Have you ever made plans for a day-trip weeks in advance, only to decide that morning that you really don’t want to go? And better yet, have you ever kept those plans because you didn’t want to let down a spouse or a sibling or a friend who was excited to go on that adventure with you?
Motivation is a fickle form of fuel in our lives. It comes and goes without warning, and a sudden lack of motivation can derail our best-laid plans. But if that’s the case, why does the above scenario ring true for so many people?
Here’s why: We are far more likely to stick to our commitments when we don’t want to let someone down, especially when it’s someone we care deeply about. We want to be people our loved ones can count on, so even when we don’t want to get out of bed and leave the house, we do it, often discovering that we almost missed out on priceless memories by staying home.
Who Do You Want to Be?
Very few people want to be thought of as the person who is unreliable or who goes back on commitments, and that desire is often more powerful than your willpower in any given moment. If you can connect that desire to your health goals, building your Habits of Health each day will be much easier.
Try one or several of the following:
- Build your goals on what matters most to you. For me, my daughters are the most important people in my life, and I want to spend as much time with them as I possibly can, so they are always on my mind when I’m deciding between a healthy choice and an unhealthy choice. If it helps, you can put a picture of your family on your nightstand by your alarm clock or hang it on your bathroom mirror to remind yourself why you are working to create health in your life.
- Share your goals with someone you respect. Having a workout buddy or a walking partner can keep you on track because while you would skip a workout if you were alone, you wouldn’t skip a workout if it meant canceling on someone else.
- Connect with a coach, mentor, or trainer. If you work with someone who understands what you are trying to achieve – such as a health coach or a personal trainer – you benefit from their expertise as well as the relationship you form with them. Canceling a workout last-minute is harder to do when you know that someone you respect is waiting for you at the gym or who will be asking about your progress on your next call.
- Use social media to build accountability. If you are comfortable sharing your journey with others (and it’s okay if you aren’t), posting regular updates about your efforts and your progress can tap into the power of not wanting to let others down. When people read your posts, they expect you to continue, and your stopping could feel like letting down your friends.
Remember, the goal is to help you overcome the moments when you don’t have your best interests at heart. We don’t want you to feel badly about yourself or to think less of yourself if you mess up sometimes. Instead, we are trying to inject moments that reconnect you to that clarity of purpose you had when you decided to create health in the first place.