If you’re anything like me, you probably don’t always feel motivated to practice healthy habits. It’s easy to get stuck in the trap of waiting until we “feel like it” to do the things we know are good for us. The issue we run into when waiting until we feel motivated is that this doesn’t lead to the level of consistency we need to see changes and achieve our goals. We must find another way to stay consistent, but how?

Struggling with consistency and not feeling motivated is a vicious cycle. The more we give in to not taking action because we don’t feel motivated, the harder it is to find motivation again. 

This is why it’s important we understand that motivation is not the key trigger for us to take action on the things that are good for us. Motivation is a nice spark and can help us get started or change direction, but it won’t be around long enough for us to rely on it in the long term. 

Although moving toward health is a life-long, ever-changing journey, it is possible to be successful at reaching goals and milestones along the way. 

In order to be successful and reach our goals, we must be able to find consistency in our habits. We know that motivation is not going to keep us consistent, and so it’s crucial we find another way to help ourselves take more action. 

There is a mindset shift I like to use to help me take action when I am not feeling motivated. Instead of thinking about what I’d like to do at the moment, I take some time to think about what would feel good to have accomplished. It’s easy to get sucked into taking action on what will feel good to do right now, but this usually does not help us feel good later or reach our goals.

For example, the other night there was a soccer game that I really wanted to watch. I felt like just sitting on the couch and watching the game, and that would have been very satisfying at the moment. 

Although I could have made that choice, I knew it wouldn’t have made me feel good afterward, and it wouldn’t have helped me reach my goals. 

What would feel good to have accomplished was completing my workout and cleaning up the kitchen. Asking myself the question of what would feel good to have done versus what would feel good to do helped me make the decision to complete my workout while the game was on. 

This allowed me to both watch the game and stay consistent toward my goals. Although motivation wasn’t present, I was still able to take action because I’ve chosen to prioritize my goals and decided to take action toward them even when I didn’t feel like it. 

We must understand that taking action toward our goals is a choice. Shifting your focus to what will feel good to have accomplished will help you move towards taking action, but it doesn’t complete the job. 

It’s still up to you to choose your healthy habits even when you don’t feel like doing them and take action. It’s not easy, but it’s always worth it.