Don’t wait to start believing that motivation will one day show up.
Start, and watch your motivation grow.
If after a set amount of time you still aren’t feeling it,
quit. You have full permission to stop at any time.
This hack works for everything.
The closest you have been meaning to clean but never feel motivated to do so: turn on your favorite song and start cleaning.
When the song is over you want to quit, go for it.
Your workout: show up for ten minutes.
Your meditation: one minute.
I’ll fill you in on a secret; almost all the time you will keep going.
Once you get started the motivation will follow.
And if you want to quit,
quit.
It’s still more than you would have accomplished if you didn’t start.
I’m not big on trying to motivate.
I’ve been in a gym long enough to know
you have to do it for you. You can have the best coach in the world, the perfect workout program, everything you need to succeed and none of it will matter if you can’t get yourself to START and keep showing up.
If you are at New York Sport & Fitness you know my belief: It doesn't matter how many calories you burn in an hour. Your six-week program results are fun, but not that impressive. The real flex is consistency.
It doesn't matter what you can do in three weeks.
Show me what you can stick with for a years.
Finding motivation to call your bullshit is powerful. Doing so with permission to quit forces you to check in. Together they form the perfect combination of discipline and grace.
Asking how you feel, scanning your body seeing what you have left in your tank. If you need rest, your body will push you into resting. You will know it is time to stop and try again tomorrow. If you are “not motivated”, your mind will call your bullshit and keep you working.
Use this with your to-do list, the project you have been putting off, the closet you have been meaning to clean for the last six months... anything and everything.
Demand yourself to start AND give yourself full permission to quit after a set amount of time.
Almost all the time you will keep going. And when you don't thats fine too. You started. 100% of the time that is the hard part, with that out of the way it will make coming back again easier.