Discipline > Motivation
I call myself a training and nutrition coach, but in reality, what I really do is help people build better habits and create accountability for those habits. Whether it's through helping you creating systems and processes to improve your nutrition and get you closer to goals, setting you up with an at-home training routine you can do anywhere, or meeting with you in person each week, you'll never get to where you want to go without actually putting in the work.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say "I am just not motivated to work out" or create excuses for why they couldn't plan better meals. Deep down I think we all know that relying on motivation is never going to work long-term, because none of us is motivated all the time (or even some of the time). It's a fleeting feeling that comes and goes.
When people strive for motivation, what I think they are actually looking for is discipline. Having the discipline to set aside time each day to move your body, plan what you're going to eat, drink your water, log your food, journal what you're grateful for....this is not glamorous. It feels like work, at least at first. But if consistency is the key to getting you to your goals (and it ALWAYS is, no matter what the goal is), then discipline is how you'll unlock this.
3 Tips for building better self-discipline:
Start small. For example, if you know that working out in the morning is the only time you can fit it in, but you also like to stay up late watching Netflix, so you end up pushing your snooze button and missing your workouts, start by getting to bed 15 minutes earlier at night, and getting up 15 minutes earlier in the morning. Even if your workout's shorter than you intended, it's better than pushing it off altogether because you're too tired. Work on building that up to 20, 30 minutes, etc. Same rule applies to food; refer back to Monday's post and prepare breakfasts first, then build to preparing lunches in advance, finally dinners so it's not so overwhelming at first. Keep building upon doing the thing you want to do until it's a habit, not a hope or a question.
Ask yourself, who you want to become? Then ask yourself what that person would do each day to align with who they are? It becomes easier to execute when you consistently remember your WHY.
Consider posting a habit tracker somewhere where you will see it each day. A calendar works well here, as does a dry erase board. Let's say you want to complete 3 strength sessions a week...that's 12 sessions per month. Make 12 boxes and check one off, or mark your calendar each time you complete a session. At the end of the month...did you get your 12 boxes? Even if there were only 2 sessions in one week, but 4 in another, you still accomplished what you intended. This particular strategy also really helps with those of us who beat ourselves up if we execute something "less than perfectly" or tend to say "eff it" if things don't go 100% according to plan. Again, if it's all the small things that really add up, this helps to show you the bigger picture of habit building and self-discipline.