Motivation and Sticking To a Routine
Longevity Exercise Physiology Lindfield, Edgecliff, Marrickville, Randwick, Drummoyne, Balmain and Bella Vista discuss motivation and the best tips for sticking to a healthier lifestyle.
Motivation has many different descriptions, and is defined as the process that helps to initiate and guide behaviour towards a specific goal. Motivation is often easily generated, perhaps triggered by an external force e.g. wanting to fit into a certain size, and is influenced a lot by emotion. The hardest bit about motivation is staying on track and retaining that feeling (emotions can fluctuate a lot and influence your level of motivation) and maintain the drive to work towards your goal when a large amount of time has passed or things get difficult. I personally think motivation is a great tool to begin directing your energy towards more positive health behaviours however it won’t help you get over the finish line – you need to remain disciplined and remember why you started in the first place.
Defining your goals are important, and writing them down even more so. Writing them down helps to solidify them more, and you can easily share them with your support network (friends and family) to help keep you accountable. I have provided an example below of what is helpful when planning your goals.
- What – e.g. improve muscle and bone strength as the GP has diagnosed me with osteoporosis
- How – attend twice weekly supervised exercise sessions with weight bearing and strengthening exercises, as well as walking each day
- Why – to prevent my condition from worsening so it doesn’t limit me as I really want to be able to keep playing tennis with my friends
Another useful tip is not waiting until ‘next Monday’ or ‘next year’ to start changing your behaviours. We have all heard the phrase ‘new year new me’ – to me this is suggesting that you are happy waiting until the time is right and all the stars are aligned to commence working towards your goals. The time in which you wait to kick start your health is going to pass anyway, so why not make your time useful and worthwhile.
This leads me to my next point where I believe it’s important to do one small thing for your health each day. Whether it’s simply drinking more water, reducing the sugar intake in your coffee or walking for 30 minutes each day – make sure it’s small and attainable each and every day. This will ensure you can concentrate all your energy into this small change which will eventually become a habit. Focus on this change for a couple of weeks before addressing the next change.
Surround yourself with likeminded people that will support you. A support network is an amazing way to stay on track, whether that be friends or family or people at your gym, in the community or who you play recreational sport with.
Lastly, surround yourself with likeminded people that will support you. A support network is an amazing way to stay on track, whether that be friends or family or people at your gym, in the community or who you play recreational sport with. These people will help to drive motivation and keep you on track when things get difficult. They can also help you stay accountable especially if you exercise with them.
So to summarise my top tips for you to help with finding your goals, sticking to a routine and making things become a habit are:
- Use motivation to get you started – but remember you have to be disciplined to continue
- Write down your goals
- Don’t wait to start next week or next year – the time will pass anyway
- Doing one small thing for your health each and every day
- Keep yourself accountable to someone
Contact Longevity Personal Training and Exercise Physiology Edgecliff, Lindfield, Marrickville, Randwick, Drummoyne, Balmain, Bella Vista on 1300 964 002 to enquire today if you need guidance about setting goals acheiving better health.
Written by Susannah Mah-Chut
