When it comes to achieving fitness goals or any other type of personal target, you will never get there unless your motivation levels are high. Unfortunately, for many, our brains are hardwired to stay within our comfort zones. We need to be able to overcome the battle with our minds before we can start to move on to the battle with our bodies.
There is no single method to maintain motivation; what works for one person may well not work for another. All you can do is to try out a few different techniques until you settle on some that work well for you. So, let’s take a look at some of the most common ways of maintaining motivation so you are in the best place to achieve your goals.
Make Sure You are the One Who Sets the Goal
There is no point striving for something that someone else thinks you should achieve. For example, if you really want to lose weight, the motivation has to come from within yourself and not if you are being heavily influenced by other people in your life. Remember, although you can get help from other people, hitting the target will be down to you. If you don’t feel inspired to do this, you may need to reevaluate whether this is the right fitness goal that you should be aiming for.
Surround Yourself with Positive People
While a lot of people will celebrate you for trying to achieve your fitness goals, there will be others who only see the negative side. You should try to increase the influence of the positive people, while sidestepping any negative people as much as possible. Many people don’t end up achieving their goals because they don’t tell anyone else about them, meaning that no one else knows if they fail. The act of simply involving other people in your challenges can ensure that you are much more likely to succeed.
One of the best methods that people use to achieve their fitness goals is to get a workout buddy. That way, you can push each other harder and both celebrate your achievements. You are then sharing some of the motivation burden with someone else, so you can draw on them for those extra reserves of strength when you need them. You could also consider getting yourself a personal trainer such as Marc Dressen Personal Training. They can help you solidify your workout goals, help you draw up a plan and make sure you are constantly moving in the right direction.
Set Yourself Subgoals
Your main driving goal may be to run a certain distance or reach a certain weight. While this main goal will stay firmly fixed in your mind, if you only have this to work towards, then it will be difficult to stay motivation. Instead, you need to set yourself a series of step-by-step subgoals so that you stay moving in the right direction. If your goal is running 10K, you will want to build up your distance and time little by little. This way, you can get a boost from knowing that you are steadily working towards your long-term goal.
Vary Your Workout Routines
If you keep doing the same workout routine day in, day out, you are much more likely to become weary and lose motivation. Even if you have a fitness plan that you want to stick closely to, there is no reason why you can’t build in some new activities to keep yourself interested. Join a new fitness class or take up a new sport; you may discover an entirely new passion. They say that variety is the spice of life, after all.
Focus on Your Present Reality
During so much of our lives, we are either consumed what has happened in the past or worried about what is going to happen in the future. You can motivate yourself by thinking closely about your present reality and how achieving your fitness goal will improve your quality of life. Even though not working out is the easier option, it can easily lead you to feel frustrated and unfulfilled. Simply the act of knowing that you are working on achieving your goal can brighten up your day-to-day life and therefore have a positive effect on your motivation levels.
Don’t Let Obstacles Hold You Back
Probably the number one thing that derails people when they are trying to achieve their goals is when they come up against a barrier. If you are trying to lose weight, you may find that you get stuck on the same figure or you even put some weight back on again. Accepting that achieving your fitness goals is not all plain sailing is one of the best lessons that you can learn. Rather than letting these setbacks completely disrupt your motivation, you should instead treat them as an opportunity to redouble your efforts so that you overcome these barriers.
Write Everything Down
Many people find the act of writing down their fitness goals to be very effective. Rather than being something that exists solely in your head, you have something tangible to refer back to. You can also note down how you are progressing along the way. For example, if you are aiming to lose weight, then you can keep writing down your current figure so you can clearly see how you are progressing over time.
Give Yourself a Break
Though you want to stay motivated as much as possible, remember that it is okay to take a break once in awhile. If you are constantly switched on, you are much more likely to suffer from burnout and this will set your goals back a long way. Think of these breaks as an opportunity to recharge your battery so you are ready and raring to go when you do get back to working out.
Use a combination of these techniques and you should be able to win the battle with your mind and maintain the fitness motivation you need.
