Why Motivation Doesn't Work

I’m going to say something many people aren’t going to like to hear: If you’re looking for the motivation to do XYZ, you’re never going to find it.

If you’re waiting for that perfect day to start a new routine, that new month or Monday will come and go and you will wait for the next one. You don’t feel like running because it’s one degree cooler out than what you want it to be, so you say you’ll start next time. Next time comes around, you don’t run because you don’t have motivation; rinse and repeat until time goes by and you write the same unachievable goal every New Year’s Eve. I know that stings a little.

Motivation alone will not get you to your goals.

Motivation is nothing without action. For example, I’ve had the excitement of writing and publishing a novel for decades, but because I relied on some magical motivation to compose a manuscript rather than working out my writing “muscles” daily, I’m nowhere close to that dream. I wanted to be the next big author in my twenties, and I am at least a decade behind on that particular goal. Motivation might give you bursts of productivity, but it’s the time you put in when you least want to that matter most in the long run.

And speaking of long runs, there were so many of them that I did NOT want to do on the training schedule for my marathons. Whether I didn’t feel like carrying water bottles around my waist for 3 hours, or thought I’d be bored easily that day, or my legs felt like cement, those were the training sessions that got me through the grueling parts of every race. The repetitive runs and boring barbell work helped me PR in both modalities of fitness. If I can do this with a brain wired to follow the sporadic dopamine hits, then a neurotypical can accomplish so much and more even in the absence of motivation.

As a strength and conditioning coach and personal trainer, I can provide some external motivation to my clients through humor and a fun learning experience, but I mostly help them find their internal motivation and hold them accountable just by meeting 2-3 times per week. There are times when they’d walk into the gym not wanting to do much, but by the end they said they felt better and were glad they did.

Whether you want to learn guitar, tackle a big personal project, or improve your fitness, just know that it takes work outside of your motivation to get it done. If you need help on your fitness goals, send me a message (even if you don’t feel like it) and we’ll get you started on your journey!