Shalom Shalom Jesus Girls.
A friendly reminder to start off todays blog – Don’t wait for perfect conditions before you get DOING.
Ecclesiastes 11: 4 says “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.”
This Bible verse reminds me of one of my friends, Aijay. Whenever she’s supposed to do something but doesn’t quite feel like it, she tells her emotions and feelings – “Ok I will go ahead and do what I need to and you can just meet me at the bus stop whenever you are ready, so that we can go together.”
That lady aint sitting down to take orders from no feelings! It’s a case of I will keep going and whenever you are ready, you better catch up with me at the BUS STOP. I love it! Now, of course she didn’t mean like a real ‘BUS STOP’ it’s just what she used to say to stay motivated and focused on her goals. Frankly I believe this is how serious people live their lives, they don’t allow their emotions to distract them from their objectives.
In my YouTube video here, I talked about how to stay motivated and achieve your healthy living goals by practicing what is known in psychology as Behavioual Activation Theory. What this simply means is that ACTION drives ACTION.
Get ‘motivated’ in 5 seconds to do anything!
You cannot always wait to feel like doing something before you start, action drives action. Not feelings, not desires, both cannot sustain you. However, when you get up and START doing what you need to, this will give birth to more action and pretty soon your feelings will catch up and you’ll be full of energy to keep going.
Let’s say for instance, you have the beautiful goal to work out and the time for work out comes but you don’t feel like it, so you tell yourself next time. OR you actually plan to follow your nutrition plan, but you don’t because someone bought you a particular food like bread and suddenly you no longer feel like following your nutrition plan but instead go with your feelings/emotions and have the bread. Really, it can’t always be like this, we need to learn how to say NO to our Emotions.
THE BIG QUESTION IS; how do you get yourself to do the HARD things right?
In the video I share three strategies to help you achieve your exercise goals when you employ the Behavioral Activation Theory. For you Jesus Girls (or guys) I’ll share the first two strategies.
1. Determine when, how and where you’ll workout.
Don’t simply have a plan in your head. Comit to you goal of working out by deciding when you’ll workout – in the morning at 5am? in the evening, or at midday? You must decide. Then determine the how – is it with a 30-minute workout video? with a brisk walk or jogging? Settle your how. Then of course, where will you workout? In your home? where in your home? or in the gym? When you determine all these, you’ll have a plan, and you can take action when the time comes.
2. Once it’s time to work out get into your workout wear.
Doing this sets you up to win. A good hack I learnt from my sister is to sleep in your workout wear. No excuses! This little action will give you fuel and motivation to keep going. Once the time you set aside to workout comes do the HARD RIGHT and start working out. You’ll feel so good and proud of yourself once you’re done, trust me!
I share two more strategies in the video here. Watch, apply and keep taking those action steps no matter how little at first.
Eziaha,
Health Mindset Coach.