Some people have a deep understanding of what their WHY is. The concept is used in many different areas of a person’s life. If you have a strong WHY then it becomes easier to do those things when motivation is lacking. I know ex-servicemen who have conquered various mountains after losing arms or legs (or even both) and this is probably due to them wanting to prove they still can do these things, to prove they are still capable. That is their WHY.
It can be argued that motivation is easier when faced with these kinds of situations. A person who is told they only have 6 months to live if they don’t clean up their lifestyle, reverse their diabetes and get healthy, has a pretty strong WHY to come back to.
For most of us, we might not have that. I’ve not fully figured out why I train every day, get up at 5am on a Sunday to ride my bike or run a Marathon when I don’t particularly like running. I know that if I didn’t workout most days then I would be a fraud for offering an Unlimited membership at my gym.
If you don’t have a WHY then maybe you need an event. Having a difficult challenge on the horizon maybe gives you an extra push on the days you aren’t feeling great. One thing that has always motivated me with CrossFit is that there are so many movements to be good at.
You can run a mile under 6mins? Great now go and pull yourself up over that bar. Got that? Awesome, now squat your body weight 10 times. Then do it all in the same workout as many times as you can in 30mins. The list of skills and combinations of skills/strengths is endless. Those people who show up every day to my gym are often chasing these skills and that is kind of their event.
I started going to the gym when I was 14. Typical chest day Monday, back day Tuesday, etc… I can’t imagine how boring that would be now.
There are 1000s of events you can sign up for in 2020 to keep yourself training over winter. A local CrossFit competition (team is fun), any running event, obstacle course race, various triathlon distances, adventure races (MTB, canoe, snowshoe) and many more. I’m personally always looking for my next event (it often gets me in trouble) but it keeps me focused when things get tough. Most days I don’t feel like working out until I actually get started but I always want to be on that start line feeling as prepared as possible and give it my best.
Let me know if you have any events coming up or even if you have a deeper WHY. I’d love to know.