Cultivating Motivation and Achieving Goals 101

This is a brief guide aimed primarily at individuals who struggle with sticking to self-appointed goals, especially movement-related ones. Common examples include weight loss, building healthy habits, gaining muscle, and getting stronger. We’ll talk about intelligent goal setting at another time - this article will focus on how to cultivate motivation and actually achieve your goals.

So how do we go about reliably achieving the goals we set for ourselves? Fortunately, science (and a little anecdotal experience as a PT and coach) can help us figure this out.

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What’s the Problem?

When looking for solutions, it typically helps to first define the problem. Simply put, most people will struggle at some point in time to create the meaningful change they want to see in their lives. Why is this so difficult? One of the big reasons change is so hard is that humans tend to run a lot on inertia. Our brains and our bodies like patterns, we like having a routine (generally speaking), and when we find one that fits our basic needs and current capacity, we like to stick with it. Breaking out of that routine and fighting that inertia is tough. We have to push ourselves out of a rut, one that is potentially decades old and very well-worn. So how do we go about doing that?

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The Basics of Motivation

Dealing with our ability to develop and maintain motivation is a great place to start. Motivation is a tricky subject - there are a lot of conflicting opinions about how to get motivated and whether it even matters. People will argue that “you don’t need motivation, you need discipline!”, and while developing discipline is something we can focus on in the long run, that kind of mindset is not very helpful for getting the ball rolling.

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So where do we start? Here’s one perspective that I like to use when working with clients who are trying to find and develop more robust internal motivation:

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This is the COM-B model, which tries to capture how the factors in the above graphic all impact one another. It’s only one model and may not be a perfect fit for everyone, but I’ve found it to be an effective way to think about and help build motivation.

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Let’s define our terms:

Capability: This is kind of a catch-all that for your current capabilities, including physical (your current level of strength or cardiovascular fitness) and psychological (readiness to accept change, positive attitude)

Opportunity: This refers to social opportunities (how your culture and language affect how you think and feel about motivation and behavior) and physical opportunities (access to a gym or a car)

Motivation: The drive to do something; researchers include reflection processes (evaluating, planning) and automatic processes (feelings, impulses) in this category

Behavior: What you’re actually doing

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The COM-B model is theoretical, but we can glean some very practical takeaways from it. If you are struggling with the time (opportunity) or physical ability (capability) to get to where you want to be (working out at the gym), addressing these factors should help your motivation. If you struggle to change one or more of these factors, you may want to reassess your goals and see if there’s another way to accomplish them.

For instance, if you really want to participate in a given workout class, but it’s at a very inconvenient time for you, you could a) see whether you can modify your schedule, b) consider whether another class would get you where you want to be. If your goals are fairly broad (“get healthier”, “work out more”), you probably don’t need to take a super specific class or other course of action in order to get there. You may also need to choose a different path based on your current capability - if you really want to do a certain activity but find it hard to keep up based on your current fitness level, for instance. And you may even find something else that you enjoy along the way!

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Getting the Ball Rolling

Constructive change takes time and consistency. We can use the COM-B model to troubleshoot and help us cultivate motivation. On a practical note, I then advocate for co-opting an idea from medical spaces to build strategies that help us develop consistency.

There’s this idea in medicine and fitness of a “minimal effective dose” (MED). The question we ask is not, “How much of this thing is optimal?” but rather, “How little of this thing do I need to do to get the result I want?” That may sound like a lazy approach, but thinking like that already draws us into a pattern of judgment that is counterproductive. So what if it’s lazy? If it’s effective, as the name suggests, then it’s doing the thing you wanted it to do! If nothing else, determining the minimal effective dose gives us a great starting point.

So how do we figure out a minimal effective dose for, say, exercise? If you’re not exercising consistently, one of the simplest ways to define this dose is very simple: It’s more than you’re doing right now.

That’s it.

If you’re not consistently doing the thing, starting to consistently do any amount of the thing can constitute a minimal effective dose. So start small. Really, really small.

For my clients and patients who struggle with exercise, struggle with getting to the gym, struggle with motivation and discipline, I have some steps that I like to suggest to build up our dosage of activity. This example assumes that you would like to go work out in a gym facility outside your home, and that you’re basically not exercising at all currently.

• Step 1: Pick 1-3 days and times when you would like to carve out time to exercise

• Step 2: At the times you picked, get in your car. Turn it on, and then just sit there. If you turn the car off and go back inside, cool. If you happen to drive to the gym, cool. I literally don’t care. We’re building habits here. Either way, you’re getting the job done. 

• Repeat Step 2 a few times.‍

• Step 3: Once you’ve gotten used to getting in your car at the appointed time (or if you just get annoyed with sitting in your driveway and figure, “I’m here, I might as well go do something”), then drive to the gym. Sit in the parking lot. If you drive back home, cool. If you go inside, cool. It doesn’t even matter at this point.

• Step 4: Once you’ve gotten used to (or fed up with) driving to the gym just to sit in the parking lot, walk inside. Maybe take a lap around the building and leave. Maybe hop on a treadmill for 5 minutes. Whatever. It still doesn’t really matter.

And hey, guess what? After a couple days of that, you’ve magically started going to the gym. All it takes is biting off one piece at a time and building up your consistency. Don’t make the entire product or end goal (working out) the first step if you have trouble actualizing and consistently hitting the actual first step(s).

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Now What?

Until this point, we’ve been focused on getting started. But what do you do next once you get the ball rolling?

Above all, remember: Consistency is king. This remains true no matter how far you are on your journey or what your specific focus is. Keep your goals and your process realistic enough that you can stick to it consistently. Remember how we talked about inertia earlier? The steps above help you to build inertia. To keep it going, you don’t need to be constantly trying to break personal records or add more stuff to your plate. Exercise should, by and large, get harder as we get better at it, but if we stick with the idea of using a minimal effective dose, we’re going to push when we’re ready and when it makes sense to do so. One of the markers for that in my book is how consistent you can be with the basics of showing up when you say you will and doing something that gets you closer to your goal(s).

Change takes time. In the beginning, the primary change we’re making is in your ability to stick to a routine. What gets you to your goal is sticking to that routine over time. We can manipulate the routine and play with what you’re doing once we’re doing something consistently.

Recognize that you will get sidetracked. It happens to everyone at some point. When this happens, accept it, reset to a previous step in your journey that works for where you’re at now, and keep going. No one’s going to be harder on you than you are for “failing” to meet a goal you’ve set for yourself. Giving yourself some grace while continuing to push forward is what lets us overcome these challenges and get where we want to be.

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Some Tools to Help

People talk about lots of “hacks” and things to help you achieve your goals. Here are some actual, evidence-backed ideas:

• Accountability: This needs to be tailored to you if it’s going to work. You might need subtle encouragement, you might need someone to poke you with a stick (metaphorically). Finding friends, family, coworkers, or other gym-goers who are willing to help you in the way(s) that you need can go a long way. Shameless plug: We’re really good at helping with this part!‍

• Gamification/reward hacking: Lots of apps and programs out there can help you track progress and make a game out of your journey. You can also just reward yourself for taking steps towards your goals. This may feel silly at times, but a lot of people respond really well to this! Let yourself celebrate even small wins.

• Make it (a little) annoying: Leave bright pink post-its all over your living space, set reminders and alarms, promise to text a friend and let them bug you when you don’t. Making yourself a little uncomfortable can help you stay on track. Remember, we’re trying to break out of a rut here, which is inherently uncomfortable but doesn’t require you to torture yourself.

You may find other odd tricks that work for you. What matters is that whatever tools you use help you to stick to your plan without getting overwhelmed when you get sidetracked or behind the ball.

If you’re even thinking about making positive, long-term change in your life, congrats! That’s already a huge step in the right direction. And the great news is that you don’t need to get there tomorrow. In fact, it’s probably better if you give yourself time to build up to where you want to be, because positive change takes time.

To help you get there, remember to leverage your environment, social ties, current level of ability, opportunities and resources in creative ways to help you cultivate motivation. These factors also give you places to look if your motivation flags and you need to troubleshoot. Remember that you will get sidetracked, but also that literally any forward progress is progress. When you’re trying to make long-lasting changes, you need to stay consistent, and that doesn’t always mean adding more weight to the bar, dropping more pounds, etc. Meet yourself where you’re at, and just figure out what the next step could be. It might just be sticking with what you’re doing for a while, because life is crazy and you don’t have the bandwidth for big changes. That’s totally fine! What matters is change over time and building up inertia in the right direction.

Doing the work will look different from day to day and month to month, but as long as you keep doing the work, you’ll get to where you want to be.