Andrea Matthes, CPT, CF-L1

Andrea Matthes, CPT, CF-L1

Introduction Motivate/Motivated/Motivation You know those words. That oh-so elusive thing commonly associated with diet and exercise? The one we re all seeking to master in order to achieve our goals? Yeah, that! Well, if you ve been struggling to find your motivation then this is the e-book for you! This might sound crazy but, in my personal and professional opinion, I think that the way we use the word motivation in association with diet, exercise, and weight loss is kind of dumb. Although motivation is necessary for change, and more importantly, lifelong change, the way we use it often does us more harm than good, leading to feelings of perceived failure, or like the change we want isn t possible because we can t get motivated. How many times have you said any of these phrases? I just can t find the motivation. I can t get motivated. I lost my motivation. I m betting you ve muttered them a time or two or three. Right? And when you do, you feel like something is wrong, like you re broken, have no will power, and are incapable of achieving your goals because you have no motivation.

It s like being motivated is some magical feeling we assume we need in order to be successful; an unfortunate expectation that we put on ourselves whether by our own doing or others that we think we need in order to be successful, but that s far from the truth. After years of emails, comments, tweets, etc., from women telling me that they wished they had my motivation, coupled with questions about how to get motivated, I decided to do some investigating into the topic,. This included some research as well as some serious soul searching so I could come up with a real answer. In this short e-book, I will share with you what I ve learned and teach you how to harness your own motivation in order to take action. Let s get started!

What is Motivation? MOTIVATION noun 1. 1a : the act or process of motivating b : the condition of being motivated 2. 2: a motivating force, stimulus, or influence : incentive, drive Notice that the definition doesn t mention anything about actually DOING the act as a response to the idea of motivation. That s because motivation is not ACTING, motivation is simply a reason for wanting something. It s something we think and feel because something else affects us. In other words: Motivation is REASON, NOT ACTION. You have can lots of reasons for wanting things without the desire to ACT. A weird analogy for you: We are motivated to go to the bathroom by the signal our bladder sends to our brain, but that motivation isn t action in that moment we can choose to get up and go, stay there and wait until the motivation is stronger, or sit there and pee our pants. Diet and exercise, and/or weight loss are no different. We can be motivated all day long, feeling the urge to change our habits, move more, eat better, lose weight, etc., all with good reason, AKA motivation, all while taking no action at all. Not because we don t want to, but because the urge to act hasn t hit us yet. The exception between being motivated to pee and being motivated to lose weight (or create a lifestyle change) is that we don t sit around stressing about whether or not

we have to pee. We re not watching TV, sitting our desk, driving in our car thinking, I should go pee. Unless of course we have to pee. But with diet, and exercise, and weight loss, we constantly think about what we should be doing, what we re doing wrong, and how we need to do things differently without taking any action at all. We ARE in fact motivated, we do have ideas and reason, but instead of spending our energy doing what we want/need to do (get up and go pee) we sit there stressing about it until we pee our pants and then we sit there feeling bad, wishing we had just gotten up and gone to the bathroom, wanting a change of clothes.

The Truth About Motivation The truth about motivation is that we can be motivated all day long- but motivation and action are two separate things. Action (the verb, the act, the DOING) happens naturally when you re ready, just like when you have to pee. The more you stress about not being motivated the worse it gets. It s part of the guilt/shame/remorse/diet/fail/repeat cycle. If you want to create change then you ARE in fact motivated, you just need to figure out how to use that motivation (your reason) to start doing, rather than wishing, hoping, thinking, praying and wanting. Before I go any further I want you to know that it s OKAY be motivated (want, wish, hope, pray, etc.) without taking action. It s okay to be where you are RIGHT NOW, even if it s not where you want to be. Loving yourself and your life for who, what and where you are right now is the only way to move forward because you have to get through the right now, in order to get to the future. Okay? Okay, Andrea! Sheesh! I get it. I m good enough, I m smart enough and Yes, exactly! Alright so now let s talk about taking action.

Moving from Motivation to Action Action is something that happens when our motivation is backed by a strong why? Meaning we can clearly define why what we want is important to us, and more so, that our WHY is compelling enough to ignite action. Just to reiterate one more time: Wanting and doing are two totally different things. Wanting something is just an idea, doing something is taking action. It s okay to want things without being willing (ready) to take action. When you re ready, you ll know. Whether you re ready now or waiting patiently to get ready, here s what I want you to remember 1) YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT CHANGE IS POSSIBLE. No matter how many times you feel like you ve failed in the past, IT IS POSSIBLE! We cannot approach change expecting to succeed if we already feel defeated and deflated. So let go of the past, without it, you wouldn t be where you are today, and today that person (you) is ready for change..

2) You must be excited about your goal. Excitement is what s going to keep you going when it gets hard and it will get hard. Some people think that excitement is motivation. Sometimes pure excitement does create action but excitement waxes and wanes so you can t depend purely on excitement to keep you moving forward. You have to be excited FOR change, not just because of it. In those moments, days, weeks and sometimes even months when exciting things aren t happening, be excited about the future. 3) YOU MUST BE WILLING TO MAKE SACRIFICES AND CHANGE PRIORITIES TIME, MONEY, FOODS YOU LOVE, COMFORT, ETC. You know the old saying, we can t keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results! That s SO true. You re going to have to change things a lot of things, not at once, but over time. It might be sacrificing time spent in the break room watching your favorite soap while eating lunch, to go for a walk instead. It might be asking a friend to take the kids to gymnastics so you can do some meal prep.

It might be sacrificing your favorite coffee drink every morning because it doesn t really add value to your goals. It might mean sacrificing that coffee drink so you can put that money towards a more nutritious lunch that costs a bit more than what you re used to spending. Making sacrifices doesn t mean deprivation. It means making changes that are a reflection of your change in priorities because you are creating change in your life. This takes practice. But when we do it with the belief that change is possible, excitement about the future and with joy in our hearts, these sacrifices and changes in priorities are actually quite empowering and feel less like work and more like progress. 4) YOU MUST BE WILLING TO DO THE HARD WORK. The truth is that true change takes time and it s not easy. There will be many ups and downs, ebbs and flows, struggles and victories but they are ALL part of establishing lifelong success that no longer requires finding motivation because the idea, the want, the wish, the hope, the prayer, the desire, THE REASON has become a reality. This is your life! Creating change IS hard! It takes time, and patience, and tenacity! But I promise it will be worth it.

Believe Change is Possible Get Excited Do the Work Make Sacrifices Change Priorities Use the worksheet on the pages that follow to help you identify the changes you want to make and how to make them, for good!

Worksheet Answer these questions in detail What is the overall change you want to see? The big picture.

What are the details? How does the change look, physically, mentally and emotionally? How do these changes affect your well-being? How do you know this change is possible? What excites you about reaching this goal?

What sacrifices are you willing to make? What priorities do you need to change? List the sacrifices and priorities you can tackle right now:

List the sacrifices and priorities that need to wait with a tentative target date: Based on the above responses, what are your long-term goals? (Those that will take 6 months or more) What ACTIONS need to take place to make these happen? (Be specific) Based on the above responses, what are your short-term goals? (Those that can be achieved in less than 6 months)

What ACTIONS need to take place to make these happen? (Be specific) What do you need to do starting today? MAKE THESE COMMITMENTS TO YOURSELF AND PUT THEM INTO ACTION Believe change is possible. Make sacrifices. Change your priorities. Do the hard work. Reap ALL of the benefits.

DON T FORGET TO FOLLOW THE RULES FOR LIVING AN I MPERFECT LIFE Rules for Living Your Best Happy, Healthy, I mperfect Life 1. Forgive yourself when you don t meet your expectations 2. Eat foods that nourish your body MOST of the time; eat foods for pleasure SOME of the time; enjoy everything you eat ALL of the time keep a water bottle with you, always 3. Exercise because it feels good and allows you to live a life that is not limited by strength, endurance, or mobility 4. Track your fitness progress to help motivate you to become faster, stronger, better; to live a life of physical freedom 5. Get plenty of rest and make yourself a priority 6. Keep a clean environment- physically, mentally and emotionally 7. Be patient with yourself and kind with your words 8. Find joy where you are and get excited about where you re going, being patient with yourself and kind with your thoughts 9. Surround yourself with people you love and who love you back 10. Do your best, remembering that your best is going to change from day-today, moment-to-moment, situation-to-situation 11. Track your progress 12. Go back to number one when you feel like you haven t met your expectations

Join the I mperfect Life Facebook Community for love, support, accountability & more! CLICK HERE