Motivation VS Routine

– by Josh Hoodless

Many of us have experienced bouts of excited  motivation – “this Monday I’m going to start fresh  on my health and fitness goals!”

Monday comes and the  motivation is still there, you go out  early morning for a long run or hit  the gym after work with a thousand  other people. 

Tuesday, you’re sore and take a rest  day.

Wednesday it’s time to hit the  exercise again.

Thursday is another  rest to be ready to exercise on Friday.  It’s been a long week and work  colleagues are going to the bar after work.

You’ve “earnt” it so you ditch  the gym for socialising with bad  food and alcohol.

You’ll start fresh  on Monday. Sound familiar? 

Motivation is cute at the start of any  new venture but it can leave you  stranded at any time. Routine is the  one there for you, by your side all the  way. 

Research suggests that it actually  takes six months to form a solid  habit. Let’s face it, we are all  human and make mistakes or poor  choices, so your environment is  key to safeguard against this.

Your  environment can include, work,  home, driving to those places and  the people you socialise with.  There’s temptation everywhere.  Simple changes in lifestyle can help  with your routine.

Set an alarm to  wake up earlier to get your exercise  done in the morning with no screen  time after 7pm so your brain can  relax and you’re able to sleep better.  Also having only healthy food at  home and meals ready to go can  help those regretful fast food  choices.

Setting up an appointment  based exercise schedule with a  personal trainer or workout buddy  that’s booked in a few times during  the week can keep you going when  you’re not motivated. You’re more  likely to cancel on yourself than someone else. 

When motivation has left you, your  routine is still there to help you  reach your goals. Make mistakes but  quickly learn from them and stick to  the plan. 

During these recent times we have  needed to learn how to set up a new  routine due to closures of sports,  leisure activities and gyms.

The  resilience to adapt to a new routine  has enabled people to chase their  goals.  Routine will always trump  motivation.