Our bodies love being in homeostasis, maintaining a stable internal environment, which is one of the reasons why it can be so hard to motivate ourselves to exercise.
Exercise puts the body into a stressed state. While we often talk about stress as a negative, when it comes to exercise, it’s (usually) a positive. It also doesn’t help that when it comes to exercise, it often takes four to eight weeks to really see the changes we are making, so many of us give up early on. But we can turn the tables on procrastination, avoidance and outright refusal by changing our strategies to elicit motivation.
It all starts with setting goals. Goal setting and motivation share a symbiotic relationship. Setting goals and achieving them, and in turn receiving positive praise, feedback and possibly a reward, usually lead to setting more goals and repeating the positive cycle to success and reward. This little cycle is also spurred on (watch out, science ahead) by dopamine, a neurotransmitter that sends messages to the rest of your brain. Dopamine is what enables you to make the decision to act. When your brain recognizes something important is about to go down, or when you are about to receive a reward, dopamine is released and encourages you to perform; it motivates you to achieve, while avoiding something bad.
So, set some realistic and manageable goals. Map out where you are and where you want to get to, and then break it down into baby steps. The smaller the better. Your steps should be achievable so you can experience the cycle of accomplishment and reward over and over again to reinforce your commitment.
Recognize what kind of motivation is driving you. There are generally two types: intrinsic and extrinsic.
Intrinsic motivation comes from your internal desires, and it is highly effective since it originates in deep-rooted wishes that are most likely connected to who you are and what you value. This is the kind of motivation that expresses itself as passion; the tasks you are motivated to do from this always feel easy because they are connected to a deep longing.
Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is from an external source, and is often expressed as an avoidance of punishment, or of working for a reward. This kind of motivation usually feels difficult, because it doesn’t come by our own choice.
Just start. Part of the difficulty is usually beginning. So if you are having trouble trying to motivate yourself to exercise, start by laying out your workout clothes, or filling up a water bottle. This can be just the little push you need to follow through.
It’s also important not to punish yourself if your motivation dips. Our nature is full of peaks and valleys. Our sleep, stress levels, social interactions, pressures, hormones, et cetera, all impact our outlook day to day, and our motivation to achieve. And that doesn’t even touch on depression or mood disorders.
Be kind to yourself. At the end of the day we can understand where motivation comes from, and how to harness it, and yet still not be able to access it to do the tasks we want. And that’s okay. Don’t attach guilt to that.
Oftentimes it’s just about changing the conversation from “I have to” to “I get to.” Don’t become a slave to your excuses. Attack them head-on.
Do what you can with what you have where you are, and always prioritize the positive.
Melissa Sloos is a certified group fitness instructor, spin instructor and co-owner at Coast Fitness in Powell River.
