This month, I made a promise to myself to intentionally move my body every day. I hesitate to say “work out daily” because my reason for this isn’t to lose a ton of weight and get super fit. I just know that I feel really good about myself when I am consistently exercising, and my workouts as of late have been lackluster. I wanted to feel better, so committing to daily intentional movement seemed like a good place to start.
I’m not working out hardcore. I’m not pushing my body to its limits. That’s not the point. The point is to intentionally move my body in a way that feels good once a day. That could mean spending 45 minutes on the spin bike or walking for a half-hour on the treadmill. It’s my decision, and it’s not tied to future results, and that feels incredibly empowering.
This past Friday, though, I was seriously unmotivated about my workout. I couldn’t even put a finger on why, but I just felt a bit overwhelmed by life. I felt overstimulated from the past few days. All I wanted to do was crawl into my bed for the entire day and not move, but I also knew that I had committed myself to daily workouts and that not being motivated to work out didn’t give me a free pass. I still had to get out there.
And I did. I went to the gym and did a workout. Was it my best workout? Absolutely not. Could I have pushed myself harder? Yes. But in the grand scheme of things, that didn’t matter. What mattered was that I forced myself to go to the gym when I didn’t want to. What mattered was that I didn’t let a little thing called “not being motivated” provide me with an excuse to quit on myself. People who lack motivation to go to the gym can benefit from buying Refurbished Gym Equipment to put in their homes.
And isn’t it interesting how we’re always waiting for motivation to just… show up… to give us permission to do the thing we want to do? If we’re not feeling motivated to do that thing, oh well then! Guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
We buy into the lie that we must be motivated in order to work towards our goals. Motivation becomes this magical little word that can combat any sort of resistance we’ve faced in the past. The resistance to not wanting to work out or finish the novel or apply for that job. But when motivation shows up, then we are given new life! The resistance is gone! We can go after our goals and stop letting the excuses pile up!
But what happens when that motivation that previously felt so strong and so mighty… wanes? What happens when we feel unmotivated, when that resistance to doing the thing starts to build up strength again? What then?
The truth is that we don’t need motivation. It’s not this necessary piece of the puzzle like we think it is. You don’t need motivation to get up in the morning and go to the gym. Or to spend your weekend working on your novel. Or to eat healthier or apply for jobs or write a blog post.
You just have to do it. You can be completely unmotivated and still get out there and do it.
And isn’t that a freeing thought? Motivation has no power over whether or not you do something. You hold sole power.
You can say to yourself, “It’s okay that today I am not motivated. It’s okay that I feel a little tired and overwhelmed and crabby. It’s okay that this isn’t how I want to spend this time.” And still do the thing you don’t want to do.
You aren’t lacking in anything because you don’t have motivation. Other people aren’t stronger or more dedicated or more committed than you are. You don’t need motivation in order to do the thing you told yourself you would do. You just have to get out there and do it.
And, look, sometimes we just need a day off. We just need to cut ourselves a break. That happens. That’s necessary. Some days, we do need to sleep in and forget about our workout. Or take a weekend to hang out with friends and let your writing and blog posts fall to the back burner. That’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about the propensity for us to use motivation as the key that unlocks whether or not we do the thing we said we were going to do.
So, look, let’s stop quitting on ourselves. Let’s stop believing that motivation is necessary to achieve our goals. And let’s also stop thinking something is wrong with us or we’re just not as strong as other people because we lack motivation. Everyone lacks it at some point. It’s how you press forward when you are unmotivated and discouraged that means something.
I agree that doing some things in life is less about motivation and more about discipline. I’d say there’s a very limited number of things in my life that I feel truly ‘motivated’ to do. But there’s a long list of things that I apply a sense of discipline to so that they get done, like working out, healthy eating, working on writing assignments at work. My motivation is definitely lacking at times for the things I just listed, so discipline has to take over! It’s good to make that point of distinction that just because you don’t feel motivated to do something doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.
Define “motivation” for me…. 🙂 because I think that through everything you ARE motivated… motivated to move regularly (because it makes you feel better), motivated to keep it up (even on days that you don’t feel like it).
I changed my view on what motivation means for me. It doesn’t mean that I am jumping for joy for every run or every workout at the gym, but it means that underneath it all, the motivation to be happy and healthy keeps me on my toes and committed to my goals.
I think you’re motivated… it just doesn’t present itself in the “hooray, I wanna work out all day every day”-kinda way. 🙂
I really like your view! It’s definitely making me think. Before I had Caleb, I felt so motivated to work out and lose all my weight, but lately, I’ve had no motivation. It’s easy to use that as an excuse, but you just have to make yourself do it whether you feel motivated or not!
I forget who said it, but I read a quote from an author a few years ago who said that no matter what they write every day. They don’t wait for inspiration or motivation or anything like that, they just sit down and do it. I think as a writer you can probably relate! If you always wait for motivation, you might never do something you need to do. I think this is a great post!
I’m not sure I totally agree — just on the basis of the word “motivation.” You have motivation, or you wouldn’t do something, period. Motivation just means a reason to do it. You’re not intentionally moving for no reason. Your health is your motivation. If you didn’t have motivation, you’d be doing something with no point behind it.
I think the word you’re looking for is enthusiasm. Sure, you’re not excited to work out every day, but you do it because you’re motivated by health. The enthusiasm isn’t there every day, but the motivation is.
Hi Stephany. I’ve been a reader for several years but I’m one I always feel self conscious about leaving comments. Silly I know. But I just had to overcome that and respond to this post. I read it yesterday and have been thinking about it all night and all this morning. I’ve been struggling so much with motivation in many different aspects of my life. There are changes that I want to make (getting up early to have a little more me time, attending fitness classes that I know are fun and will help me feel better, etc.) and yet I struggle to make these changes happen. I’ve been writing in my journal for months now that I want to do these and I’m going to start them on Monday/tomorrow/at the beginning of the month and then my next post is inevitable how I failed to do so. I guess Nike kind of gets it right when they say “Just Do It.” Just do it- kind of easier said than done but it’s the truth. I’ve been waiting and waiting for the stars to align and for me to just magically make the transition to new habits and then berating myself when it doesn’t happen. Anyway- I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your insights and your writing and that this post was so good for me to read. Your final paragraph is so on point. I’m printing it out and hanging it on my mirror. 🙂 Thanks and sorry for the ramble (and the reading with no commenting- I’ll be braver.)