Habit Beats Motivation

Today, I'm just riffing a bit. I'll admit, this article might be a bit less on the informative side than my usual posts but it's still something I suspect some people might need to hear. Regardless of your particular viewpoint on health and fitness, one principle reigns supreme: CONSISTENCY. If you've taken even a few moments to read any sources of fitness information, you've probably noticed a multitude of opinions, some varying quite a bit from each other. Every "expert" has their own particular take on THE METHOD that will get you in better shape. I won't even begin to validate these views one way or another here as that is a bit much to unpack for the purposes of this article.

Without consistency, however, even the most well structured workout regimen and diet are useless. Every journey begins with a single step, but you can carefully plan out your calories and macros, crush it it in the gym and if you only do it for a week or two then give up, you will not have accomplished much. That's why, you've got to fight! Fight against your own mind and body that wants you to take the easy way out and do what you've always done. You essentially need to force change into your life until it becomes the new normal. According to psychological principles defined by the Transtheoretical Model, it can take more than six months before your mind accepts something as a routine.

In conclusion, a new positive practice will not be integrated into your life overnight. It takes time. human nature dictates that our moods, and many other factors, will change. This means you without a doubt will not be motivated and enthusiastic about your health every single day. But if you turn motivation into a habit, that's the most powerful tool of all because that will be a practice that you'll perform regularly. Not because you want to, but because you have to.