When people always ask me, “Matt, how do you stay so
motivated?” (Okay, they don’t always ask me that question. In fact no one has ever asked me that quest…
are you happy now?) I always answer (or
will when I get asked) I don’t know.
Not, “I don’t know,” but I don’t know as in I don’t know what I will
say. Motivation is that elusive secret
that I have been searching for my whole life.
Why else do you think I am writing this blog and exercising daily? If I
could easily motivate myself I wouldn’t need to lose weight.
Believe me if it wasn’t for the fact that I had already told
too many people about this there were several days I would have skipped. The thing is I know I am not alone. If I was America would not have an obesity
epidemic. Everyone would be model thin
and still enjoying cake. We can’t though because we are not satisfied with just
one piece of cake we always need more.
The thing about cake is al;dkjfao arg! Sorry had to stop myself I
started thinking of cake.
Where was I? Ah yes, motivation. I have been pondering the question of
motivation for a long while now trying to work out how to tackle the topic and
get myself motivated to write about it.
I have, over the years, read countless books on the motivation. I, like a lot of you, own several self help
books and have read quite a few more over the years trying to determine why I
am the way I am.
I dug some of those books out along with several of the
diet books I have. After combing through them I found great advice like:
Example 1: You have to find something to motivate you,
something that makes you want to get up every morning.
Or
Example 2: Find something to reward yourself with (a
favorite food, a vacation, etc.) and then use it as motivation.
And
Example 3: Set goals, write them down, and then motivate
yourself to achieve them.
It is usually one of the three examples above worded
differently or a combination there of. All
well and good but nobody explains how to find the things that motivate you. That
is what I believe normal people like us are missing.
What started me down this road of motivation was the
thought that I was once in great shape. I could run 5 miles and bench press over
250 pounds. I could do 100 pushups, sit-ups, and chin-ups. For some reason like
a contestant on the Biggest Loser I lost my motivation to continue to keep up
with the exercise needed to maintain that.
Examples are not just limited to Biggest Loser contestants there are pro
athletes, movie stars, models, musicians, and others that lose their motivation
to be healthy. They pack on the pounds
and get just as out of shape as you or I.
So what is motivation? How do we get it? How do we
maintain it? Where does it even come
from? These are the question I have been
pondering and I am formulating a theory that I will try to explain over the
next few days. Now here is the daily
recap.
Daily Recap:
Matt – 35 min. job.
Also improved my time according to Run Keeper. Yesterday was a hard jog; today was pretty
easy.
Kelly – 1 hour Walk
No comments:
Post a Comment