ML Coaching
In this blog post, I'll go into more detail on this. The most important thing for staying motivated is that you keep setting yourself new goals. That's why in the first part of this blog I'll write about reaching goals, and in the second part there are more practical tips on motivation.
For me, it's always been hugely important to learn from people who have a lot of hands-on experience in a given field. Imagine you now set yourself the goal of appearing on 12 international magazine covers. An ambitious goal, right? That's exactly what I managed to pull off, and few people can grasp the level at which I had to motivate myself for years to get there. And those are exactly the tips I'm about to pass on to you.
Prerequisites
First, you should look inward and ask yourself: do I have what it takes for this goal?
By that I don't mean talent. You don't necessarily need talent for whatever you set as your goal. What matters far more is whether you have the willpower and dedication to do more for the goal than is required of you.
I can say for myself that I had good, but not the best, starting conditions. So I could answer the question about prerequisites with a yes. But I also knew I had to give a lot for it.
Ambitious goals usually come with a price
That's genuinely how it works in practice. Whether it's professional football, professional fitness modeling, or even a future CEO position at a large company, there's unfortunately never any such thing as coincidence in reality! In other words, you have to subordinate everything to the goal, otherwise you won't achieve it.
I'm really speaking from experience here. Once my goal was clear to me, it became my absolute priority. While many of my peers went out or went on vacation, I focused on training. Going to bed on time, no alcohol, perfect nutrition, and trying to improve in every single session, all of that came first for me. Even relationships had to wait until I'd reached my goal.
I could sugarcoat this, but it matters to me that you actually hear the truth. Any professional athletes reading my blog right now will surely be smiling.
Clearly defined goals
This is where most people fail. Let's say you want to become a professional footballer. I know many young people with this goal. Practically none of them know when, at which club, or in which position. The right way to put it would be "on January 3rd, 2019, I'll start my professional career as a striker at FC Zürich."
It works similarly if you want to lose weight. "I want to lose weight" isn't a clear goal. Correct: "I will lose 10 kg by December 31st, 2018, reach a final weight of 70 kg, and a body fat percentage of 10%."
You can see the difference between specific and vague here.
Visualization
You always need to capture a goal in images, so you have a clear picture of it. I edited the covers of my idols in Photoshop and simply replaced them with my own body. I then placed these images all over my apartment and used them as the background on my phone. That way, I couldn't let go of the goal until I'd achieved it.
As an ambitious footballer aiming to go pro, I'd approach it exactly the same way. Ideally right away with the jersey of your future dream club.
Focus
Here too, it's about constantly perfecting your focus. Mental preparation plays a huge role in this. Before every training session, mentally walk through the sequence again, set yourself goals and write them down.
Before every training session, I prepared my training plan and wrote down my target weights for every exercise. My goal was to increase the weights in every single session.
If you only note down the weights once training has already started, you're not prepared, and you also couldn't visualize your performance increase beforehand during mental preparation.
"Who fails to plan, plans to fail".
Motivation requires positive thinking
Try to always see the positive side, in every situation.
I too have had phases in the past where things didn't go the way I imagined. Still, there were always positive aspects in every situation. For instance, I injured my shoulder last year.
An injury is never easy on the mental side. Instead of getting worked up over the fact that I couldn't train my upper body for at least 3 months, I focused on other areas. So I kept training my legs and worked on other business projects. I was also able to find the cause of the injury and learn my lesson from it.
Mistakes shouldn't frustrate you. They should motivate you to learn from them and not make them again in the future.
Varying your training
As mentioned at the start, motivation is closely tied to reaching your goals. Since your body adapts to training stimuli relatively quickly, it's important that you vary your training. Change your training plan every month, and choose exercises you haven't done in a while, or don't know at all.
It's the exercises where you're weakest that push you forward physically the most.
Train with a training partner or find yourself a personal trainer
A training partner can also help you stay motivated. Always look for a training partner who's better than you. That way you're challenged to grow beyond yourself and always give your best.
Otherwise, get in touch with a good personal trainer, who with their knowledge and experience will definitely help you reach your goals faster. A coach is also always the right choice if you can't motivate yourself.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and I'd of course be happy if you shared it on social media.