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As a 20-year fitness pro, I’ve heard just about every excuse and reason for not exercising and last-minute cancellations. In fact one of my all-time favorites came from a big animal vet: Sorry for the last-minute text but an elephant gave birth.
And yes, I do keep a running record of the most bizarre and hilarious reasons for canceling or quitting because humans can be quite creative. In the case of my big animal vet, she had given me a heads up, so it wasn’t a total surprise but definitely caused a chuckle..
One of the most common reasons I hear from people quitting fitness, a gym, or class is “I don’t have the motivation”
And I'm sure you've already calculated in your head 1,000,000 reasons and justifications for why you’ve not been motivated before.
But have you stopped to actually look deeper and understand where that feeling comes from and what it means? And what you're really telling yourself( and the world) when you say you lack motivation?
This doesn’t apply only to fitness. This applies to EVERYTHING in life.
Motivation is a lie. It's complete BS.
Motivation is the excuse we give ourselves to abandon our desires and goals.
If you are already thinking of justifications to disagree with me, then you need this email. If you feel “attacked” or that twinge in the gut, heart, or brain, you need to hear this.
At some point, most of us end up in a psych 101 course in high school or college, we learn that in order to be successful at something we need intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, we associate it with the drive to accomplish something.
And if something is challenging us, we lack intrinsic motivation.
And so, we start using motivation as an excuse...
“I don’t have the motivation to eat healthily or exercise because it’s too complicated and takes forever.”
*FACEPALM* 🤦
Making healthy grilled chicken is two steps: Season & grill. Maybe three if you opt to marinate it first.
Making fried chicken** is at least 6 steps depending on how detailed you get or if you do multiple dredges of the batter.
**Even if air fried, you’ve taken food that was perfectly nutritionally sound and added nutritionally void calories.
If you have time to make fried chicken, you have time to eat healthily.
It’s easier to place blame on something, like exercise or healthy food, than to admit to yourself what you really are abandoning.
And yes, I mean abandoning.
If Simone Biles and Micheal Phelps gave up the first time things got hard, they wouldn’t be the most celebrated athletes in their sports.
You’ve probably forgotten this because it’s been 21 years, but Michael Phelps didn’t win a single medal in his first Olympics. He placed 5th in the 2000 Summer Olympics for the 200m Butterfly.
If he had thrown in the towel that day because he gave in to self-doubt or a lack of motivation, he wouldn’t be the most successful swimmer in history.
So why do we give in so easily and blame our motivation?
That’s actually pretty easy to answer. Our brains.
Since we aren’t typically being chased by large prey animals trying to eat us anymore, our brains have taken the stress response from running for our lives and applied it to modern-day stressors: relationships, children, work, driving, etc.
Our brain is designed with the main purpose of keeping us alive. And to do that, it wants to take the past of least resistance.
So if you have a rough commute and then a rough interaction with your partner or teen, it can cause us to feel unmotivated.
A lack of motivation is nothing more than self-doubt.
You don’t become successful without facing self-doubt.
Because you’ve told your brain over and over again that you can’t do something or you won’t be successful, your brain remembers that.
And when that challenge or something similar happens again, your brain recognizes this and reminds you. Telling you can’t do it, you have too much going on, that XYZ project is more important, or even more simply you don’t feel motivated.
I see it time and time again. My on-again, off-again clients.
They want to lose weight, eat healthier, get in shape, or just feel good, feel healthy.
But the first bump in the road, I start hearing the excuses...
I’ve gotta change my times;
It’s too hard to fit exercise, work, and eating healthy in;
Can we do a weekend? Work gets in the way;
I forgot my shoes or clothes;
I forgot to eat and will get sick if I workout;
I don’t have the energy.
The whole time, I’m just waiting for the email, the phone call, the text that says “I quit” or “I need time” or “I need a break”
What this tells telling me and your brain is that you don’t believe in yourself. That you don’t believe you can change. That you can lose weight. Eat healthily. Or exercise consistently. That you’ll always struggle to hit your goals and desires.
Every time you give in to that inner voice telling you it’s too hard or difficult, your brain registers that information. And it will repeat it back to you on your next cycle, that next bump in the road.
Once you’ve set this precedent, your inner voice and brain will start interjecting more often with more self-doubt, spanning more areas of your life.
So what do you do? How do you stop repeating the cycle?
Action.
You choose to do the thing that you have no motivation to do.
You have to take action.
Hate exercise? Hire me.
Want to eat healthier? Hire me.
Want to work on your mindset so you don’t struggle with a lack of motivation and tell that annoying inner voice to kiss your ass? Hire me.
Want to transform that unused space into a home gym? Hire me ;)
You have to take action, especially when your brain is telling you that you can’t lose weight or maintain a healthy lifestyle. You have to tell that annoying inner voice to sit down and shut up. And then the hard part..follow through.
And yes action usually requires hiring the expertise of someone who can see through the BS. But you’re in luck because you have me. I’ve helped hundreds of people lose weight, and keep it off with simple steps. But not just that, I’ve helped people reduce inflammation associated with chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and autoimmune conditions. I’ve helped hundreds of people find the right exercise for their bodies without ever leaving the house.
I love helping my clients achieve a sustainable, healthy lifestyle. If you are ready to take action, reply or DM me (m.me/margreta.rempert) and we’ll get rolling on action. We’ll craft a plan and find your first step to fighting through that lack of motivation.
Let’s trick that brain into action!
-Margreta
