It’s simple: conviction.
This week I’ve been thinking about why some days it’s easy to get moving, and other days it takes effort. It’s bad when I have to purposely remind myself I love, love, love fitness and sports. For me, motivation usually comes naturally. The thing that makes action take over your doubts is conviction.
Conviction is simply living out an earlier decision about kind of person you want to be. There’s nothing loud or dramatic, just a quiet truth you keep connected with.
For me, that truth is:
I feel better when I move my body, and I want to keep feeling better.
It’s then a no-brainer to want to exercise. Magically, the chores get done so that I can have time and space for exercise. Just like making time for video games or reading.
When I know that I feel strongly about fitting fitness activity into my day, much of the pressure to do it disappears. I don’t need to hype myself up. I just follow through on what I’ve already decided. Even small actions feel big, like you’re getting closer to your fitness goal. Like a short boxing session on the Nintendo Switch, before settling in for a longer session with another game. Sometimes it’s a walk around the neighbourhood. It all counts, because it all lines up with the person I want to be.
The exercise appears to lessen pain and sluggishness, so that’s a great use of my time. I find it very easy to want to be that person who exercises every day.
Psychology says something interesting here: when you follow through on an intention, you get a small hit of dopamine. A little internal “good job, that’s you.” Those little moments of alignment build conviction, and conviction builds consistency.
My day is best when striving to reach my personal goals like exercise to reduce pain, decent food to have mental and physical energy, and knocking one big thing off my task list. Getting a goal done every day makes me sleep better, and the cycle continues.
Conviction is what helps me get closer to those goals without needing a cheering squad.
A cooking demonstration
I realized today I already I practice conviction in my life without even thinking about it. I was chopping vegetables for dinner and it hit me: I don’t need motivation to prepare home-cooked meals. I make the time because I know I feel better when I eat fresh food. I love the colours, listening to music while chopping veggies, and the aroma of hot meals in progress. Even when it’s just me and my dad, I still turn dinner into a daily event. That’s conviction too.
If you’ve been struggling with motivation, maybe try thinking about fitness the way you think about your favourite routines. The ones you don’t have to talk yourself into. You can’t wait to do them. They make you feel good, and the routine (even if it feels like work) gets easier and easier over time.
Ask yourself what decision you’ll make today that feels like the kind of person you want to be.
Conviction grows quietly, one follow-through at a time, whether it’s a workout or a post-workout movie with a beautiful bowl of fresh fruits and vegetables to snack on.
