Saturday, September 24, 2016

What Motivates Us: Fitness Edition

Motivation

Since starting this fitness challenge, Travis and I have talked a lot about motivation. We talked a lot about how we stayed motivated with building the house and now we constantly talk about how we stay motivated with getting in shape.

The key here is that motivation is an ongoing process in life. It's what separates us from other animals. Motivation let's us reach our goals.

There are five big ways we stay motivated;

1. Emotion. We become sad and angry with where we are physically and that pushes us to work harder to get to where we want to be.



2. Paying for a gym membership. Paying for a gym membership motivates you? What? Hear me out. 
I really dislike wasting my hard earned money. Whatever I buy, you can bet that I will get as much use out of it as I can. I look at a gym membership the same way or investing in gym attire or a gym bag, I don't want to waste my money by not putting those things to use. This can also apply to other things in life, for example; buying an organizer to help manage your time better, as long as you use it. You bought it, why not put it to use? Don't waste your money.




3. Measuring progress. Whenever I'm in a funk and I'm trying to motivate myself, I think about how far I've come physically already. I think about how I used to hate how my clothes felt and not being able to wear my favorite jeans. This helps me work harder to not feel that way again. I used to weigh 150lbs. and now I weigh 120lbs. That's progress no matter how you look at it.


4. Finding a gym routine you enjoy. This is my number one motivator! I have to enjoy at least one thing in the gym for me to actually walk through the gym doors. I enjoy changing up my routine. Lot's of people like group workouts such as; dancing, Zumba, yoga, pilates, etc. Try and find something that you enjoy and I promise it will make you excited to work out.



5. Imagine where you'll be in a year. The last thing that motivates me, not only with working out but with other aspects of my life, is to constantly think about where I'll be in a year. Last year I was just beginning to build a tiny house and now, a YEAR LATER, that tiny house is finished and I'm living in it. If I keep going and work hard to achieve my goals then I will be that much closer, if not already, achieving my goals a year from now. A year is not very long if you think about it.



Next year I'll look back and imagine how I felt in my body in this moment and I can imagine how great I'm going to feel. That motivates me to keep going and reach my goals.


These are our top motivators when it comes to working out. I'm going to be honest here, I don't always enjoy working out, but when I think about these five things before I hit the gym, it brings me right back to the fact that this is our one and only life. We have one life to make everything we dream become reality and I see working out and being healthy as a starting point. 

It's the foundation to reaching my dreams.

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