Motivation seems to be one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented theories within the fitness sphere. In a world full of weekend certified experts there is a dearth of seeking knowledge outside of sets and reps but nonetheless opining fervently about topics with which they have little understanding. My personal ire just happens to be drawn to motivation since I spend a lot of time and study within this sphere though I’m sure my colleagues in other areas have similar irritants. Like when I talk about neuroscience 😬
So in order to combat this Instagram influencer pile of nonsense I will be doing a Monday Motivation series to discuss what motivation is, where we derive our modern interpretation of motivation, and the different types of motivation that we all utilize. The better we can understand the phenomenon of motivation the better we can utilize it to stay consistent to our values and reach our goals.
So today we will just start with the basics. What is motivation? And where can I find it?
The most common utterance I hear from clients is that they just don’t have any motivation. They want to work out but they just don’t. Well guess what? Then you do have motivation! The very thought of creating action is in itself action and therefore dictated by motivation. Still with me? Here’s a simple way to break it down:
mo·ti·va·tion
/ˌmōdəˈvāSH(ə)n/
noun
- the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way
As you can see here, any action or behavior we engage in is predicated by a motivational force. Everything we do. So when someone says that action comes before motivation you can probably bet that they’ve never read any texts on behavior. Also, that meme telling you to wake up a some ungodly hour and crush your day? It’s probably just inspirational, not motivational. That’s why you read it before bed, get psyched for your 4am sweat fest but when that alarm goes off you throw it out the window rather than throwin down at the gym. Also, you should probably get an extra hour of sleep and be more efficient but that’s another post.
So feel good about the fact that you have goals and think about how to achieve them; you are actually motivated to change! You are on your way! Next week we will talk about some common myths about motivation and the two main divisions. I hope you’ll join me!
