What is Your Motivation?
There’s a difference between motivations and goals.
Goals are easy to set and identify:
- “I want to eat healthier.”
- “I want to lose 20 pounds.”
- “I want to build muscle.”
- “I want to look AMAZING in a bathing suit this summer.”
Anyone who has set out to accomplish a goal that requires a significant amount of time and effort (such as those above) knows that setting the goal is by far the easiest part. What many people forget to ask themselves is WHY they want to see this change.
The reason (or “why”) for setting a goal is your motivation, or driving factor, for pursuing the goal in the first place. So think about a goal you have set recently; why is it important? Why does it matter? Why now?
Finding a Reason
The truth is, if you don’t establish a meaningful reason for why that goal matters to you, the chance of accomplishing it is very small. If the only motivation to lose weight is to look good for that wedding next month or that vacation this summer, that may not be enough to help you implement long-term, sustainable changes to your diet, exercise routine, and overall lifestyle, all of which are necessary if you want to achieve significant results.
Unfortunately, when the only motivation for a goal is outward physical appearance, many people will find excuses as to why they can’t make certain lifestyle changes or why the work is too difficult, giving up entirely if they don’t see immediate results.
The key is to dig deeper than the goals and find out what truly motivates you. Eating healthier for the purpose of reversing pre-diabetes is a strong motivation.
Building muscle for the purpose of competing in a competition you have dreamed of winning all your life is a strong motivation. Looking good in a bathing suit for the purpose of elevating low self-esteem and poor body image is a strong motivation.
Those are reasons that you can fight for even when the steps you have to take to reach those goals are hard.
I guarantee that if you see someone in the gym or in a competition who is in unbelievable shape, they didn’t get there just because they wanted to look a certain way on the surface; the people who achieve the best results often work the hardest and have the strongest purpose.
So if you find yourself constantly going back and forth on a goal you have set, unable to fully commit to the work necessary to accomplish it, ask yourself: what is my ultimate motivation for this goal? What would the true purpose of this accomplishment be? If you identify a strong answer to those questions, nothing can stop you.