Why Motivation is Hard (2020 edition)

Yesterday, I wrote you a letter about motivation.

It was wonderful to hear the feedback of those who wrote BACK.

Thank you for pouring your guts out – I read every one, and I’m waiting for an answer today, too!

But I digress!

Here’s the real deal about motivation: Day Two is harder.

Day one – the novelty of change or kick-starting a new habit carries you powerfully. “I’m making a change today!” is exciting and attractive.

But repeating that little task gets boring, and then it falls into the too hard basket!

This is why we do a different workout each day at Ignite Fitness and Nutrition: novelty.

And it’s also why most gyms try to sign everyone up on January 1: because the second day is harder.

We finally figured this out in 2012.

And we immediately changed the way we looked at exercise, and even how we looked at my roles as health and fitness coaches.

I now understand my job isn’t to teach you how to work out (though I spend a LOT of time doing that.)

My main role is to get you to Day Three, And then Day Four!

One day at a time, giving you enough reason to show up the NEXT day.

For some of our clients, “day two” has turned into “year five” already.

And they all did it exactly the same way you will: one day at a time.

Here’s how:

1. Success Equals Motivation. Whatever WORKED yesterday, celebrate it. If you walked to Countdown and didn’t buy the ice cream that made you put on 25kgs, make sure you write that down somewhere. Tell someone. Write me a letter about it. But celebrate Every. Single. Win. Every. Day.

2. Recap “wins” every week. We do “Bright Spots Friday” in our private Facebook Group because there’s a lot of value in practising inflection and gratitude.

3. Change what you do every day…but don’t ever completely stop. You have the beauty of momentum behind you now; keep pumping the pedals. You don’t have to do MORE every day, or even something completely different; just try to tweak things a bit. Routine is the enemy.

4. Find a training partner! You don’t have to start “training” for the Round The Bays. You’re training to be a better person. Who can help you get there? A business mentor? A health and fitness coach (ahem!)? A group of like-minded people on the same journey? Your best friend with similar goals?

5. Start an external accountability campaign. I almost dislike this one, but it WORKS: tell someone else what habit you’re trying to build. Yes, it gets easier, but never easy. You CAN keep it interesting, though.

If you’re ready for it, our 28-Day Healthy Habits Nutrition Programme starts on Monday 23rd November.

28-days of simple, actionable accountability, advice and guidance to get you making better choices and building better habits.

All you have to do is click here, and coach Deb will guide you to success.