Motivation Hack

Lacking motivation for fitness?  Struggling to get your exercise in? Do you want to exercise but can't seem to get it done?  Try this.

1. Buy (amazon has these) or make (I'm cheap) your own one-year calendar.  

2. Set your goal. For me, it's exercise every damn day. My "rest day" is yin yoga and possibly light cardio, such as a walk.  

3. Place this poster in a highly visible place, near where you workout, or in your bedroom, or in your hall, on your fridge, or somewhere you'll see it with high frequency. This is the trick, it has to be highly visible where you'll see it often.  

4. Fill it in as you exercise.

Why does this work? Because when you fill in a square, the brain releases dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter. When you see one square filled in, it motivates you to fill in the next, and so on. You'll feel accomplished, and proud as you should be!  You'll want to continue that feeling good, and fill it all with no gaps.  Life happens, but you'll want more ink than white space for sure!

Exercise releases dopamine and endorphins, which make you feel good, helps your blood pressure, attention, and stress response.  It also releases serotonin, which helps with mood. So combining this highly visible tracking method with your exercise, it's a powerful punch!

Exercise is the best thing you can do for your overall health.  Tracking it, seeing your progress, filling those squares is super motivating. 

You can use this method for other things such as reading every day, or chores, decluttering, or anything you want to improve.

If you don't have room for a poster, you can print a year-on-a-page calendar and hang it on your fridge to cross off your workouts. It will still release the neurotransmitters and make you feel good seeing your hard work recorded.

This is the poster I made.  I used my Silhouette Portrait 3 to make stickers.  Since I plan on doing Joyce Vedral workouts for the next year, she got top billing. 

I used www.pdfcalendar.com for the blank calendars. I used their calendars through grad school to keep me on task, and the website works well.

If you don't have room for a poster, you can also print a one-page calendar and cross off the days.  This would fit in the fridge--what a great, highly visible place. 

This is from www.print-a-calendar.com.  

If you choose to try this, just make sure it's in a place you'll see it multiple times a day.  

This calendar is available right now for $6.99 on Amazon.  

The most important thing is to do what works for you. Being true to yourself is a big win.

Crush it!