When you finish work, wake up in the morning or you are sitting at home trying to motivate yourself to go and exercise how does it feel? Do you feel enthusiastic and energised by the idea of exercise or, like me sometimes, is it a chore to be avoided at all costs. We all have goals we want to achieve in terms of fitness that we have set ourselves and we search, sometimes daily, for the willpower or motivation to reach them. So is it motivation that gets us to the gym or is it sheer will power that gives us the impetus?
The words ‘ motivate’ and ‘will power’ seem the same don’t they? However there is difference between the two words that you may not realise.
The definition of motivation is:
‘The state or condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish something’
The definition of willpower is:
‘Control of one’s actions and impulses: self control’
Motivation is the reason why we want to exercise. It’s the fuel that gets us going. However the thing that actually propels us to exercise is willpower.
Willpower is like a muscle that can be strengthened with use, but, as with all muscles, it can get fatigued. The best way to reduce willpower fatigue is to turn exercising into a habit or routine. The more we get into the habit of exercising the easier it will get to do it.
So what is a habit? Habits are used by our minds as short cut devices to save brain power and if we manage our minds in a helpful way we can utilise this power. Habits can be seen as empowering when we look at them in this way. They enhance our lives, help us make changes and be happier. We need to identify these positive habits to enable us to move forwards. The funny thing about habits is, though, that we don’t even know sometimes that we have them. We need to take a step back and identify the habit we may want to change and those we want to keep. For example cleaning your teeth is a good habit but I’m sure we all have habits that are not so useful or purposeful!
So coming back to Motivation and Willpower they both have an important role to play in establishing positive and helpful habits and it’s the habits that we want to embed in our lives.
The next time you are trying to motivate yourself to go to a class at Saxon CrossFit remember this:
‘ A routine or habit will beat relying on motivation and willpower any day!’
Make Saxon CrossFit a positive, goal oriented habit. You will swiftly discover your passion and enthusiasm for the classes and the more classes you attend the more of a habit it will become.
