In the last article on motivation, I talked about personal motivation, journaling, acknowledging small victories, and creative goal setting. In this article, we’ll explore social motivation, the power of our peer group, and some strategies for change.

What’s The Best…?

As a health and fitness professional, I often hear the question, What’s the best diet? And my immediate response has always been, “the one that you don’t know you’re on.” What I mean by that is when the actions we take intrinsically support the results we seek, achieving the goal is much easier. For example, let’s say my goal is to be muscular and fit. I enjoy rigorous exercise, and I hate fast food, preferring to snack on carrot sticks and sip soda water, well…I’m probably already muscular and fit!

In introducing the idea of behaviour change as the missing piece of the puzzle, and in creating https://bravoformula.com/free90days , my goal is to help make change a little easier by sharing knowledge, tools and techniques that develop habits and automate the actions necessary for success.

Motivation and Habit

So far, we’ve looked at motivation as personal, social and structural or environmental. These are the forces that move us – the drives to take action – and they can be intrinsic, meaning from within, or extrinsic, from outside. If I like and want to do the things that support my goal, if the drive comes from inside, that’s intrinsic. With weight loss and physical changes, the real “trick” to succeeding is transforming our extrinsic motivations into intrinsic ones.

Let’s look at this a little closer. After a routine medical check, there’s a message from the doctor about negative test results and some long-term potential risk factors, and while not scary, it’s certainly unnerving. This is an extrinsic or external motivator, and it may be enough to start some change, a walking program, or even dietary changes, but is it enough motivation to make this change a habit? It’s only when those changes become intrinsic… when you want to walk or enjoy added fruits and vegetables, that the results become much more permanent.

Changes to our health or fitness are relatively quick; things like cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and cardiovascular performance, react faster to intervention than weight-loss, or body composition. Permanent, visible changes to our waistline require more time. They take time, effort and consistency, which is why the newfound actions that support the goal need to become automatic, habits that become a part of what we do every day.