How are you motivated - Denial to Desire!!

Ever wondered why it happens that you start exercising with a lot of ‘josh’ which peters out in a few weeks? New Years Resolutions do not work because you are really not motivated when you think you are. On the surface you may be, but deep down you are not. That is why by April, that membership to the gym, those new clothes and that new found motivation has all but disappeared.

So what are the emotions that motivate you? There are two - fear and pleasure.


What motivates you to exercise? Fear of your health or pleasure of feeling better?

What drives you to exercise? Internally vital signs or toned arms and legs?


The best way of staying motivated is a combination of both. However, you have to figure out the combination. I'll give you a hint - I believe that the journey goes from denying the reality of your health to a deep desire to take better care of yourself. Start with not denying whatever is the actual status of your health by saying – Oh! Nothing is wrong with me… I am completely healthy! Rather accept the fact by saying – OK! I am not as fit and healthy as that bloke down the lane. So how do I go about getting myself in shape? Well, you already have done 50% of the task by asking yourself this question!

What does it mean to have deep desire for something? Remember those feelings you had back when you wanted your first bicycle. That Barbie doll you made a fit over in the toy store in front of everyone. Or what about that girl or boy you would have done just about anything for? You just had to have it! Well, this is the stage that you aim to reach in your journey from DENIAL TO DESIRE!

If you want to go from denial to desire, work on it slowly but persistently.

Get to know your shortcomings. These are your DEBTS. A good way is to list out all the health deficits you have, and which you would like to change. Then shortlist those that can be modified by exercise. Opposite to this list write down what could be the end result after maybe 6 months of exercising. For example, your health deficit can be ’15 kilos overweight’. After 6 months, your result could look like ‘Only 5 kilos overweight’!

The next step would be to list the PROFITS! This would be mostly retrospective. From time to time, may be something like every month, evaluate your achievements. List the milestones of a month earlier on the left side of the paper and those of now opposite them on the right side. For example, ‘could climb two flights of stairs without panting’ a month ago can change to ‘can climb 4 flights of stairs without panting’ now!

Keeping these start and end points side by side will give you a course to travel on when you are trying to get out of DEBTS, and will give you a happy measure of how well you have done when you pile up your PROFITS!

It really is that easy to go from DEBTS to PROFITS! In other words from DENIAL to DESIRE! The only difficult thing that you have to do is maintain the habit of listing your DEBTS and PROFITS as you would in your financial business! And work towards great health by exercise as you would work towards great wealth in business! Soon you will realize that your daily exercise is no longer a temporary fix to a long-term problem; it has become a lifestyle!!!