What’s Missing with Your Motivation?

(This article has been updated as of Dec 4, 2020. Covid has now dramatically accelerated the already growing trend toward online wellness coaching and age group-specific guidance on healthy habits. To address these needs directly I have launched a comprehensive online program for Boomers like me with my longtime colleague and favorite healthy eating expert , Anne Moselle, R.D. Check it out here.)

Don’t take my word for it. It’s science. If you’re struggling to eat a nutritious diet and exercise regularly with commitment and focused intent, psychologists have identified three characteristics you may be missing (but can easily apply) in your plan to make it actually work and change your life for the better.

According to this article from Scientific American, which supports both additional research and anecdotal observations I and other longtime fitness professionals have experienced, actually doing what you say you want to do is dependent on these elements being present in the mix:

• Autonomy – Did you decide to start eating less sugar because you felt insecure about your body by the pool last summer? Is that gym membership gathering dust because you joined thinking you’d be more likely to go with your spouse or coworker? If you want to adopt a more healthful set of habits, it has to carry the same sense of individual importance to you whether or not anyone else is involved, or even knows about it. Some of the most successful fitness-minded people are very private and consider their programs a source of refuge from the opinions and expectations of others. That’s the sweet spot with motivation to train and eat clean.

• Value – Has the thought of being in the best shape you can be in intertwined itself with the other aspects of your life and sense of self you hold dear? Or is it more of a carrot at the end of a stick that keeps getting longer? Is an expected outcome that may or may not materialize as you’ve envisioned your goal, or is deep personal investment and consistently applied effort your reward? The latter will provide a constantly renewing source of energy and enthusiasm. The former? Not so much.

• Competence – By far, the most common excuse I hear about not working out is some variation on the idea that the person is too intimidated to exercise in public and doesn’t know what to do in private. That’s why exercise professionals exist! Not to cultivate a dependency on us or to give you yet one more authority figure whose expectations you need to meet, but to light the way down a mysterious path well worth taking. Whether you watch videos by qualified fitness practitioners (good), go to classes taught by skilled instructors (better), or work with a talented, experienced and well-matched personal trainer (best), the goal is to shepherd you to a place of increased mastery and ownership. That way, you’ll be the captain of your own ship and sail in whichever direction is best for you.

Dan Taylor, ACE, NASM-CPT, is owner and head trainer at Pleasanton-based Tri Valley Trainer. They provide personal training and small group fitness solutions at their studio and a premium, innovative, medically endorsed web-based group coaching wellness program for the over-fifty tribe.