Greetings from soggy and wet Maine, where it's raining so hard that both of my dogs are still wet from being outside three hours ago...(Their ears are doing a good job mopping the floor though.)

These two are decidedly unmotivated…

If I had to name the number one challenge I hear most often when people find out that I'm a fitness coach, it's motivation.

"I just can't seem to get myself motivated to start anything," they say.

As I've written before, motivation is your unreliable friend. The one who, if you asked them to pick you up from the airport would forget to show up.

Most of us have the motivation formula backwards. We think that we need to feel like doing something before we do it. But how often do you feel like doing almost anything that you need to do?

I had been in a pretty good workout groove since December, but after spending two weeks in Texas for a workshop, I've struggled to get my mojo back.

We all have natural breaks in our routines, and more often than not, it's those breaks that can really do us in. We miss one week of workouts, and then before we know it it's been a month.

This is when I lean heavy on small actions. As any of you who have worked with me know, I'm a huge fan of tiny habits and small changes.

Because action breeds motivation.

Read that again, even if you've heard it before.

Action breeds motivation.

A tiny action of any kind busts us out of procrastination and feeling stuck and creates momentum. Last week in my private Facebook group, I decided to hold a 1 minute of action per day challenge.

Virtually everyone who participated in the challenge did more than one minute, because action is empowering and satisfying.

Taking an action - any kind of action - also provides us with evidence that we can do a thing, whatever that thing might be.

If you're looking for a little help, click here to join the Kim Lloyd Fitness Neighborhood, where we'll be doing a two-minute per day challenge this week.

Most mornings when I get up, I dress myself in workout clothes.

Granted, that’s both the luxury in working in the fitness industry and in working for myself.

But I do it for another reason.

My dogs are a big part of my environment - sometimes I delay myself to stop and snuggle and pet them, but I believe it makes me a better human, so there’s that…

It’s one of my hacks for getting my workouts in. Because whether we think about it or not, what we are wearing and what is on our person is a part of our environment that can heavily influence our behaviors. I don’t find leggings exceptionally comfortable, but I won’t let myself change until I’ve gotten my workout in.

Closely looking at environment is one of the places I like to start with clients in the journey of “I know what I need to be doing, I’m just not doing it.”  

Here are some of the environmental factors to consider:

Body

What are you wearing? If one of your goals is to walk every day at lunch, are you wearing shoes that will allow you to do that? Are you wearing a fitness tracker or fitness watch? Is it set to remind you to stand up from your desk and do a lap around the office?

As a note, for most of us, our phone could be considered part of our body because we have it in hand or on our person most of the time.

Reach

The next part of the environment is what is within reach?

One of my favorite stories for untangling a habit is the 20 second rule from researcher Shawn Achor. He wanted to untangle the habit of coming home from work and immediately turning on the television after sitting on his couch. He discovered that if he moved the remote far enough away that it would take him at least 20 seconds to retrieve it, he wouldn’t turn the t.v. on.

What is within reach for you right now?

Several of my clients leave some of their exercise equipment out because it’s a visual reminder about their goals, and makes it easier to just grab and do a couple of sets.

Much to Sheila’s chagrin, I like to leave whatever book I’m reading on a small table in our dining room. It drives her crazy, but because the book is already sitting on the table, when I sit down with my morning coffee, the book is right there, which helps me stay on task with my morning reading (which I acknowledge for those of you with children is a luxury…)

Room

During the pandemic, one of the most common struggles from clients trying to work out at home was the distraction of dust bunnies or piles of laundry. They would start working out and then get so overwhelmed by all the tasks calling to them that they would bag their workout.

How is your room set up right now? Is it cluttered? Organized? Filled with dog hair (or is that just my house…).

What kind of vibe does the room have?

How might it influence you and your goals?

If you struggle with sleeping, you might want to give a quick audit of the room where you sleep. Are there lots of small blue lights from charging electronics when you turn the light off? Is there laundry piled all around the bedroom? Are the shades broken?

No detail is too small, and if it bothers you now, in the middle of the day when you’re looking at your room, it will bother you later.

The Entire Place

Where are you right now?

Not only does every place contain different things and people within it, but each place also has a different cultural environment, with rules and norms that might influence your behavior.

This is the final layer of our environment we can access fairly easily, or without a lot of effort. And, it’s an environment that, to some degree, we usually still have a fair bit of control over.

I go back and forth between working out at home and working out at the gym. For most of this year I’ve been working out at the gym, in large part because I want to be in a place where other people are getting after it, and I want to listen to loud music, not necessarily through my headphones. When I’m at home working out, the dogs are constantly getting in my space (adorable but not practical), the music has to be low because Sheila is working from home, and it’s just me.

Our needs will change in terms of what we may need from a certain place, but it’s important to tune into those needs to have a sense of what factors will help us build and stick to our routine.

Human behavior fascinates me.

One of the reasons I enjoy coaching is that we are constantly trying to solve the puzzle that is human behavior.

What makes one person successful where nine other people struggle? How is it that one person can get up every morning and take their vitamins and go to the gym when another person in very similar circumstances struggles?

When you ask the person who was struggling to adopt habit change what they needed to succeed, the answer is almost always the same:

Motivation. They need motivation.

But the fact is, motivation is completely unreliable. If I only took my fish oil in the morning when I felt like it, I’d never take my fish oil because if you take a minute to think about putting two giant capsules of oil into your mouth just ‘ewwwwww.

I regret even writing about it because now I’m thinking about fish oil and trying not to throw up in my mouth.

The problem with relying on motivation is the blame and shame game that happens as a result of that line of thinking. Relying on your ability to feel like doing something makes everything your fault.

The most cringe-worthy line I hear from clients when we ask what we can do to better help and support them is:

“There’s nothing you can do – it’s me. I’m the problem. I just need to do better.”

Nooooooooooooooooooo! No. Nooo! All of the no’s you can find. Go out and round up every single no and that’s still not enough no’s.

The problem isn’t you. The problem is relying on the notion that you should always feel like doing something.

The solution?

Outsmarting motivation.

Most of us having periods in our lives when the motivation is a little higher, and September is often a time when, as we've written about before, we're riding a motivation wave.

So the best thing you can do if you're feeling that wave of energy right now?

Create your habits. Are you committed to taking your supplements? Awesome. Pair the action with another habit that is already hardwired into your daily routine. As soon as you put your toothbrush back in the holder, take your fish oil. As soon as you turn the coffee pot on, drink your first glass of water.

You get the idea.

The best thing that you can do for yourself when you feel like doing something is to build the routine. And that way when you no longer feel like doing something, it doesn't matter as much - because it's become a part of your routine.

And if you're struggling with any part of the process, we're here to help. You can always sit down with a coach and chat.

Be kind to yourself.