Momentum > Motivation

It’s easy to get motivated when you are excited about your goal.  But motivation is often fleeting and inconsistent. As the days and weeks go by people can lose that initial spark and something else has to come into play in order to keep you going.  What do you rely on then? James Clear said “You do not rise to the level of your goals.  You fall to the level of your systems.” Real long term change comes from habits and routines that are integrated into our daily lives.  They are ingrained and we rely on them and their routine.  

When it comes to building a new habit, the most difficult days are the early days. This is why it is so easy to quit daily exercise early on, when the exercise hasn’t become part of our routine, or why it is so easy to not eat healthy when we haven’t been doing it for some time already. Remembering this truth could be helpful for people struggling to build new and healthy habits.  And while those practices can seem like a slog at first, they create momentum over time.  

The beauty of momentum is that once you have it, it keeps going.  It’s a law of motion.  It’s easier to incorporate another positive change after you have successfully incorporated one into your daily life.  As in once you know you can do something, it builds confidence to try more.  

After a while a habit becomes something we do automatically.  It’s part of our daily practices so even when things are stressful or we travel or our routine is off, our habits are a comfort as well as a vehicle for change.  Seeing tangible health and fitness progress from incorporating small habits like drinking enough water, getting a certain amount of steps, eating more vegetables, etc will take time.  They are not quick fixes, but habits work to make long term, sustainable changes.

Let’s get those habits and systems in place so 2025 is off a healthy start!

Coach Jana