Get Educated not Motivated
Motivation is great for starting something. Nothing will get you off your ass faster than a wave of genuine motivation, whatever the source may be. For short term undertakings this is awesome. You see a delicious looking recipe — you make it the next day, you visit someone’s clean house — you realize yours is looking messy and tidy it up, your hair looks shit — go to the barber on the weekend. These things all happen with very little effort on our part because something sparks motivation to take action.
Think how this applies to long term goals, the reality is that motivation is terrible for anything that requires more than 2 weeks of commitment. Obviously, any pursuit of better health falls under this classification. Motivation has a wonderful effect that makes you feel like it will be there forever. It will not. Don’t trust this feeling, and use motivation how it is best used — to kick start a new endeavor. Use it to formulate a plan, make some short and long term goals, and start working towards them.
What will keep you going weeks and months to achieve your goal is education and habit. Firstly, you need to have the right information and knowledge to be sure that the method you have chosen will work to achieve a positive outcome. once you have that; the method needs to be formed into a consistent habit.
Let’s consider a hypothetical case study: Bob wants to lose weight because his doctor tells him he is at high risk for heart disease. The motivation is definitely there — i.e to continue living, so he formulates a plan. He will cut out sugar, alcohol, bread, fast food, and start going to the gym. Bob has already most likely failed, because he lacks the knowledge to implement a plan that will work. He will have unknowingly cut his calorie intake by more than half, and will be angry and hungry within a week. At this point the motivation will run out and old habits will come right back.
Suppose Bob gets the same news from his doctor, decides on the same goal (weight loss) and then comes to someone like me to help him achieve the goal. Bob will be shown how to create a sustainable calorie deficit. He will have guidance through it until he is comfortable on his own. He will be gaining the knowledge needed, while building good habits that will translate to long term success.
Of course, Bob could have researched infinite information for free on the internet, but unfortunately finding consistent information (especially about health and fitness) is near impossible without months or years of research.
Don’t believe for a second that the wave of motivation you experience will be there long. Use it to get started, get a method that will work to achieve your goal, and build that method into a habit.
So, if you ironically get a wave of motivation from this post……you know what to do.
As always you can reach me at https://www.formativenutrition.net/. Thanks for reading.