How to get out of a rut, especially in quarantine or lockdown in 2020 - and why motivation alone is not enough. Using behaviour design research, I explain why motivation alone is not enough to get you out of a rut, and what 2 other things you need to build into your daily rituals to work alongside motivation to get you out of that funk.

No time to watch this 10-minute video? Read the transcript below or use the timestamps to get to the parts you’re looking for!

LINKS IN DESCRIPTION:

○ How to Stay Motivated to Workout: LINK HERE
○ 6 Tips to Create Healthy Habits and Stick to Them: LINK HERE
○ BJ Fogg's Behaviour Design Research: LINK HERE
○ Download the Workbook to Create the Mind, Body, Soul Moments to Get Out of Your Rut: LINK HERE

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
01:50 - Motivation
02:00 - Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivators
03:34 - Fogg Behavior Model
05:48 - You Can't Rely on Motivation Alone
06:18 - Make It Easy
07:05 - Your 5-Minute Moments
08:37 - Download the Workbook
09:09 - What's Next?

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TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, and welcome back to my channel. We’ve all been there before: falling into a rut where you’ve just let go of all the healthy habits you once upon a time were so great with sticking to… but now… sadly for whatever reason, you just can’t even be bothered with… whether it’s cooking and eating healthy food, staying away from the junk food, getting more exercise and movement throughout your day, or simply sticking to a daily meditation routine… you just can’t seem to find the motivation to get back to it.

This video will show you why motivation alone is not enough, which might explain why you haven’t been able to keep up and hence fallen into this rut… We’ll identify 2 other things that need to work together with motivation and help you put some systems in place to get yourself back on track again.

Who Am I?

If we haven’t met yet, Hi! I’m Jaime Tan at Enlightened Spoon. On this channel you’ll get nutrition, fitness and lifestyle tips just like today’s, and other times you’ll get yoga and meditation videos to help bring some calm into your busy life … all tools to help you stress less, yet accomplish more.

So hit that Like button and consider subscribing if you want more like this:

Subscribe to my Youtube Channel

Also Check Out:

For one simple, best tip on how to keep your workout motivation going, you might like to watch this previous video on how to get back to a daily movement routine again…

You might also like this deeper dive into my 6 tips on how to create healthy habits and stick to them.

Why Motivation Alone Will FAIL You

Now - let’s talk about motivation and why motivation alone will fail you.

In my wellness coaching practice, I often hear clients who first start working with me say things like “I’m just not motivated enough”, or “maybe I’m too lazy or I’m not disciplined enough to stick to this”. What you have to understand is that motivation is only one small piece of the bigger picture of creating new, healthier habits.

The Importance of Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivators

Of course getting clear on what your motivation is and why - whether you’re extrinsically or intrinsically motivated is important. Extrinsic motivation is when external factors are what’s driving you… for eg. Do you want to lose weight and get 6-pack abs because you want to look like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2? That’s a really old reference, and that really dates me… but stick with me on this one…

Or… do you want to lose weight and get 6-pack abs because you want to feel good and strong in your own skin as a healthy person? It’s a subtle shift, but the intrinsic motivators, the things that drive you internally especially the ones where you shift your identity into being this person that embodies all the qualities of who you want to be, of who “future you” is, is really the kind of motivation that will stick especially when life gets busy and there’s too much going on. Because even through all of the madness life might throw your way, the “healthy person” that “future you” is, would make very different choices now than the you today who isn’t working on shifting your identity.

Basically - motivation is important, but up until a certain point. Whether it’s external or internal motivators… essentially, the more motivated you are to do something, the more likely you are to do it. The reverse is true too: the less motivated you are to do something, the less likely you’ll do it.

BJ Fogg’s Behaviour Design Research

According to BJ Fogg, Director of Stanford University’s Behavior Design Lab:

"Behavior (B) happens when Motivation (M), Ability (A), and a Prompt (P) come together at the same moment."

Or:

B = MAP

So beyond Motivation, the other 2 important factors in this equation of creating healthier habits are:

Ability

Or the ease of the behaviour - how easy or difficult the behaviour is to do.

Very simply - the easier a behaviour is to do, the more likely you’ll do it. And the more difficult a behaviour is to do, the less likely you’ll do it.

Prompt

What is it that triggers the behaviour. We need something that prompts you to remember to do the behaviour.

Put it altogether and:

Behaviour = Motivation + Ability + Prompt

Behavior (B) happens when Motivation (M), Ability (A), and a Prompt (P) come together at the same moment.

New Year’s Resolutions

If this is all sounding too technical and gobbledy-gook, a very practical example is new year’s resolutions. We hear it all the time “New year, new me! ...I’m going to the gym early every morning to get my 6-pack abs!” So in January - Motivation is high… the Action itself of getting out of bed at 6am everyday - is pretty difficult. But coz motivation is high in January… when the alarm clock rings at 6am - which is the Prompt for the behaviour - you’re more likely to roll out of bed and head to the gym.

But then give it a few weeks, maybe even a few days… the action of rolling out of bed at 6am everyday continues to be difficult, right? And the Prompt for your behaviour, the alarm clock, will continue to ring at 6am, right? ...but cut to 4 weeks later in February… the main difference here is that your motivation might start to dip, and then you become less and less likely to roll out of bed when the alarm goes off at 6am. And that’s why come February, the gyms are all less busy once again.

What’s the Lesson Here?

So what does this teach us? When we get really busy, stressed and tired - we know we can’t rely on motivation alone. We need to have better systems in place that will help us with the Action and Prompt parts of the equation.

How to Break This Down?

What I’ve found that’s helped my clients is to break it down into small, easy steps. Because according to B = MAP, when the A or Action part is an easy behaviour to do, you’re more likely to do it. So make life a lot easier for yourself and make it short, snappy, easy.

Start with 5 minutes. Because who doesn’t have 5 minutes?

You’re watching this video right now.

Or scrolling through Instagram and Facebook.

That’s the 5 minutes you could be putting into something else.

5 Minutes… Really??

Now - the Type-A go-getters amongst you might scoff at this and say: pffft. 5 minutes? How much benefit am I really gonna get out of 5 minutes? But I’ll say to you: If you’re stuck in a rut right now and not doing ANYTHING… 5 minutes is still better than nothing. Also - because honestly - if you can’t even manage 5 minutes a day, how are you going to manage an hour a day? The idea is that we start small, so that we slowly build our way up to reaching 15 minutes, 30 minutes, maybe even an hour of workouts every day.

Create Your 5-Minute Moments

So… if you wanna get out of your rut and want to move more? Create 5-minute moments throughout the day where you can schedule something in.

For example: Before making lunch, I’ll alternate 1-minute intervals of squats and lunges for 5 minutes. If that even sounds like too much to begin with, then just start with 1-minute of lunges before lunch. And then throw in 1-minute of squats after lunch. I’m just using squats and lunges as an example but if we stick with our 6-pack abs goal, maybe you wanna do some core crunches or core sliders before lunch - check my previous video for how you can do core sliders with just a towel.

Whatever it is you’re doing - start small, and remember to schedule it in your digital diary, so you have a Prompt or reminder that pops up when it’s time to do that behaviour.

Need more hydration? Add a water alarm every hour to drink 2 sips of water, so you’re reminded or prompted to do it.
Want to eat better? Schedule 5 minutes in your diary this evening so you plan out what to eat tomorrow for all 3 meals and some healthier snacks you can bring with you if you’ll be out and about.

Just a little bit of planning can go a long way. And ultimately, you’ll feel so much better with yourself by taking these small steps to nourish yourself, and that will be the motivation you’ll need to keep going.

Download the Workbook to Help You Create Your 5-Minute Moments!

If you wanna take this further, I’ve got a 9-page workbook you can download which will help you create time in your busy day to do the things that matter. I

t’ll take you through the practical steps of how you can prioritise what’s important and how to schedule them to make it happen - including your daily workouts. Maybe even breaking down your workouts into 5-minute intervals throughout your day! So download it now and start putting the right systems in place to help you get out of your rut:

Download the workbook now

Stay tuned for my next video where I’ll talk about starting up your day right with morning rituals. How your morning routine can help support you to stress less, yet accomplish more in your day.

If you enjoyed this video, please give it a like, and check out my other videos for more nutrition, fitness and lifestyle tips on how to flow through your busy life with more grace, ease and flow, and I’ll see you in the next one!