Finding Your "Why"

What drives us to make changes for the improvement of our health? What sets people apart who are pursuing better daily health habits from those who have the information but haven't decided to act upon it (yet)? What helps us to make better choices when it's tougher to do?

We hear about all the things we ought to do for a healthier lifestyle, but we often don't implement them until there is a greater sense of urgency and we are trying to correct our health trajectory rather than prevent or sustain a trajectory that is already established. The truth is, it's never too early to start healthy behaviors, and it's never too late to do what you can to exchange your less-healthy behaviors and choices for better ones, and having a reason that has personal importance will help you stick to that. So, why are you here? Why are you reading these posts and why do you want to pursue healthier choices? Whatever your reason, if it's important to you, it's completely valid. Are you a competitive athlete trying to support your training? Do you want more energy to keep your toddler corralled? Are you chasing a physical aesthetic? Have you had a health scare? Has a loved one been diagnosed with a preventable illness and it's opened your eyes? Are you hoping to avoid becoming dependent on medication if lifestyle changes might address the root of your concerns?

On medical reasons, drastic changes are sometimes recommended by medical professionals, depending on test results or diagnoses. It can be much harder to make big changes that someone else is telling you to make than it is to make small changes you choose for yourself, and making better choices while you're still healthy and all your labs are in 'normal' range is a great step towards preventing many illnesses that we associate with aging.

Once we have our "why" that means something to us, we need to put our plan into action. That requires us to do things differently, and doing things differently means we're working against our inertia. Motivation and willpower tend to be words we think of when we're in this stage of the process. Willpower is something that fluctuates based on how much mental energy you have at any given time - take a look at the "Doing Your Best" post for more thoughts on this.

Let's talk about modifying our behaviors through "motivation". Motivation is a feeling, and feelings come and go, so we try to apply strategies to increase that feeling when we want to modify behaviors (whether in ourselves or in others). There are 2 types of motivation - extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is when someone is motivated by factors like rewards or recognition, anything outside of ourselves that encourage us to keep working at the behaviors we are trying to grow. If you're chasing a trophy, trying to get on a leaderboard, or if you join a challenge that offers a prize, that's extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when someone does things because it feels good and right to them to do the 'right' thing - no need for rewards or recognition, just a sense of accomplishment and wellbeing because we know we're hitting our goals and getting things done. Chasing a feeling of better wellbeing, personal bests in athletic pursuits, or doing things just because you enjoy doing them and they bring you joy and peace are intrinsic motivating factors.

Extrinsic motivation systems can be helpful, especially at the beginning of a behavior-change journey, as long as (1) a person chooses to participate voluntarily in the rewards/recognition based system, and (2) the rewards/recognition are aligned with the goal outcomes. This goes for influencing the behaviors of children as well as those of adults - no extrinsic motivation system will create lasting change for a person who doesn't care about changing their behavior, or who has it forced upon them unwillingly.

Example 1 (misaligned reward): Using a sticker chart or reward tickets to track consumption of vegetables and if you manage to accumulate enough stickers or tickets to reflect that you've eaten 5-a-day for a whole week, your 'reward' is going out for pizza and milkshakes on the weekend.

Example 2: (well-aligned reward): If you complete at least 3 workouts a week for a month you give yourself permission to buy yourself some new workout gear.

Eventually, the new behaviors (eating vegetables, working out, etc.) become part of your lifestyle and the satisfaction of outside rewards starts to go away as the inertia of your routine starts to drive your motivation. If you create in yourself a habit of "I've been good today, I deserve a treat..." or "there's no point in doing this thing if there's no reward at the end of it", you may end up undermining your progress - if you find that you can't take steps toward your goals in the absence of rewards, maybe dig deeper to see if you can find some intrinsic motivation factors - spend time reflecting on how you feel when you've done the things that move you toward your goal.

Intrinsic motivation in the area of health often comes from a scary health diagnosis for a condition that is still invisible, but treatable (or even still preventable). Something big like this can provide a proverbial kick in the pants in terms of motivation to make changes. Another, gentler, source of intrinsic motivation is building a positive feedback loop - as we start making choices that support better health, we feel better from day to day, we are happier with how our bodies feel, and when we feel better, we continue to choose behaviors that support that ongoing sense of wellbeing. Try paying attention to how you feel after a good night's sleep, how strong your body feels when you've been doing your workouts consistently, or a few days of eating more in alignment with your nutrition plan. If you're making better choices, you should be feeling better than you did. That alone can be very motivating, if you're taking the time to notice it.

There will still be real-life barriers that can't be overcome by motivation (or willpower) alone, and you'll need to think through your strategies to set yourself up for success. Motivation won't help you instantly have new skills, new flavor or texture preferences, have a more flexible food budget, change your (or others') biases, eliminate triggers of emotional eating, or cure a medical diagnosis. You'll still need to prioritize your available time and energy to make sure your commitments in life are met while setting yourself up for success to change the behaviors and choices that you want to change and work your way into the eventual goal of a healthier lifestyle. If you want some help working through things like this, or would like some accountability and help with strategizing, fill out the contact form and make an appointment. I'd love to support you on your journey.