Anyone who has been on their fitness journey for any amount of time can tell you that motivation is not something that will always be there. There will be days, or even weeks, when you don’t feel like doing anything at all, when you question everything and want to throw in the towel.

But the secret to making any lasting change in your life is knowing that even when motivation is low (especially when motivation is low), you have to push through and rely on factors other than motivation.

A lot of people think that everyone else has motivation but them, and that this is why it’s harder for them to stick to healthy habits than it is for others. The cold, hard truth is that even those of us who are living a healthy lifestyle have times when motivation is low, when we have to force ourselves to get to the gym or when we would rather just skip it altogether.

In cases like these, your mindset will make or break you. You must be able to take control of your mindset and get yourself up and moving or doing whatever habit it is that keeps you feeling great.

Otherwise, your lack of motivation will win, and you’ll head down a dangerous and difficult slope that is hard to come back from. Unfortunately, however, this is the path that far too many take, and they end up getting further and further away from their health goals.

If we rely solely on motivation, it will be nearly impossible to stick to any routine or achieve any goals. Motivation is great to get you started, but it comes in waves, is not meant to last forever and will likely disappear completely just when you need it the most.

Those who rely on feeling motivated to stick to their healthy routines will be a lot more likely to “give up” when the motivation they started with goes away. But when motivation dips low (as it will), that is where discipline and dedication come in.

Discipline is “the ability to make good choices and act on them, time and time again; your ability to avoid distraction.”

Dedication is “being devoted to a task or purpose.” In other words, discipline is your ability to do what needs to be done, even when you may not want to do it or when it is challenging. And dedication is using your desire for something as the fuel to keep you working toward it.

Dedication and discipline are necessary in order to achieve any goals, health related or otherwise. For example, there will be days when your motivation to go to the gym is low; those are the days you must rely on your dedication and discipline.

The thing is, continuing along your journey when the motivation is low takes a good deal more work and mental energy than when the motivation is high. However, if you can persevere and push through the low-motivation periods, you will be far more likely to achieve the goals you set out to hit and to maintain your healthy lifestyle.

Some tips for making it through low-motivation days:

• Don’t overthink it. If you sit there and think of how uncomfortable going to the gym is, you can talk yourself right out of going at all. Stop thinking about it, and just get up and go. You can start by telling yourself that you’ll just go to move your body a little. But, more often than not, once you get moving you end up feeling a lot better.

• Give yourself grace. Know that it’s OK to have days that aren’t great. It’s even OK to have “bad” days, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up altogether. That doesn’t mean anything besides the fact that you’re human and we are not meant to be “perfect.”

• Stick to the basics. It is normal to have periods of low motivation. So, when those times come, refrain from beating yourself up for not hitting new goals or starting new routines. Instead, stick to the basics. For example, get enough sleep, drink your water, move your body at some point each day and try to get a few servings of fruits and vegetables every day. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; just stick to what you know works.

• Go with the flow of life. A lot of the time, these dips in motivation happen when life is busy or stressful. If there is a lot going on in your home or personal life, for example, it is totally normal (and expected) for your gym routine to take a back seat. Don’t pressure yourself to keep up the same workout frequency; instead, just try to move your body at some point every day, and if you can get to the gym twice a week, go for it. But remember that every challenging season passes at some point, so when life slows down a bit, you can get back to your normal routines.

• Remind yourself what helps you to feel your best. We all know that movement, nutrition, hydration and sleep are all keys to feeling our best. But when motivation dips, those practices tend to be the first things we let slide. Encourage yourself to stick with your routines to some degree, even when motivation is low, and you’ll soon realize how great it makes you feel to show yourself you can do things you may not be motivated to do.

The moral of the story is that motivation usually leaves you when you need it most. But if you have systems in place to ensure you keep going even when you lack motivation, you’ll set yourself up for success every time.

“
Motivation is great to get you started, but it comes in waves, is not meant to last forever and will likely disappear completely just when you need it the most.

”