Man alive. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked this question, I’d be off partying in Mykonos like Lindsay Lohan right now.
I think it’s something that EVERY health, fitness, or wellness professional gets bombarded with all the time.
The data is clear: It’s what you want to know the secret to THE MOST.
And I’m here today to tell you the secret: there is no secret.
Truth be told, the answer is not really what you want to hear, but Ima tell you anyway cuz you know that keeping it real around here is the name of my game.
So, here goes:
There’s a short and answer and a there’s long answer.
Short answer: you build healthy habits so it’s not even something you even negotiate with yourself— it’s just what you do.
This is what you’ll hear most pros say, cuz it’s the truth. It’s about discipline, doing things whether or not you’re “motivated”, making things habitual.
But this is also a touch misleading, and therefore downright infuriating to people who are trying to heed this advice, and why we STILL get asked this question ad nauseam.
People find themselves pushing through pain, getting SUPERFUCKINGDISCIPLINED, hashtag no excuses, more rules, gogogo, and trying to overhaul everything all at once. THIS IS ME NOW, right?
The long answer, is how you ACTUALLY GO ABOUT creating those habits. It’s not more discipline and rules and ignoring hunger cues or fatigue or cravings. Not even a little.
This is how you actually make “motivation” obsolete:
1. Really identify what is interfering with your decision making, and why. (Spoiler alert: this could be simple af, but more often than not, it’s about 348 different things). You can’t change what you do not notice.
2. Dismantle anything that is acting as a lifeline to your negative habit loop, self sabotaging behavior, or stalling points.
This includes but is not limited to:
your thoughts
your narratives
your internal dialog
how you feel about yourself
what you were conditioned to believe
what you choose to believe
your sense of worth
your insecurities
coping mechanisms
emotional health
Personal preferences
tendencies, and behaviors.
(And more. Yes— allllll of these impact your choices😳)
This means that MINDSET work + internal personal development is the underlying catalyst for your change, PERIOD.
There is NO TWO WAYS AROUND THIS, fam. If you’re always falling off the wagon, sabotaging yourself, losing interest, or struggling to make the choices you know you want to me making, there are underlying systems at work that you MUST address if you ever even HOPE to actually change your reality.
3. Rebuild from the ground up, going as slowly as possible.
Starting small.
Rewriting one narrative.
Making one different choice.
Sitting in the discomfort one second longer.
Digging one layer deeper.
Taking one step.
And getting reallllllly fucking good at that one, tiny thing, and continuing to practice it with focused intention until it starts taking less (or no) effort.
4. Then, we add one more. And so on.
THIS is how healthy, SUSTAINABLE habits are made. ERGO, THIS is how you stay “motivated”.
It actually has *nothing* to do with the feeling of “motivation”, and everything to do with your ability to remove the negotiation process with yourself, and engrain habits, behaviors, thoughts and patterns that SERVE you in the highest sense.
It’s putting in the time UNDER THE SURFACE to find your leaks and patch them with care.
It’s going so slow you don’t even know where the effort ended and the ease began.
It’s not sexy. It’s not a 10 day Quick Fix. It doesn’t happen overnight. You don’t master it from an Instagram or blog post!
It takes work. But it’s work of the Life Changing variety.
AS SUCH, this is precisely why the foundation of my work and coaching revolves around your mindset.
When you can understand, reason with, and take control of that noggin of yours, an entire universe of possibility opens up to you.
To work with me and make change in the post powerful of ways, check out the following:
THE NUTRITION LAB (currently closed)