Motivation can be a success killer when you are trying work out, eat right, and lose weight. You’re not the only one who has this problem; it’s something that everyone suffers from at one point and time.

Now, wait a minute? Did I just say, EVERYONE? Yes, I did, only not All people struggle to get motivated to workout but most people struggle to stay motivated to eat right or clean the house in the morning or to do anything they should do.

You see, everyone struggles to get motivated to do something on some level, the difference is that it’s easier for some of us to get motivated to exercise and difficult for others. So you might be wondering “Why am I having a problem”?
Science shows that humans are a creature of habit and our habits are largely shaped by our desire to get something we want. The problem is that sometimes what we want is blocked by things we need to do that we truly DON’T LIKE. Please make a strong note here that our habits are based on what we “do and don’t like”, our fears, and perceived potential reward.

The trick to getting motivated is to trick your “don’t like” and “fears” into working for you. In this way, they become a powerful mechanism to help you form a new habit rather than blocking you.

Inner Reflection Exercise – What’s Eating You?

First, you need to look inside yourself and truly get real with how you feel no matter how ugly that reality looks. Yes, you have a desire to work out, eat right, and lose weight. Yes, you will get a long-term reward of health, energy, and weight loss if you form this new habit. But, what you need to get in touch with is those “don’t like” and “fears” involved with the actions you must take to form the new habit.

For example, you may have a goal to run 30 minutes each morning but you’re having a problem getting motivated to actually do it. When you turn inward to ask yourself what you “don’t like” about running to workout – the answer may come back as “well I don’t REALLY enjoy running, I just do it out of obligation.”

Make a list of all the “don’t likes” involved with your desire to work out and exercise.

Prioritize & Substituting Your Efforts To Increase Motivation

Then, prioritize that list from highest to lowest. Highest being the thing that bothers you the most and lowest being the things that bothers you the least.

Now, don’t discard the list, but narrow it down to the top 3 things you don’t like.

This is the most critical step: You must find a “healthy substitute” for these three things that will make it feel more worthwhile in the short term so you get a more immediate benefit or reward in your life by using the “healthy substitute”.

For example: If you main “don’t like” is that really don’t enjoy running, a healthy substitute could be pole dancing for fitness. This is my vise by the way. You see, I enjoy dancing so I find forms of exercise that involve the feeling of dancing rhythmically to music. To deepen it, I enjoy dancing sexy. So in the end pole dancing gives me an IMMEDIATE reward of enjoying the feeling of moving my body to music and I get to exercise while I am doing it. Suddenly weight loss gets EASY! And I’M MOTIVATED!!  I even create my own pole dance routines to dance the way I like.

Set aside time in your day to create “healthy substitutes” for the top 3 things on your list and use them. Once you do this, you will know what to do with the rest of your list automatically.

This last step will get you intimately in touch with who you are deep inside and as a result you will find that unique blend of natural motivation that already exists inside.

Life Is Too Short To Not Get What You Want

Spend some time reflecting on what you truly enjoy in life and try to create a “healthy substitute” by blending what you LOVE into what you “don’t like” on your list. Remember, you don’t need to completely love your exercise, but you DO need a more immediate reward to make it a new habit.

Life is too short to waste your time and money doing things you truly don’t like. Find those ways to add more joy to your work out and the natural side effect is more happiness and natural occurring motivation in your life!