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Motivation Isn't Something You Find, It's Something You Create · Doctor Turned Health Coach

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  Today's podcast episode is going to be about motivation and understanding how
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  motivation comes about because oftentimes we're looking for motivation,
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  we're searching for motivation.
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  It's sort of, I remember a mug at a coffee shop one time, it said,
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  I am, instead of searching for your purpose, it's more about defining your purpose.
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  Now, motivation is not exactly the same, but motivation is a side effect,
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  is a consequence of you engaging in constant habits.
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  So think of doing the same thing over and over again and seeing results,
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  seeing the kind of results that you're after.
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  When you do that, when you do that long enough, motivation starts coming up.
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  You start feeling motivated. it.
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  But if you look for motivation in the first place, it's very common to not find it.
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  And it's very common to mistake motivation for something else.
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  Oftentimes, it's just a new activity. You get a surge of adrenaline.
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  Or for whatever reason, that day when you start this new diet,
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  new exercise, new regimen, you are just feeling very excited.
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  And that excitement.
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  Present itself as motivation. But if it disappears, well, it probably wasn't motivation.
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  At the same time, what's really beautiful and what's really amazing about motivation
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  is that it can maintain you through times when you kind of want to give up,
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  when you no longer feel engaged,
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  when you feel bored of the same routine.
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  But motivation is still there in the background.
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  And motivation is something you sort of feed. So let's get into that.
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  The way I help my clients, my health coaching clients, stay motivated is very
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  different from the way I help them build that initial motivation.
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  To stay motivated, I usually have them think back to why they're doing what
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  they're doing, what is really important to them.
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  And sometimes it's also a reminder of if you don't do this, this happens.
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  So some of my health coaching clients are dealing with atrial fibrillation,
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  maybe a very slight amount of heart conditions like heart failure, and they know.
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  Right now, they're in great shape. They're doing everything right.
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  But they're not very far removed from a few back-to-back events causing them
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  to fall back into their old routines and, unfortunately,
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  causing their AFib or heart failure to come to the surface.
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  And so they're motivated by not letting that happen because their AFib or their
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  heart failure coming back means they're going to end up in the hospital,
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  means they're going to be on multiple medications, means they're going to miss
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  a lot of time from their job, from their work, from their loved ones.
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  So they're motivated to not let that happen. And just reminding them of that,
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  that motivation surges.
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  To find motivation, it's necessary to journal, to think about what is so important to you.
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  So in a previous podcast episode, I talked about the buffer method where we
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  sort of just identify what is actually going on and what is it that we likely
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  need to do to start having the desired outcome.
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  So doing these mini experiments and getting rid of the story that we tell ourselves
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  like, oh, this is because of this, this is because of that.
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  No, I just need to do this one thing and I just need to do it consistently.
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  And when you engage in a habit consistently day in and day out it becomes it becomes a part of you.
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  So daily habits that you do no matter what become habits and habits are very
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  hard to break we know that and that's what we want to do we want to make certain
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  things a habit and so that you you stick with them and you you don't ever stop
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  doing them this could be adding in more vegetables to your diet,
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  more fiber, meditating every day,
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  reading a book, exercising, walking,
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  going to the gym, whatever, whatever it might be.
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  When you do these things long enough, you also start associating them with the
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  positive results that you get.
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  That's where motivation is often hiding. Motivation is hiding right where the
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  positive results of your daily habits are creating a loop inside of you where
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  you really feel good, you really feel better.
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  And it's such a stark contrast to how you used to feel, how negative things
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  used to be, how difficult things used to be.
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  So it makes you want to continue doing it.
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  And it makes you tap into that. And the only way you can tap into that oftentimes
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  is to remind yourself, okay, this is me without journaling every day.
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  This is me without an exercise regimen. This is me with an exercise regimen.
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  When you can create that consistency and remind yourself constantly How different
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  you feel, how maybe your biomarkers, blood tests have improved,
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  how your energy has changed.
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  All of a sudden, you are now in the place where motivation can flourish and come to the forefront.
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  The common question I read on Reddit is, how do you find motivation?
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  How do you get yourself motivated to XYZ?
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  And it's usually on the nutrition forum. To give you a pretty strong example.
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  Some of the people who started taking really effective weight loss medication
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  for the first time in their life, like the new GLP-1 medications.
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  Have such an easier time.
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  Being motivated with exercise, being motivated with what they put in their mouth,
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  when before they didn't, because no matter what they did, it wasn't enough to
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  move the needle to help them lose weight, to achieve their ideal health goals.
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  And so when they didn't, they didn't feel motivated to continue doing it.
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  They would put themselves through really strict diet plans and exercise plans
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  only to lose 15 pounds and to quickly plateau.
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  Where's the motivation? There isn't because they weren't feeling as though what
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  they're doing is effective. So the motivation never came.
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  You have to engage in a habit and an activity long enough to feel motivated.
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  And once you feel that motivation, that motivation can really get you a long way.
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  Motivation is such a stronger powerful tool
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  to keep you going so if if anytime i'm
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  working with a client we are looking for their motivation we
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  are trying to tap deep into what's important
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  to them what is it they want to achieve why do they want to achieve it and i
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  want to constantly remind them of that and when i do i can keep them motivated
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  i can keep them on task even if things kind of fall apart if they're having a major life crisis,
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  if they're really stressed, if their finances are not in order,
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  but at least they feel like, no, you know what?
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  I'm still going to do this. This is important to me. This is what matters.
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  And that's what motivation is. Motivation is the thing that you developed yourself
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  with a good amount of effort, but mostly consistency.
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  And you get to tap into that every single time to find your why so that you
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  can do the things that you know are important to you every single day.