD!
3. DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS
This one is crucial, because in today’s era of millions of posts being uploaded every single day on social media, it can be extremely easy to fall under the fallacy of comparing your own progress to everyone else on the internet. Although you may have heard the cliché to never compare yourself to anyone else, it is said so often for a very good reason: “your only competition is yourself!”
The least amount of progress I have made is when I was more focused on others and their progress rather than my own progress. When you dwell on how much stronger or leaner someone is compared to you, this is the number 1 route to waving goodbye to your self-esteem. Without self-esteem, it’s very hard to believe in yourself. I believe in you though, my friend, you can do it! LET’S GO! The more you focus on you and only you, the more you’ll respect the process and appreciate how far you have come. When you respect the process, it will always deliver results in return!
Important note: a lot of what people post on social media is based on the ‘perfect image’, meaning they will only post the photos or videos of them when they’re at their very best. For example – a lot of the ‘six pack abs’ photos you see go viral are when these people take the photo in the perfect lighting whilst also having a ‘muscle pump’ that’ll make them appear bigger and leaner at the time the photo is taken.
The lows and mistakes they make, on the other hand, is never published, because it would only make them look worse. For example – you may see a guy doing an awesome set of muscle ups, but he’ll never show you all the mistakes and errors he made before he got managed to capture the perfect video!
Don’t believe everything you see on social media!
And there you have it – the hidden strategies that will enable you to continue moving onwards and upwards regardless of how you may feel EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Motivation is great, but it’s only temporary. When you apply the strategies outlined above, however, you won’t need motivation at all, as the drive and desire rushing through your veins will push you through the good days and bad days, and overtime, the results will start to show!
I hope this helped, and I hope you go and smash your goals as a result, so go take action now!