Making health related changes are HARD. And it is not because you are lazy. It is because often there are lots of tiny little valid reasons that you haven’t been doing something. 

Figuring out what these are and addressing them can help push you over the line to make real changes. 

For me (and mum) we found buying these cordless stick vacuums made us both vacuum nearly every day (me at work and mum because there’s a dog eating things and leaving a mess on the floor 😂) because it was so much easier to get out than the vacuum with the long cord that you had to plug in and lug around.  

Putting physical things in place that make it easier to do what you’re wanting to change can make making that choice all that much easier. 

This is one component of many. But could relate to how much of a difference this concept made to me with vacuuming that I had to share!  

How could this relate to making other healthier choices? Eg eating more vegetables (have them pre cut in the fridge), doing more steps (have comfortable walking shoes)... 

One of the best ways to motivate yourself to exercise is to find something you like that makes you feel GOOD. Motivation is inherently tied to emotion. If you enjoy something and it feels good, you’re more likely to do it. 

If you honestly hate all exercise, tie it to something you like so you get that positive association. Do it with a person you like, in a place you like, listening to something you only listen to while exercising... etc.

Forcing yourself to do something when you don’t like it is destined to fail and it isn’t because you’re weak or lazy, it’s just human nature! 

If you have a health or fitness goal, you need to make it specific if you actually want to make any progress towards it.

Ambiguous goals like, ‘I want to get fitter’ are not clear enough. They are also ‘outcome’ driven: getting fitter is an outcome. It is not a ‘guaranteed’ /immediate/easily visible effect of changing your behaviour. As such, it can be very easy to get demotivated if you take up exercise and after 2 weeks are not ‘fitter’ in the way you hoped.

However, if you choose an action or behaviour as a goal, and make it clear, you will be more likely to achieve it - and know that you have.

I.e. “I want to run 3x a week for 20 minutes every week for the next 4 weeks”. At the end of 4 weeks you will know if you achieved this or not. You will necessarily know if you ‘got fitter’ or not. 

Make the goal - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed. This sounds cliche but it is a well researched way to design goals that are actually likely to then be completed.

Make sure it is REALISTIC and ACHIEVEABLE. Often people set incredibly lofty goals for moving more - like, choosing to do 6am bootcamp 5 days a week when they aren’t a morning person. This is destined to fail. Choosing something that feels like punishment and is extreme is not going to work.

Make it small enough that you can achieve it. It may even be something as little as a step goal 1000 higher than you currently do, or doing an online yoga video 10 minutes a week. Whatever it is, start there, set a timeframe, achieve it, and use that as a one step towards a larger goal. 

Start small and gradually build on your achievements.