Flourish In February… “how to stay motivated when the ‘new year energy’ fades”
I am still fatter than I’d like to be and that is almost motivation enough for me to keep on going. What about you? What’s your motivation? And do we always need motivation to keep up our momentum? In my opinion… no. Why? Because motivation fades and then what? We are still stuck in that place where we either don’t want to be or at least thought we’d be out of by now.
Motivation fades… systems don’t. So it sounds like what we need are some systems in place. Habits! Habits will not fail you. Habits will carry you through no matter how good or bad you might feel. Focus on a repeatable, daily action and you can’t fail. Here’s how:
I build systems around my workouts. Instead of saying, “I have to work out more”… I make it a priority to workout before 10:00am Monday through Friday. It’s clear, it’s scheduled and it’s automatic. This type of consistency builds identity. I am not a person who works out, but I am that person who gets my workouts done and out of the way by this specific time. This makes it so easy that you cannot fail.
Another favorite system I abide by is habit stacking. This has been a game changer for my productivity. For example, I only scroll social media when I’m on the treadmill. This removes decision fatigue and it saves me valuable time from doom scrolling. I hate to break it to you, but willpower to do something is not enough. You have to create your environment to win. And along with this, track the process… not the results.
A friend asked me the other day, “How much weight have you lost since the New Year"?” And I honestly told her that I didn’t know because I stopped weighing in. Instead, I am only focused on, “Do I workout everyday?” and the answer is YES! Everyday I do something. Now, to be honest, some days I am hitting it and other days I am just going through the motions. But now, working out daily is my baseline. Baselines keep the habit alive even when the motivation is gone. I am someone who moves daily! This is my new identity!
So my message to you is to focus on your identity, not the outcome! And if you fell off the wagon for February, this is your sign that it is not too late to get back on.