🔋 Motivational Level

Does anyone else suffer from lack of or low motivation when they need it the most? 

I know I am not alone, so you can nod your head.

When my level of motivation runs high, oooh, is it...Beaut. I. Ful! When it is low, life is like a box of chocolates, keep eating them until sleep takes over. Ugh.

Do you feel me?

In my career, I have wrestled with the stages of motivation and have made it to Maintenence in several different types of behaviors. I have also found that the most difficult individuals to work with are the ones stuck in precontemplation and contemplation. My personal definitions are below:

Precontemplation - What's this?

Contemplation - Sounds good. I might give it a try.

Preparation/Planning/Determination - It's going down for real on Monday at 7:00am.

Action - Oh, this workout/training/exercise/food/sleep is fun.

Maintenance - Three times a week for the past year, I have accomplished my weekly goals.

__________________

Opinion: Most individuals live in the contemplation stage and have a difficult time planning to act. Yikes!

                            __________________

Precontemplation catches your eye. Cool!...You're either interested or not... Ooh, look at that Ferrari... Just window shopping or acting.

Contemplation has vulnerability. You can have an entire program explained to you. It sounds great. The plan will do your body, mind, and soul well. You absolutely need it. You tell yourself that you will begin a change, that you will show up, that you will have a presence 100% of the time. You have the audacity to tell others.

Then, nothing happens. Or, everything else happens before planning. Perhaps, you need to improve your preparation.

Preparation welcomes spontaneity when life interferes with your plans. You schedule to workout at 5:00pm, but you forgot to run an urgent and important errand. Instead of canceling your early evening workout, find a way to get it in at a later time or do part of it. You should avoid entire cancellations in this case because what was planned to take 60 minutes can take 30 minutes. Schedule with regimen flexibility are beauties of human performance. 

Action brings a smile to your face and satisfies your body because Nike lives in action with its slogan Just do it.

So...Just. Do. It. What a victory!  

Are you a believer of exponential change? For, exponential change possesses the correct amount of power that is needed for a sudden shift to occur. This type of change does not have a gradual, and clear observable flow. Some of it may occur behind the preparation scenes. These scenarios tend to embody: Just do it.

If you reach Maintenance, then you have controlled your way to a difficult stage. Congratulate yourself and everyone else who reached the goal! Did you bring anyone else with you on your journey? Because Maintenance is a good time to share your journey and help someone else adopt a change or develop a stronger motivation. 

Of course, you can start with a partner Precontemplation and Contemplation. We'll dive deeper into this topic in Motivation II.

___________________

Questions: What levels are you in with present activities you do? For example, Maintenence for lifting weights but Precontemplation for travel to a foreign country. 

During which level do you have the most difficulty?

Do you perform better or with higher motivation in certain seasons? Fall, winter, holiday, birthday, sports, planting, ripe.

Derek | @teemptraining derekteempt@gmail.com