How to know if you are motivated to eat healthy and exercise?

Like Nike says, just do it.

Today is going to be a bit of tough love.

And sometimes, you just gotta do it.

If you wait for the knight in shining armor that is Motivation to make an appearance, you will never reach your goals.

There are a lot of little tips and tricks I can give you, or that you can find online, or your best friend can share with you, that can help you take action, but ultimately it is up to you.

A common question is, “How do I find Motivation?”, “How do I get motivated?”

Simply by asking these questions, even if you truly think you have zero motivation, that just isn’t true. You care enough to wonder why you aren’t eating healthier or exercising already. 

You want to do it. You’re thinking about doing it.

If the action is important enough to you to want to find Motivation, that is a little gleam of motivation. He’s at least in the neighborhood, just waiting for the action to start and get fun!

If you literally had no motivation you wouldn’t even be thinking about it or saying you have no motivation to do it.

Think about it this way… I can honestly say I have no motivation to tap dance. Literally 0. I don’t feel bad about not doing it, I don’t try to think about doing it, I don’t try to come up with ways to do it, I don’t ask people how I can find motivation to do it. 

I don’t care. I have no interest. My Motivation Knight doesn’t even know what tap dancing is, that’s how unmotivated I am.

See the difference? 

If the goal is important and you know why you want to achieve it, motivation is at least in the neighborhood, and sometimes you do just have to make yourself do it.

Call upon your adult reasoning skills and force yourself to get started because you know it’s good for you. 

Whatever that it may be.

Eating a salad instead of pizza for supper.

Waking up at 5 a.m. to workout instead of sleeping in.

Putting the kids to bed and getting in a workout after a long day, instead of plopping on the couch to watch Netflix.

And yes, sometimes you will have to call up Willpower and tag him in, and sometimes Grit, Determination, and Your Why will be enough.

And when you’re lucky, Motivation will pop in and say hi.

Nobody is always excited to workout.

Nobody is always stoked about eating egg whites.

Almost everyone thinks fries taste better than broccoli.

But sometimes we make choices because we know they are a better choice, the adult choice, and we know in the long run we’ll be happier with the responsible choice rather than the rash choice.

We have the motivation for the outcome that we want. A healthier body.  A stronger body. A pain free life… 

None of this means you have to be perfect. But what you do most of the time is what will determine your outcome.

Are you happy with your outcomes? If you are, nothing needs to change. If you aren’t, what needs to change to make you happier?

If you haven’t found your why, take 15 minutes today, sit down, and write it out.

And next time you’d rather not take action toward your goals…

Pause. 

Acknowledge it. 

And Act anyway.