Motivation During Quarantine – The Corona Chronicles

#QuarantineVibes

Covid-19 has shut down the world, and we are all stuck at home. The same walls surround us daily, leaving us only with our thoughts, our habits, and our newly configured daily routine. We lay up at night, wondering what the hell we should do with all this time on our hands. We’re not working, not making money, we’re unable to see friends, progress seems so far out of reach. We’re stuck in quarantine with nothing to do but think of all the reasons not to leave our bed. Motivation? Gone.

Motivation is Temporary

Motivation is a funny thing, as It comes and goes. The longer we linger in a stage of comfort, the harder it is to find incentive to get out. When you spend too much time resting, doing nothing, refusing to make any big moves for your life, it becomes much harder to get yourself out of that comfort mindset. Waves of motivation might hit us in the face time to time, but rarely is there enough to get us on our feet, doing the things we dream of doing. 

I often get asked “how do I get motivated, keep motivation, remain consistent, where do I begin, etc etc” majority of the time referring to fitness. Working out is tough. 

What we need to get through our heads is that motivation is temporary, short lived, and will not get you out of bed everyday. To rely on it is the first mistake made. You need something with meaning and purpose- something that will give you no choice but to get the deeds done. And motivation is not that. 

WHY? Define Your Purpose 

Why do you want to start getting in the gym? Why do you want to lose the weight, gain the muscle? Why do you want to do the things you dream of doing? 

Define your why. Uncover the deeper, more meaningful reason behind why you want to do the things you’re writing down in your note section titled “goals.”

Grab your journal, write down the life of your dreams. Write down long term goals (5-10 years down the line) and short term goals to get you there (1 week-1month). Every night, visualize yourself completing your short term goals, living the life you dream of. Your thoughts determine your reality. Do not say “ I want to..” rather, say “I am going to…” 

On top of writing down the goal, write down why you want to reach it, how you’re going to reach it. 

Is it confidence? Financial freedom? Proving someone wrong? Completing a challenge? Achieving a sense of purpose? To impact someone’s life? To be an inspiration? 

When you discover the long term reasoning behind your goal, motivation will no longer determine whether or not you will take action. When you find your why, there will be no choice but to get your deeds done. It will no longer even be a consideration, a choice, an “if”, a distant vision in your head.

My self-motivation Experience

Since we’ve been quarantined, I’ll be honest. It takes me WAY longer to get myself to workout, since my daily routine is completely thrown off. My sense of time is non existent, I never know what day it is, and I haven’t slept this much since I was in middle school. Without my usual set schedule, it is a free for all to get my workouts done. I’ll say “I’m going running at 4pm!” and then 7pm hits, and I’m just waking up from a nap.

I do not rely on motivation, rather, self-discipline, while keeping my long term vision in my head. It was 7pm. It was dark, cold, and I was half asleep. I grabbed my coffee, listened to music that gets me up, got dressed, and visualized myself getting the workout finished.

It is very rare that I actually want to workout, or eat eggs instead of pancakes. Every time I feel tempted to rest, skip a workout, eat crap food over healthy food, I remind myself of my goal, and how badly I want to reach that vision. Your goal has to mean so much to you that no matter the temptations around you, you can overcome them. It’s not motivation- its self control, determination, and your ‘why’ that will bring you success.

Habits over Motivation

When you begin working towards your dreams, it will be exciting at first, but that quickly wears off. Your excitement will fly out of the window within the first 1-2 weeks, and that is NORMAL! … BUT.. that’s when your determination has to kick in. That’s when your drive-to-win has to take over the exhaustion, temptation, and laziness. This is when your willpower is tested the most, because you are in the habit-forming phase. When you overcome this transition of excitement-to-exhaustion is when you begin to form a habit. (It takes 21 days to form habits) If you can make it to 3 weeks, it will still be a daily challenge, but it will become more second nature.

Once you pass week 3, your daily tasks should become a part of your routine. Your days would be strange without completing the tasks needed to be done. You will feel uneasy, as if you forgot to brush your teeth or put on pants – it will be instinct. As you keep up this routine, and make it to day 60, then day 90, it will only be a part of your lifestyle at that point. You just have to get through those first few weeks of torture!

Tears Falling Mid-Workout

I began 75 hard, 70 days ago. The first 10 days were so exciting and easy to complete thanks to motivation and enthusiasm. That wore off quickly, and exhaustion, fatigue and lack of interest consumed me. Day in and day out I battled to finish each task. I once cried while doing a workout because of how badly I wanted to rest. Tears were literally streaming off my cheeks as I did mountain climbers……

After Day 50, this challenge became second nature. Completing each task was not a choice, regardless of the time, how tired I was, how lazy I felt. It was getting done no matter what. I knew what this challenge meant to me, how badly I wanted to succeed and finish. I felt if I didn’t complete the challenge I would’ve let myself down. All of these things were on my mind everyday. They were my “why” – these were the reasons I hustled everyday regardless of quarantine, rain storms, 42 hours of no sleep, feeling sick.

The days you need Motivation the Most.. 

There will be days you wake up with no desire, drive, interest to do anything. Days where the last thing you want to do is get out of bed. You might feel depressed, worthless, discouraged, impatient. They are INEVITABLE. You are bound to experience these days.

These are the days that make you stronger. They force you to level up. These days matter the most, because they will determine whether or not you’re growing. No, you do not have to be 100% these days. Not even 80%. As long as you get done what needs to get done, you’ve won. Your workout doesn’t have to be perfect, but as long as you got your butt to the gym and moved around, you won. It’s not the action that is hard. It’s getting yourself to do it that’s hard. Once you overcome the temptation, you’ve won. 

What to do on These Days 

It’s easy to simply quit on these days, and forget about your dreams. Do not be so quick to give up. Try with all that you’ve got to overcome these challenges by taking a step back, and rewiring your brain…

• Take control of your mind
• Do not feed into your thoughts
• Listen to a motivational audio / speaker / inspirational person 
• Express gratitude 
• Hang out with like-minded people – people who lift you up 

Perform positive self talk and affirmations. Remind yourself of how far you’ve come, how you’ve even considered reaching towards your dream. You are not the negative thoughts you’re thinking. Your negative thoughts are there to push you around. You must not listen to them. Ignore them, get them out of your head. 

Listen to a podcast or Youtube video of someone you admire and look up to. Remind yourself of what your greatest role models went through to get where they are today. Would they give up on days like these? Or would they persevere and try harder. Ask yourself these questions!

Express gratitude, the highest vibration emotion. Feel grateful for at least one thing, no matter how big or small. Expressing gratitude will do nothing but lift you up. When you’re feeling down its easy to lose sight of all of the things in your life to be thankful for.

Reach out to someone who has the same goal as you, who can bring positivity into your day. You don’t always have to get through these days alone. Keep your circle filled with uplifting friends who want to see you reach your goals. This will only push you further.

You Got This

Tell yourself that you can do this. Stop comparing yourself to everyone around you who might be giving into temptation and laziness. Just because they dont want to take action doesn’t mean you shouldn’t either. Start doing something for you that will get you closer to your dreams, and do not rely on motivation.

Discover your ‘why’ and remind yourself multiple times a day of your goals. Understand that feeling lazy and discouraged is normal, but also understand that you CAN overcome that. Refuse to give up, and form a new habit that will change your life for the better.

Choose a goal, discover why and how you want to get there, visualize yourself reaching it, do it everyday regardless of how you feel, surround yourself with like-minded people, and show quarantine who’s boss. You got this.