Stop Waiting to Feel Motivated: Why Action Comes First

Motivation is not gonna be what makes you finally

start working out. What's up, you guys? Famous

Ashley Grant here. Welcome to More Movement,

Please, the podcast where I hope to inspire you

to move your body more. Today, I have another

awesome voice note from a podcast friend of mine.

She's actually a podcast producer, and she and

I met, well, virtually. We've never actually

met in person. We met virtually many moons ago,

whenever I was hosting Podcasting 101 with RSS

.com, teaching people how to start and grow their

own podcast. She was one of my featured guests,

and I learned so much about podcasting from her,

and I just was so excited that whenever I started

a fitness podcast, she was one of the first people

I reached out to, and I was like, I ever have

guests on, I really want to talk to you. I really

want you to be part of this because I just think

she's awesome. And she's a yoga teacher. She

works with health and wellness coaches and fitness

peoples and all the things. And so, of course,

whenever I started asking people for voice notes,

I reached out to Jamie and I was just like, hey,

girl, send me something. I need some voice notes.

And she sent a good one. And here's what she

had to say. Hi, Ashley. I'm Jamie Brooke, a podcast

producer for health, fitness, and wellness podcasts.

I am also a yoga teacher with a psychology background.

One of the biggest misconceptions we have around

health and fitness is that motivation comes before

action. We think that we need to feel motivated

first. We tell ourselves, when I feel motivated,

I'll go to the gym. When I feel motivated, I'll

start. walking again. When I feel motivated,

I'll eat healthier. Maybe Monday. This is usually

worded as when I feel like I have more energy,

I'll go to the gym. When it stops raining, I'll

start walking again. When I don't have so many

social plans, I'll start eating healthier again.

But the truth is, motivation almost never shows

up first. There's a concept from the book Atomic

Habits that completely reframes this. The idea

is that action actually creates motivation, not

the other way around. In other words, you don't

wait to feel like it. You take the action first.

And then motivation follows. Think about how

often we sit around waiting for the perfect moment,

the perfect energy, the perfect mindset. But

our brains are very good at generating excuses

when motivation isn't there yet. Ugh, it's raining.

I'm so tired. How about I start next week? I

definitely don't have time today. And the longer

we wait for motivation to appear, the harder

it becomes to start. Because we start to not

even trust ourselves. We start to give up faith

in what we're capable of doing. Because we said

we were going to do it, and we didn't. Why would

today be any different than yesterday? But something

interesting happens once you take that first

step without talking yourself out of it. Once

you go for the walk, once you make it to the

gym, once you roll out the yoga mat. your body

starts remembering what it feels like to move.

Your energy shifts, your mood changes, and suddenly

the thing that felt so hard to start actually

makes you feel good. That feeling is what builds

real motivation. I see this play out all the

time. A close friend of mine used to be incredibly

active. She swam regularly at her gym, walked

all the time, and movement was just a natural

part of her life. But now she's retired and she

tells me she just can't seem to get motivated

to start again. She says she doesn't have the

time because she has so many projects going on,

so many errands. And I get it. Life fills up

so quickly. There's so many opportunities to

give yourself an excuse for why you can't get

to the gym. You can't go for a walk. But you'd

think when you're retired, kids are out of the

house. You don't have a full -time job anymore.

How could you come up with an excuse for why

you can't work out? But here's a perfect example

of someone who did just retire, who doesn't have

a full house full of kids running around, who

doesn't have a full -time job that takes up.

40 hours of her week, and yet she's still finding

reasons for why she can't get to the gym to swim

and she can't walk, etc. The truth of the matter

is that we will always find reasons to prioritize

something different than the gym, than the walk,

than eating healthier, because that is the issue.

It's the fact that we don't have the motivation

in order to start the action. And I hate to say

it, but your life so fulfilling, so much going

on, but it's really just about finding how to

reprioritize things. So the challenge really

isn't the time, it's that first step. Because

when you're out of the habit of moving, the brain

waits for motivation to magically show up before

taking action. But it doesn't work that way.

Motivation is the result of doing the thing.

So instead of asking yourself, do I feel motivated

today? A better question is, what is the smallest

action I can take right now? Maybe it's a 10

-minute walk. Maybe it's just putting on your

workout shoes and sports bra and leaving the

house and seeing where you end up. Action creates

momentum. Momentum creates motivation. And motivation

is what makes the habit stick. So if you're waiting

to feel motivated before you start taking care

of your health, you may be waiting forever. So

start with the action. Motivation will catch

up. How true. Oh my goodness. Did y 'all hear

that? She said, don't wait for motivation. She

said that you need to just get your booty in

gear and start working out now. I can relate

so much to that because if I had kept waiting

for motivation to be the thing that finally made

me start working out, finally made me start doing

the work that needed to be done to get my butt

in shape, I would still be the overweight girl

that couldn't take a flight of stairs, that couldn't

do a plank, that couldn't do a jumping jack,

that couldn't get through 15 minutes of Zumba.

So take Jamie's words to heart, y 'all. If you're

waiting for motivation, cut it out. Instead,

just get to work. Start doing one small thing

right now. Move your body. And I guarantee that

that momentum will be the thing that keeps you

going. Keep showing up, keep moving your bodies.

I hope you enjoyed this voice note. If you wanna

leave one for me too, for my listeners, I would

absolutely love to hear from y 'all. Go to famousashleygrant

.com backslash fitness and leave a voice note

for me. And if you are a person who's on a journey,

just like me, and you wanna tell people about

it, hit me up. I wanna know what it's like for

you, what you're going through, what you're feeling,

like all the things. I can't wait to hear from

y 'all. Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have

you worked out today?