People tend to overcomplicate fitness and assume that it’s all about motivation and willpower. But motivation is fleeting and it is only a small part of the equation, it is not the whole thing. If you’re waiting until you feel motivated to train, you are doomed to inconsistency.
- Motivation is unpredictable.
You have days when you feel ready to train, you have days when you don’t, that is completely normal and okay. If your training plan depends on your motivation every day, it will always be hit-or-miss. People don’t train every day because they are motivated, they train every day because they have a system.
- Training structure is how you avoid motivation.
Training is simpler because you know exactly what you are going to do and there’s no decision-making involved each day. There’s no thinking, nothing to plan, no internal negotiations with yourself, it’s simple. And training structure means less friction on the training process so it’s easier for you to be consistent over time.
- Waiting on motivation just leads to postponement and delay.
A plan that starts with “tomorrow I’ll work out” will likely just result in waiting and postponing for days, or even weeks. Waiting just makes it harder for you to restart. Doing work leads to more energy and motivation.
- Discipline is just doing the same small actions over and over and over.
People think discipline sounds difficult, but all it takes is to just keep doing the same few easy actions, over and over, even if it’s boring. The results are boring, yes. But fitness is a practice, it’s repetitive.
- Training systems work even when you aren’t motivated.
The right training program does not require much thought or planning every day. There is no wondering, no guessing, no starting from scratch each day. And that is how you turn sporadic training into progress.
- Motivation follows action.
It sounds odd, but people will feel motivated after they start doing something. It’s often the first step that is the most difficult. Once you start, you will have momentum and it will feel easier to keep going.
The Bottom Line
Don’t expect training progress to be a function of your willpower and motivation, it’s not. When you have a training plan that is simple and predictable, you do not need much motivation and you train without emotion.