Everyone has a tipping point for change and motivation. The overweight person who cleans up their diet after a heart attack. The person who gets out of breath walking up the stairs. A near death experience. A traumatic experience. Social humiliation. A bad break up. Your tipping point can come in small or big occurrences, causing some type of change.
Our job is to find your tipping point before it finds you. We as trainers try to find a way to motivate and promote change. Is there something in life you cannot change or have control over? Why is it that way? Maybe you deal with stress with bad eating or drinking. Maybe you are addicted to sugar. Whatever it is, there is a way to change it.
The first step is finding a goal and objective that’s truly important. If it’s important enough, motivation is never a problem. People need a pressing goal to reach a certain level, including an energizing reward or a fear-inducing penalty to give it meaning. There needs to be sacrifice and it will not be convenient. The trick is knowing it will be worth it once you succeed.
To succeed, find a way to make it sustainable, replace it with an activity you love and reduce the barriers between you and the activity. Fulfilling a goal will let you experience things that never could of happened. People tend to be scared to go all in. They have fear and apprehension of committing to something they might fail at. Change can be healthy and motivating but usually works best when you go 100%.
So take a chance and go all in. Pick a goal before there is a tipping point. Use simple ways to motivate yourself. Stay true to the memory of your past but cut the things that are holding you back. Meet new motivating people and experiences in the present. Don’t be afraid of the unknown of your future. In fact, embrace it. If you never start, you might miss opportunities that arise because you were too lazy to exercise control over your own fitness. You need to want it badly enough.
Remember anything that is hard and requires thought, energy and discipline will be more satisfying when you reach the goal.
