Here’s a big misconception about fitness: that you have to wait to “get motivated” to start.

If we waited for motivation to do most things in life, we would frankly never do them.

Inspiration strikes in rare moments where we feel list or zest or enthusiasm or drive.

Those are factually wonderful moments but not necessarily the precursor for consistent action day in and day out.

Most of us get clogged up by the concept of needing to find 60 minutes and needing to “go to the gym”.

Maintaining your body doesn’t need a gym, a personal trainer, equipment or special clothes. Nature didn’t make this that complicated.

It also doesn’t require a heart rate monitor or even an hour a day.

Almost all of the above are unnecessary.

It takes 5 minutes of movement to change your biology, no “motivation” required. Simply stand up and walk somewhere. Take out the garbage. Mow the lawn. Park a block away from your destination. Walk up a flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator.

It may seem impossibly easy, but that’s actually the point.

So many of us are frustrated that we can’t “get motivated” to be fit.

If that’s the case, you:
a) either don’t like the gym (in which case ditch the idea and find something else to do) or
b) don’t have the time or a specific plan to go (which can be solved by making an appointment in your planner)
or
c) are overwhelmed and want to be “perfect” (which means you might want to hire someone to help you, or attend a class) or
d) are underwhelmed (in which case you might be waiting for a miracle to strike).

Inspiration and miracles of motivation are beautiful concepts that are also slightly impractical when you’ve been given the task of maintaining your health for a lifetime. It’s akin to awaiting motivation to go to work each day before you go: arguably, many would get to retirement having rarely put in a full day’s work.

Waiting to be motivated to do something you don’t like is setting yourself up for a lifetime of waiting.

Waiting to find time when you have none is setting yourself up to beat yourself up for “failing” when in fact you didn’t have a viable plan from the start.

Waiting to come up with a “perfect” program is a day likely to never come, as perfect doesn’t exist outside a fleeting moment or two. Good enough is good enough.

Waiting for a miracle to strike and for motivation to be your sole inspiration is an uneven proposition: it may or may not ever happen.

If you are waiting to get “motivated,” here are some ideas:

Take on an attitude of lifetime maintenance. Do you love washing the car or filling it with gas or booking oil changes? These may not being keenly thrilling activities but they are required to keep a car on the road, every year of ownership. Your body is no different, and it’s not helpful to resent the maintenance hours or obligations. Simply accept that they exist and that there’s a certain amount of exercise and nutrition required to meet the standards of the contract of being human.

Seek to educate yourself. No practitioner ought to have information about how to own and operate your body that you don’t have. Look for practitioners who offer you education about how your body ought to feel and function, as it’s a paralytic lack when things go awry with your body. I love to tell my clients that if their back is in pain in the middle of the night, unless they are married to a chiropractor, they are responsible for managing that pain themselves at 3am. I specifically try to offer my clients deeper education so that they understand the basics about their anatomy and sensations, which forever changes the process of what exercise means.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Most of us work for money. What similar value or benefit can you see from maintaining your body? For me, it’s my wardrobe and how I look and feel in my clothing. This has the same tangible external benefit to me that money does in return for my work. I reward my efforts with beautiful clothing to look and feel my best. Your motivations may be different but I suggest that you seek one.

Find something you like “well enough”. Take on caring for your body as a pleasant obligation, with some moments of pleasure. Eating is this way: it can be an extreme inconvenience or a sensual delight, but often it’s relatively mundane. We still eat, even when it’s not “the best ever.” Good enough truly is good enough.

Motivation is an unreliable way to look after your body. The 10-15% of adults who have extreme motivation and desire to be at the gym already have gym memberships and aren’t reading this article.

If you are in the other 85-90%, drop the idea that you need to get motivated, because unless you’ve never been inside a fitness facility, there’s a low statistical probability that tomorrow will be the day the motivation strongly strikes. Embrace the idea of active sustaining your obligation to simply take care of your body, minutes at a time.