Contents
What is motivation
In theory, it’s trivial. Motivation is a state of readiness to take some action, aroused by the need we want to satisfy. I am hungry – I am motivated to cook dinner or to go shopping, I’m cold – I’m motivated to burn in the stove, cut a tree or find a warm sweater in wardrobes. As long as the need is one of the most basic driving forces, it works fine until the goal is achieved. The stairs begin as the process becomes more complex.
Willingness ends after two months
In 2017, Selectivv conducted an analysis that covered 15 million users, i.e. almost all owners of smartphones and tablets in Poland, to answer the question of how long we can persevere in New Year’s resolutions. Analysts focused on provisions covering health-related activities and analyzed the behavior of users of the application for monitoring physical activity or dietary assumptions.
It is not difficult to guess that the peak of popularity of applications was achieved in the first days of January (2,2 million users, i.e. 800 thousand more than a month earlier). Till the end of February nearly half of those over 2 million lacked the motivation to continue.
No plan
The mechanism is most often similar. Resolution. Action. Discouragement. Resignation. What’s missing here? Plan! After the initial euphoria in action, the motivation slowly begins to weaken and finally disappears completely. Most often, we lack a specific plan. And the thing is not only in a diet prepared in detail by a specialist or an exercise plan. Because even so armed we lose momentum. When taking up the challenge, we do not have a plan to deal with minor obstacles.
Meanwhile, on the first day we should have at least a few ideas ready to solve potential problems. What can I eat when I go to the pub with my friends. What to always carry in the car in case of hunger. How to replace group classes in a fitness club when I have to stay after hours at work There are many such questions.
It is enough to analyze what we stumbled on in previous attempts. If we do not have ready-made solutions, there is a high probability that we will take shortcuts, and this is a step away from giving up and losing the motivation to act for a long time. Tips on how to create the perfect plan can be found here (5 motivational exercises to help you stick to your diet).
Unrealistic goal
If we plan to lose 20 kg in a month or complete the marathon route in 3 months from our running debut, we doomed ourselves to failure at the loss. When time is running out and we do not see the expected results, it is easy to let go and lose the motivation to act. After all, it is as if someone told us to manually dig 2 hectares of field in one day. Unreal, right?
So why go to work at all. And even if we accept the challenge, when time is running out and the end of the task is not close, we will eventually throw the shovel, considering it is overstrength. The goal that we set for ourselves not only has to be realistic to achieve in a specific time perspective.
The key to staying motivated is having little success and being able to monitor your path. So if your goal is to lose 20 kg, break this path into smaller partswell timed, monitor your progress and enjoy every step you reach.
Well-defined need
If we are not motivated to achieve the goal, then perhaps it was not important enough for us. Perhaps losing 20 kg and regular physical activity should only be a tool to achieve a more important goal – health, better condition, a more beautiful figure, dream wardrobe, strength to play with your own children.
In order not to lose motivation to work on yourself, you need to answer the question what is really important to us and what need we want to satisfy. And what is equally important – whose need it is. Does the desire to change come from us, or do we give in to some pressure or try to fulfill other people’s ambitions. The strongest motivation is the inner one, and we will find this only when we are driven to act by the will to satisfy a need that is deeply within us.
Quite recently, we discussed this aspect in the article about body positivity, we encourage you to read https://.pl/Cialopozytywnosc-moje-cialo-jest-dobre. It is worth recalling the motto here: my body is good and I only help it! We do something for ourselves, for our health, and not to meet the expectations of others.
Wrong method
Nothing discourages you more than regularly engaging in activities you don’t like. Healthy diet? Of course, but apart from that, it must be tasty and varied (yes, yes, we recommend ourselves here, we already have over 6000 tasty and healthy recipes! :)). Eating one soup for a month, and one that we do not like, is neither healthy nor pleasant. More traffic? Yes!
Humanity knows hundreds of forms of physical activity, for sure there is something to like among them. If you like to ride a bike, don’t be too stubborn about running. Do fitness classes with choreography make you despair? Give it up, look for something that doesn’t have to keep the rhythm and perform complex figures. Otherwise, the lack of motivation to exercise is surefire.
Lack of balance
At the beginning of implementing changes, we are full of enthusiasm and vigor. We have a goal, a plan and tools, and we stick to it consistently. We change our eating habits, run to the gym, ride a bike and still take 10 steps a day.
However, if the pace is too fast, and the diet is too ambitious, requiring too much effort in preparing meals, too expensive, too much training, eventually material fatigue will come, we will run out of time, we will find that all this is too expensive on many levels and motivation to whatever it evaporates.
It may also happen that the body rebells and an injury occurs, which will disable us from any activity for a long time.
Motivation is slackening, and that’s normal
The initial enthusiasm always diminishes and even if we avoid mistakes that suppress our motivation to work and learn, sooner or later a crisis will come. How to overcome it? At the beginning of your journey, try to set not only a goal, but also rewards that you give yourself for completing each stage that leads to it.
Celebrate your successes, visualize the effects, let your imagination show the end of the road and let this picture always accompany you. Write down your decisions and inform your loved ones what you want to achieve. As our whole world knows, it’s silly to give up. Look for companionship. It is easier to stay motivated to act in a group that shares a goal, and often the same obstacles to achieving it.
You can find out more about how to get motivated and stay motivated here (How to get motivated and stay motivated?). And remember that the best motivator to act is to develop a habit. We write about how to do it to achieve the goal here (Changing habits as a way to a perfect figure).
At, we have several «tools» to help you stay motivated. One of them may be support groups, the other – participation in challenges. Or maybe you have some proven and universal methods worth sharing? Be sure to let me know in the comments.
It’s worth reading:
Make Your Bed. Simple things that will change your life … and maybe the world “, autor: McRaven William H.,
Find your Why. The way to a sense of fulfillment and internal motivation ‘, authors: Sinek Simon, Mead David, Docker Peter,
“Tomorrow? There is no such day in the week! “, author: Horn Sam,
Bibliography:
Your smartphone knows when you abandon New Year’s resolutions
https://avida.com.pl/czym-wlasciwie-jest-motywacja/