The secret to getting & staying motivated

BY KRISTINE ROBERSON, MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR

More than a decade of teaching fitness classes has taught me one valuable life lesson about getting and staying motivated. Ready to know the big secret? Listen up:

Just. Do. It. Anyway.

Think about it. If you have children, you’ve likely heard them say, “I don’t feel like doing my homework,” “I don’t want to clean my room” and “Do I have to eat my vegetables?”

They weren’t motivated to do any of it, right? Did you instruct them they could happily wait until motivation struck them? No. You told them they needed to do it anyway.

The same goes for you. Action is the mother of motivation. You can choose to wait for motivation to magically strike, but, much like winning the PowerBall, it likely will not despite all of your hopefulness.

No, my friend. When you aren’t feeling like getting your workout in, attending a fitness class or meeting other fellow members at the tennis courts, you need the antidote to your lack of motivation. You need to just do it anyway. There’s no magic ticket. You must tell the part of you that wants to relish in inaction that it’s time to move.

Thought experts say it’s our habit brain — the primitive part of our brain rooted in survival — that wants us to store up energy for famins, and our more sophisticated front lobe cortex that understands the importance of burning excess energy off the body. Trust the sophisticated. Just do it anyway.

Still, if you are finding it difficult to get to the fitness center for a workout, the pool for some laps or the tennis courts for some swings, try the next best tactic: Accountability. Enlist the help of your fellow members by making plans with them to meet at the Club for activities and workouts. It’s easy to get out of a workout when it’s just you. It’s not so easy when you know your friends are waiting for you.

Julia Lange is 12 years old, and a seventh grader at Joe Serna Jr. Charter School. Tennis is one of the few sports that she loves; otherwise she would spend all of her free time curled up with a book, if allowed. Julia loves to bake, hang out with her friends, and surround herself with music. Her biggest dislike: hot chocolate.