Is Motivation Enthusiasm? by Joan Kent, PhD

Is Motivation Enthusiasm?
By Joan Kent, PhD

Do you ever struggle with motivation? Have you ever missed workouts or eaten poorly because you “just didn’t feel motivated”? For over 13 years, I was an instructor and the nutritionist for a weight-management program that included athletic training. Motivation was a frequent issue.

Which Comes First – Motivation or Results?

My immediate response to that question was “motivation.” How can you get results if you’re not motivated to do anything?

Yet my first fitness job was to teach new members to use the equipment and start them on programs. Some were excited, others resigned: “My doctor said my blood pressure’s too high.” “My wife told me I have to lose weight.” Some seemed resentful.

Clearly, weight-loss programs don’t automatically start with ‘motivation’ as we generally define it.

But once these new members started to lose weight, gain energy, sleep better, and get some compliments, they wouldn’t miss a day. They’d put cross-trainers in the car because they forgot them once, and it messed up their plans. They’d schedule appointments around their workouts, instead of the reverse.

Apparently, results can precede motivation.

What’s Motivation?

In the weight-management program, a behavioral psychologist on staff defined it as excitement. He’d ask participants if they were still motivated, still excited, as if they were the same.

Okay. Do you jump out of bed every morning, gleefully anticipating your workout? Or feeling excited about avoiding sugar that day? Chances are, the excitement is on a sliding scale.

Early A.M. gym crowds are pretty consistent. As I worked with a client one morning, a man who’s at the gym most days approached us to say hello. He added, “I didn’t want to be here, but I told myself, ‘Gotta do it.’” It was exactly what my client needed to hear. He usually dragged in, feeling “unmotivated.”

So Back To the Question: What’s Motivation?

Is it enthusiasm? On any given day, many weight-loss participants probably feel like the guy who said, “Gotta do it.”

How can you stay motivated when you’re not excited?

Start by accepting your love-it/hate-it feelings about workouts. One day, it’ll be your favorite thing to do. Next day, you’ll hate it – and the instructor, that Cycling Nazi. Embrace the dichotomy.

Why not accept the frustrations of your workouts? Discomfort, tedium, sleep deprivation, inconvenience, hard work, and more.

Why not accept that your sugar addiction means you can’t eat sugar? Accept that you need to avoid it so it won’t increase your appetite, cause cravings or mood swings, and obsess you.

Mark Twain said, “(D)o something every day that you don’t want to do.” He claimed it leads to the habit of doing one’s duty without pain.

But It’s the Warrior’s Way

Saying ‘yes’ to the pain is staying on the warrior’s path.

I always told participants it was okay to come in scowling. No matter how they felt at first, they were glad they showed up.

I’ve pushed through workouts, competitions, and stage performances despite injuries, exhaustion, lack of prep, lack of desire, even boredom. Decades as a fitness pro have taught me that anyone who balks at doing something unpleasant will have trouble in a weight-loss program.

Redefining Motivation

A key to happiness, I’ve read, is to recognize a neutral state as happiness. Same with motivation – it’s not enthusiasm, not excitement.

Sometimes motivation is nothing more than planning, then getting where you have to be, and doing what you need to do, so you can get the results you say you want … pushing through obstacles, pain and discouragement, all the way to the goal.

You could call it the dark side of joy.

“Forget about likes and dislikes; they are of no consequence.
Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness.”

— George Bernard Shaw