Photo: Girl Meets Strong. Credit: @penaphotography
I don’t care what it is you’re trying to achieve: lose ten pounds, become an astronaut, finally flip that big tire in CrossFit, go to the olympics, or write a novel. You will struggle with the same thing: motivation. Your Body vs. Your Mind.
It sounds like a really bad animated action movie, and it sort of is. You could call it your devil and angel on either shoulder. You could see it as a fight between your brain and your body. You could call it whatever you want, but the struggle is the same. How do I make myself do what I know I should do in order to get that thing that I want?
I’m going to tell you something that might surprise you at first, but before you roll your eyes, before you click back to your onion article or your Netflix show, I want you to give me five minutes and just listen (or…I guess, read).
It’s simple.
Okay, okay. I can hear your groans from here. Let me explain.
1. Start Small, Think Big
The big goals are important, but small goals are immediately achievable. If you want to run a marathon, a single motivated day on the treadmill isn’t going to kickstart anything. But a mile run every day for a week will. Think sustainable, and think long term.
Being optimistic is great, but making large unwieldy immediate goals just sets you up for failure, and failure will make you want to quit. Try going to the gym once a week, keep weights in your office, trade out your desk chair for a balance ball, do yoga for ten minutes during lunch. Give yourself goals you know you can easily achieve.
Victories beget victories. Achieving a goal, even a small one, boosts confidence, and makes you way more likely to achieve your larger goal.
2. Write it Down
Make a fitness plan and stick to it. What exactly do you want to achieve? Run faster? Run farther? Run harder? Do you need to build muscle? Work out your core? Ice and stretch? Make a weekly schedule with all the basics and put it somewhere you will see it all the time.
Studies have shown that people who just write down their goals on a post-it note and stick it on their desk are ten times more likely to achieve that dream than someone who doesn’t. This is the simplest motivation tactic in history. Past you motivates future you, what could be easier than that?
3. Take it One Day at a Time
Sustainable habits are key in any fitness regimen, but they also have to evolve over time. Do as much as you feel comfortable with and then push yourself a little farther. No one got anywhere by staying in their comfort zone.
Studies show it takes thirty days to transform a practice into a habit. Try to visually represent your goal somewhere you will always see it. Maybe stick thirty post-its on your wall and pull one off each day you go for a run. Then celebrate! Daily!
Every time I reach a goal, I celebrate for a day. Then I say, well that was great, but I’ll really be happy if I do it again tomorrow. Constantly look at your goals. Constantly visualize achieving them before you go to sleep. Celebrate pulling your post it off the wall, or making an X on your calendar. Thirty days is a small sacrifice for a lifetime of good consistent habits.
4. Don’t Tell Anyone!
I know this sounds counter intuitive, but studies have shown that this really works. When you tell everyone from your coworkers to your cashier at Whole Foods that you want to complete a marathon, you actually get an endorphin rush. People say “that’s so great, you’re amazing,” and you feel accomplished before you’ve done any of the hard work! That’s bad!
Tell your significant other, tell your dog, but aside from that keep it to yourself. There won’t be any external pressure, no self consciousness about your process, and no grand disappointment if you fall short. Just keep working on your goal for you.
Besides won’t it be amazing when you can tell everyone you ran a marathon last weekend, and watch their jaws just drop? Yes. Yes it will.
5. Visualize Victory
Anticipate any potential roadblocks that could keep you from reaching your goal. Even if you’re gung-ho now, your body will try to fight you eventually. Think of things in advance that might subdue it, so when those moments come you’re ready.
In the midst of battle, try and think about yourself years from now, in an interview with Ellen, telling all the kids out there how you got to be the fastest, greatest, most wonderful runner alive! Hard work and determination you’ll say, because that’s what everyone says.
What I hope you say, while you sit across from Ellen, is that “sometimes it sucked, and sometimes I wanted to quit. But I’m really only as strong as I seem right now because I had to fight myself everyday. I am only human,” you’ll say. “Anyone could have done this if they had only stuck to it.”
Now you, past you, go try. Stick to it, and make yourself proud.
This article was originally written by C.L. Brenton and published by Girl Meets Strong. For more inspiring content like this, visit girlmeetsstrong.com.
Girl Meets Strong is a brand operating across multiple online platforms – featuring photography, stories and videos inspiring girls & women to be strong versus skinny. Girl Meets Strong was founded in 2014 by Kayvan Mott
