Looking for Motivation? Go Deeper

What motivates you?

Is it getting something you think will make your life better somehow? Is it doing something that will make a positive difference in the lives of others? Is it the thought of avoiding some danger or less than desirable condition? Maybe it's simply the prospect of enjoying pleasure or escaping pain.

I think of motivation as a pretty simple concept. If something is important enough to you, and it's within your grasp, you'll do it.

We've all heard stories of people with a burning mission inside them or a deeply held belief that no amount of resistance or discouragement from outside sources could hinder. And so it is with fitness for some. But let me provide a window of insight into that condition that you may be surprised to learn:

The integration of the regular discipline of eating healthfully and exercising regularly into one's sense of self-identification is a more powerful factor in sustaining the behavior than even the health and aesthetic benefits.

Huh?

What I'm saying here is that the people who are most committed to a healthy lifestyle have incorporated that concept into the very framework of their self-image - their very identity. So getting out there and exercising a few times a week (or for some, nearly every day) and making only eating choices that are congruent with that healthy self image are the natural responses to that part of how they see themselves.

So it's really no effort at all. See?

If you want to lose a few pounds to look great for a high school reunion, go deeper.

If you want the long-term health and quality of life benefits of a healthful lifestyle, go deeper.

If you want to think of yourself as someone worthy of your own commitment and hard work for a greater cause, go deeper.

If you want to recognize yourself as someone who has unlimited potential and power of self-determination, you're already there. You'll know it when you release the false modesty, the self-criticism for past false-starts and consider what's really different about you and those who have made exercise and good eating part of their daily life. There is nothing. Accept that or not, it's true. If you can sit quietly for a few minutes and allow for that possibility, you'll realize it's true. And then you'll feel a peace and certainty that is your real starting point.

It's not arrogant to fulfill your destiny of personal excellence. It's a shame to waste the opportunity.

So don't.

Now get on with it.