We all have our own stories of motivation and willpower. For many people, willpower is seen as something you either have or don’t have. Perhaps you know someone who always seems to be endlessly motivated and able to stick to the healthy lifestyle that manages to evade you. Maybe you never quite feel motivated by any of the diets or exercise programs you try. In this article we are going to consider first what motivation and willpower actually mean and then take a look at how to reframe your thoughts and redirect your actions so that you can become one of these highly motivated people with endless amounts willpower!
Motivation: The state or condition of having a strong reason to act or accomplish something.
Willpower: Getting yourself to do something that you don’t really want to do (i.e., the control of one’s impulses and actions.)
Let’s start with willpower. You can view willpower in two ways:
1) As a limited resource – you are born with a finite reserve of willpower that once used up is gone forever.
2) As cumulative – imagine willpower is a muscle, the more you use it the better you get at it. If you think of willpower as a limited resource, then every time you are forced to use it you may feel depleted. Say no to that donut and a small part of you just disappeared and won’t come back. This makes it very easy to create a safety behavior around giving in to temptation. If you say yes to the donut, then you don’t have to let go of something you won’t get back.
Conversely if you think of willpower as cumulative then when you say no to the donut (as hard as that may be) you feel inspired and empowered to do it again. Suddenly, it’s not just the donut that you are saying no to but the sugar in your coffee, the fries on the side, and so on. Next time you are in a situation where there is temptation, try to notice what thoughts come up around willpower. Try flexing it like a muscle. Arnold was not born ready to win Mr. Olympia, after all he had to work those muscles hard to get there!
There are two types of motivation:
1) Intrinsic motivation – incentive derived from pleasure in the activity itself.
2) Extrinsic motivation – external incentive to achieve – for example reward, leaderboard or payment.
Finding a balance between the two is the key to ‘feeling’ motivated. In order to really find joy in an activity that leads to intrinsic motivation, you need to take a deep dive into your values, identity and priorities. If, as mentioned in the first paragraph, you can’t seem to stick to any of the diet or exercise programs you have tried, it could simply be that none of them line up with who you really are, who you want to be, and what you believe in. Perhaps you don’t want to get shredded in 6 weeks, but what you really want is to feel healthy and vibrant. In this case it doesn’t matter what the reward is, a severe 6 week cut diet will most definitely leave you feeling unmotivated as it simply doesn’t resonate with you.
Once you figure out who you are and what you value, you can start to choose to do things that will leave you feeling motivated from within. If you happen to couple that with something that gives you a reward – such as recognition for long term improvement or changes in mindset – even better.
We all have willpower. We can all feel motivated as long as we are putting our energy towards things that spark some kind of joy inside us. If you come across a situation where you don’t have complete control, such as a tedious task at work, try to think about the reward you get from doing it – a paycheck, benefits or the opportunity to learn. It may seem like a reach, but finding some positive element makes an unwanted task a whole lot easier than building a brick wall of negativity that is exhausting to climb.
So, flex your willpower muscles, take a deep dive into your identity, values and priorities, and build up that intrinsic motivation. Before you know it, you will become that person living their best life.
