Motivation is one of the key ingredients in keeping up with a fitness program or diet.  I know from personal experience in trying numerous methods, diets and regimes that the key to all of them is keeping going.

Its why I made a point of buying a book by a famous British psychologist and psychiatrist (aka: ’shrink’) called The Motivated Mind.

In this post I’m going to summarise his 20 point list of tips to stay motivated…

1. Set Goals

Without an end in site or a dream to follow its easy to drop off from your new regime.  So set your goal, write it down and visualise it.

Goals

2. Set a Deadline

Or milstones.  Just set a time at which you want to achieve your goal.  Split it into parts if needs be.  So for example if you want to compete in an iron man but have no idea how long it would take to go from couch to iron set times for 1km (2 weeks), 5km (1 month), 10km (2 months), etc.

3. Set a Schedule

Creating a path to your desired goal.  Set up a schedule of what you’ll do and when in order to achieve your desired goals.  So you want to do 10 pull ups?  Create a pull up schedule 3 times per week, with reps and sets laid out.  You can see my workout program here.

4. Track Progress

Its always useful to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going.    I’ve found a great motivator with this blog and my program is when I go back to my old records and see how I’ve got better.  Record all the way and track your progress.

5. Get Your Resources

Nothing stifles a plan like not having the tools for the job.  Too often people will drop out of running at winter because they haven’t got a treadmill.  Or they’ll stop their weight training when they realise they want a bar bell set.  So get all of your information, tools, and resources before you begin.  For an idea of what you need I’d recommend the RossTraining forum.

6. Make Failure Difficult

Most people find this one uncomfortable and will often rationalise themselves out of doing it.  But with all the other parts in place this is one hell of a way to keep going.  If you’re going on a new diet or program then tell everyone about it!!  Its a LOT harder to fail publically than privately so let everyone know what you’re doing and that you’re still going.

7. Make it a Routine

The more chance your brain has to think of something the more likely you’ll not do it.  Take decisions out of the process by scheduling a personal trainer to wake you on Sundays for a run.  Or cook and prepare your meals for the week on Sunday so they’re easy to eat later on.  Get into daily mini exercises like calf raises in the shower, push ups in the morning, etc.

The Rissington Motivation Board

8. Get Informed

The people most motivated by a goal are those who’ve learnt a lot about it.  Don’t just decide your ideal weight but find out WHY and what range it falls in.  Wanting more strength?  Fine – but learn about the different types of strength.  This knowledge makes you hungry to experiment, and drives you harder than you’d think.  It also stops you from being side-tracked by the latest crazy fads if you’ve got an armoury of clear information to back up your ideals and targets.  Visit good sites: RossTraining, BodyWeightCulture, etc.  Read good books: Turbulence Training, The Naked Warrior, Relax into Stretch

9. Why?

Why are you wanting this?  Why the strength?  Why the muscle?  Why the weight loss?  Why the abs?  Why, why, why??  Don’t just superficially answer this.  The deeper you go into why you truly want something the more emotionally connected with the end result you’ll become.  Thefore the less likely you’ll drop out.
Here’s a spreadsheet to help you with this one.

10. Assess and Remove Goal Conflict

This isn’t an easy one to figure out but a simple example is: You want to lose weight but also build muscle mass.  Sorry – no can do!!  You need to re-assess those goals because they conflict with each other.  Muscle is heavy and building it will increase your weight.  So the solution here would be to maybe: ‘Lose body fat and increase muscle mass’.

11. Learn From Failure

If you fall off the wagon and binge on 3 Christmas Dinners or you miss a whole week of training through ‘illness’ then don’t give up.  Don’t think that the lapse makes it all worthless.  The fact is that everyone falls along the way to their goals.  What differentiates those that succeed and those that fail is the successful get back up, learn from it and carry on!

12. Never Get Complacent

Just because its going well doesn’t mean you can slack off.  You need to keep on the ball all the time and re-examine your plans and goals regularly to make sure you’re on the right track.

13. Role Models

Find people who have achieved what you want to achieve.  Emulate them, learn from them and be inspired by them.  If you want to be an MMA star then let Bas Rutten be your hero!

14. Don’t Go It Alone

A group of people with similar goals can help pull you up when you’re feeling down.  They’ll help you stay focused.  There’s numerous groups on Facebook, and running sites like FetchEveryone(UK) and MapMyFitness(US/UK) are great for clubbing together and tracking progress.  Spark People(US/UK) is great for losing weight.

15. Know Thyself

Sages form thousands of years ago used to bang on about knowing yourself is the key to enlightenment and such.  Its not far from the truth.  For if you know yourself, deeply, then you can develop strategies to overcome your weaknesses and exploit your strengths.
For example: I’m a fast learner but get easily bored.  The last thing I need is a program thats repetetive but one that’s constantly challenging me to learn more.  Then this blog can give an outlet and stop me from getting bored.

16. See The Future

Always be thinking of the long term consequences of your actions rather than the immediate fix.  So you can’t be bothered doing a workout tonight?  You’re tired, long day at work, etc?  Great – take a rest.  But in the long term – you’re only ruining your health.  Think about that and less about your current tiredness.

17. Fear

Everyone is so scared of fear its silly.  Fear isn’t something to fear; fear is something to use!  Its one of the most powerful forces living in your mind so exploit its power.  Fear the heart attacks to come.  Fear the strokes from years of cake and burgers.  Fear the increased risk of cancer from smoking.  See, smell and taste the fear – constantly and relentlessly.  If that doens’t keep you going you’re not human.

18. Back to Goals

The most important of all this list is goals and I’ll revisit it again.  Goals are how we measure our success in life.  Its the attainment of our goals that boosts our personal pride, self esteem, and confidence.  By setting goals you’re investing in your happiness.  So set those goals!

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