If you surf the web like I do, you read lots of information about how much exercise we are supposed to have. I’ve read one hour a day that gets your heart rate up, but have also read that walking for half an hour three times a week is plenty. I’ve also seen some interesting statistics as to how many people in the US don’t get enough exercise. One figure I read recently is 50%, though the author didn’t say what enough meant. I’m not sure if enough means one hour a day or walking for half an hour three days a week.
I’ve enjoyed reading many of the reasons people give for why they aren’t exercising enough. One popular reason is “I don’t have the time.” Almost as popular is, “I don’t like exercising.” One I hear pretty frequently, especially from people who are seriously overweight is that they can’t lose weight because they are unable to exercise, because they weigh too much. I recent read an article that many people don’t exercise because they have psychological resistance.
Whatever the claimed reason, the bottom line is that these people simply aren’t motivated to exercise. And if you aren’t motivated to exercise, you aren’t going to do it. If this describes you, if you lack the motivation to exercise, but would like to get motivated, there is something you can do to get motivated. What you can do is use the model for self motivation. Motivating yourself is a skill, and the easiest way to learn that skill is with the model.
Here’s the model for self motivation: MOTIVATION = (VISION, SUCCESSABILITY, ENVIRONMENT).
The model tells us that your motivation is directly related to the three factors:
- your vision (the change you want to make in your life),
- your successability (your confidence in your competence, that is, your perception of your ability to make the change)
- your environment, both your physical environment (where you will do the work necessary to make the change) and your social environment (the people and organizations available to you).
The model for self motivation tells us that any positive steps you take to impact your vision, successability or environment will automatically positively impact your motivation. Let’s see how we can use the model to motivate ourselves to exercise.
The first factor is vision, the important change you want to make. How you view this change will directly impact your motivation to make it. First off, if you aren’t clear on exactly what the change is, you will not be motivated to make it. Your lack of clarity will serve as a demotivator. It will actually rob you of your existing motivation. Second, if you view the change as something that is not particularly valuable to you, you will not be motivated to make it.
Task One: Get Clarity The first task therefore is to get clear on what you mean by exercise. Do you want to exercise an hour every day, or will you be happy with half an hour every other day. Take some time to get clear on exactly what you want to do.
Task Two: Why is it important to YOU? You need to figure out why exercising is important to you. It doesn’t matter if it is important to your mate, your family, or your friends. If it isn’t important to you, you won’t be motivated to do it. So spend some time figuring out why it is important to you. Think about the healthy impact it will have on your health if you get adequate exercise, and the unhealthy impact not exercising will have on your health. Exercise will lower blood pressure, fight depression, cure insomnia, and build strong bones. When I think about healthy impacts of exercise, one of the most important to me is that it will lessen the likelihood of me getting a stroke. I’ve got several friends who have had them, and it’s not something I want in my future. A great way to make exercise important to you is to find an exercise you enjoy. For me is road biking. I enjoyed off road biking, just being in the woods, but found it wasn’t able to give me the cardiac intensity I enjoy (I love those endorphins). I couldn’t ride hard enough, because of all the trees. I don’t have to worry about trees when I ride on the road. Biker’s high is just as good as runner’s high.
The second factor is Successability, your confidence in your competence.Finding an exercise you enjoy is also important for your confidence in your ability to do the exercise, as the more you do something, the better you will get. Try different exercises. If one seems like it might be fun, consider taking a clinic. Most cities offer low cost clinics where you will learn, along with like minded people, how to get better at your sport. The better you get, the more confident you will be, and the more motivated you will be to do it.
The third factor is Environment, the place you do your work and the people and organizations that surround you. You can positively impact your physical environment, the place you do your work, in many ways. Just this past weekend I positively impacted my physical environment by building a chin up bar in my car port. I know if I had to go to the gym, I wouldn’t do them. I had bought one of the chin up bars that goes on the upper door jam, but found I didn’t like it. It’s too low for me to do chin ups comfortably. I know people who love them; they jump out of bed and do some pull ups. They don’t have to slip on a pair of pants like I do. You can also impact your social environment to increase your motivation to exercise. One way to do this is by joining a gym, or your local YMCA. Group classes are a great way to find exercise that you find enjoyable. We all know that exercise is good for us, even those with a psychological resistance. But exercise does not need be a chore.
Finding an exercise that is valuable to you, meaning fun, is well worth the effort. Having fun is something we seldom lack the motivation to do.
Bob A. Prentiss, the Non-Motivational Speaker, is the creator of the Model for Self Motivation and the author of the soon to be released book, iMotivateMe: Take Control of Your Motivation to Reach Your Goals and Achieve Your Dreams.
