Just Do Something.
Everyone has those days when the gravitational pull of the sofa far exceeds the push to get up and move.
Maybe you’re super busy right now. Or depressed. Or on a deadline you can’t miss. Or you didn’t sleep well and can’t imagine making it through a 60-minute workout. Or…the list of excuses is endless! It happens to everyone.
When you just don’t feel motivated you feel stuck…yet the only way out is to take action. Just Do Something.
The simple step of taking action – any action – gets the motivational wheels turning, especially if you feel good afterward. Getting that positive reinforcement inspires you to try again, then again….and soon enough it becomes habit.
But it’s not so simple, is it? Our brains are hard-wired to keep us in our comfort zone. It’s a safety mechanism.
Without thinking we all set up our environment to keep us right where we are: the people you surround yourself with and the environments you place yourself in establish the triggers that influence your behaviors, consciously and unconsciously.
When was the last time you tried something new outside your comfort zone? Unless you already had the skill and ability to accomplish your feat, I’m going to guess it was hard to sustain. That’s because:
- The initial surge of motivation that got you out the door at 5 am to boot camp might mask the fact that you haven’t worked out in months or years and your body wasn’t ready for it. The discomfort eventually led you to give it up.
- Or perhaps the new diet you are trying to follow requires more time in the kitchen or different cooking skills than you currently have and that discomfort makes it feel like too much bother.
“Just do it” isn’t enough.
Skills and abilities are the foundation of all healthy habits. Without them, it is too easy to slide back into your comfort zone and feel like you failed yet again.
Here are 5 tips to help you expand your comfort zone and motivate yourself:
1. Learn how to stretch your comfort zone and get consistent.
Start doing what you can with what you have in the time available. And do it every day. Then start challenging yourself little by little. BABY STEPS for the win.
2. Check your language.
You’re a grown-up. You don’t HAVE TO anything…you GET TO move your body, you GET TO see how you can make it stronger and healthier, you GET TO know yourself and challenge yourself through fitness. See how just changing one word can change how it feels?
3. Check your assumptions.
Do you feel like you need to exercise to earn what you eat? That the workouts and diets you followed years ago should still work for your body and lifestyle today? That you don’t have time to workout? That there’s something wrong with you because you aren’t succeeding? Spend some time here and look for the deeper truths.
4. Change your environment.
Just like everything else, your environment is set up for keep your brain feeling safe, but if something in your environment isn’t serving you, YOU CAN CHANGE IT. Can you walk through your house without walking through the kitchen? Can you put less healthy foods in harder to reach places? When the environment you spend most of your time in supports your goals, motivation becomes…irrelevant. You will have set yourself up to succeed every day and reaching your goals will become easier.5. Get Support. Support comes in many forms – from your friends, family, and coworkers, to hiring a coach who knows how to help you change your habits and stretch your comfort zone to make sustainable changes for life.
It’s time to get your mojo back, take control of the things you can control in your life, and get back in the driver’s seat of your health and wellness.
Tell me, where do you most need help?
