For years now the fitness industry, government and others have told the public that they need to start working out and eating healthy. They told of the consequences of what would happen if they didn’t. What is the result of all of this? We got fatter. We have more fitness facilities, weight loss programs, weight loss foods, diets, fitness equipment, and more than ever before. We got fatter.

The Baby Boomer generation was supposed to be the one that was going to get and stay fit and healthy. They were going to stay young. They got fatter. As a fellow Boomer, it’s crazy that my generation (the one that was going to make a difference in society and focus on youthfulness) is now unhealthy, fat and old.

The younger generation is even worse, because they started early on in being unhealthy. So many young people are simply sitting at home and either watching TV, playing computer games or engaged in their smart devices. They are not motivated as I and many others were during our youth. We wanted to play outdoors and had to be dragged back in by our mothers.

Motivation to getting healthy and fit has simply vanished in society today; except for a few that still want it. I’m not blaming those that are not motivated. They may not have a reason why. And this mindset started years before many of them were born. It was after World War II and into the 1950s when the focus became living a life of leisure. We would have moving sidewalks so that we didn’t have to strain ourselves to move. We would have faster food choices, including the TV dinner (and later fast foods). It was all about the easy life. From the late 1960s all the way to today, our food supply changed as did how we ate. In the 1970s, farmers were subsidized to grow corn products and thus, leading to cheaper sugars (high fructose corn syrup). Life changed and another generation helped fuel this change. Today, we cook less at home and eat out more. We move less and sit more. It is time for a change.

We can take back control of our own lives and those of our children. It is all about motivation. And that motivation starts with the “reason why.” Without a “reason why”, we simply won’t take the necessary steps to get moving into health and fitness. All action starts with how we think and believe.

Here are three keys that will help you “kick-start” your motivation to getting healthy and fit:

1. Identify your personal “reason why” you want to get healthy and fit. It has to be strong enough emotionally. It may be for your kids. In fact, our children are influenced more by our actions versus what we tell them. Another “reason why” could be health-related, including staving off getting heart disease, diabetes or any other lifestyle-related diseases.

1. Create a vision board of what being healthy and fit means to you. Steven Covey talked about beginning any goal with “the end in mind” in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. A vision board allows you have a visual representation of the outcome of being healthy and fit. It creates more clarity and reality for you.

1. Whenever you have any thought regarding health and fitness, take immediate action. When you do that, it will help create a neuroconnection and embed into your subconscious that thought. Each time you do it, the connection gets stronger and leads to creating a habit.

Getting healthy and fit is your right. It’s about a taking personal responsibility as well. Take the first action of discovering your “reason why” and move forward with the rest. JUST DO IT!