One day a spark catches fire, and you decide you want to do something courageous. You’re motivated—

 

To move or take action, that’s the simplified- no frills definition of motivation. It’s a joyous and empowering feeling, motivation. We end up liking the feeling so much, that we strive to feel that way every day. It doesn’t take long for the weirdest thing to happen though; we just run out of that, ‘I’m going to conquer all attitude’. We run out of motivation.

 

So we take the logical next step, we type into the search bar the magic words: ‘Workout Motivation,’ on Pinterest, Instagram, and reddit.

 

Motivation is like the key turning over your car engine. There are so many more components that keep the engine going- keeping you moving forward in life- than the key turning in the ignition (motivation).

 

Have you ever had a bad car battery? It dies all the time, it can’t hold a charge. Sometimes it’s entirely dead and no matter how many times you turn over the key it just won’t start. That’s you running out of motivation, to remain motivated.

 

You can sustain that conquer all attitude by taking care of the whole ‘engine’. If the focus stays purely on motivation, that’s what will keep you from achievement. So stop searching ‘workout motivation’ and instead try plugging in these 4 nourishing words when you’re feeling, well a little unmotivated.

 

 

Dedication

You have a goal, right? Adopt an almost single minded focus about your task ahead. There’s no if I can accomplish this, it’s when I accomplish this. Think of it this way, dedication is a behavior and you have control over how you behave. Set a direction and stick to the course, even if that course switches paths from time to time.

 

If you experience a set-back just get back up and start again; be the boxer who won’t stay down.

 

Image sourced from upsplash.com 

Spontaneity

We talked about dedication, about adopting an almost single-minded focus around getting to your destination. Did you know you can also be spontaneous, along the way?

 

Think of it this way; there are thousands of roads to Rome. Each road is unique, you can change it up if one road is too uncomfortable to continuing journeying on. In fact, being spontaneous reminds you that your life is still happening.

 

Even if you have a goal that’s set to happen a year from now, you still have today to enjoy. So take a 'mindful' detour- it will keep things fresh and keep you moving forward.

 

 

Attention

Learn how to cull your attention. There’s so much happening around you, so many options all of the time. Thinking of going to the gym, not sure if you feel like going?

 

Run yourself mentally through the task of getting ready for the gym. What will your workout be like, is it glutes today? Picture yourself there in the gym. Crushing your workout and feeling revived. 

 

Here’s the clincher, when you direct all of that ‘attention’ toward a task you begin to experience a shift. One source, says that simple act of shifting your attention will shift your behavior. In that moment- after you’ve envisioned it all- take the leap and throw on those running shoes.

 

Image sourced from upsplash.com

Curiosity

Let’s say you’ve stayed the course for a while, and you are well on the way to completion, but you feel a plateau coming on. Don’t search ‘workout motivation,’ take a deeper look at your task ahead.

 

If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all. – Composer, John Cage

 

Find a new way to look at an routine task. Challenge yourself to learn more, experience more, and be more. Start Living.