From Fizzling Out to Fired Up: How to Maintain Motivation for the Long Haul

Starting to work toward a big goal is exciting, but sustaining effort is tough. Motivation fades, obstacles arise. How can you stay on track over the long haul?  In this episode, Lisa talks about her recent experience with this, offering key mindset shifts and practical strategies for consistency, self-compassion, and routine.

In this episode: 

The Power of Momentum

- Motivation ebbs and flows naturally when pursuing long-term goals. 
- Consistency is key. Keep moving forward with small steps. 
- Compounding effect of tiny actions leads to remarkable progress over months and years.

Cultivating Self-Compassion

- Self-judgment derails consistency.  Self-compassion gets you back on track.
- Reflect on how far you've come, not how you fell short of perfection.
- Allow slips to become learning experiences, not reasons to quit.

Leveraging the Power of Routines  

- Routines give you ready-made actions so you stay on track.
- Build in flexibility - don't micromanage every detail.
- Work with natural energy patterns when planning routine timing.
- Protect time for habits as non-negotiable. Prepare in advance to support routines.

Thanks for listening!

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Transcript

Lisa DuPree: [00:00:00] When we set big, exciting goals, like many of us do at the beginning of the year, most require long term effort. And it's easy to start off feeling fired up, motivated, and just ready to crush it. But then, life happens. Motivation, it comes and goes and unexpected obstacles pop up that threaten to derail our progress.

And then compound this with the fact that things like developing a new habit or significantly improving some aspect of our health or life often comes with a complex set of behaviors that requires starting new things or stopping old things, sometimes both and before we know it, we've lost momentum and progress slows or just stops altogether.

So if this stop and go experience sounds familiar to you, you are not alone. This is something so many of us struggle with, and I'm definitely not immune. My recent experience is really what prompted me to sit down and record an episode on this topic. 

Welcome to Midlife Mojo, the podcast all about how to be fit and flourish in your fifties. With me, your host with over 25 years of experience in the health, fitness, and wellness industry, Lisa DuPree. We'll be talking about all the things that support living life to the fullest. Let's dive in. 

Today, I want to explore some mindset shifts and practical strategies for more consistency, self-compassion and routine that helps sustain effort over the long haul. Because reaching big goals just doesn't happen all at once.

Real transformation takes time. It takes ongoing effort and learning to be kind to ourselves through inevitable bumps in the road. So if you've listened to the podcast in the past, you may have heard me talk about focusing on building muscle as a big goal that I've been working on. For like, two years and I'm seeing progress, but it's really slow progress.

So I decided when I was reflecting at the end of 2023 to really be strategic and consistent with what I was doing in 2024. Because that's, I think really what's going to help. I decided to take part in an eight week challenge that started on February 1st. Started out motivated, like off the charts, fully committed, was doing great with the workouts.

It's six workouts a week and there's a very specific high protein eating plan that I'm doing. And everything was going great. I'm really seeing the value in the effort and then beginning of week three. I got sick. Like this virus knocked me down. Some sort of like cold respiratory virus. I don't know. Couldn't do anything. Had to stop working out. 

And that was super frustrating because I was kind of just getting into the groove, getting into that routine. But I decided, okay, I have to actually take care of myself. I have to rest. I have to recover. So I decided, okay, I can't work out.

I'm going to just stay with the eating plan. I was still doing something kind of going in the direction where I wanted to go. But as the days went on, you know, a week goes by, I'm getting more frustrated and even the eating plan started to go by the wayside.

And when that happened, I really realized I needed to reorient and just focus on taking consistent imperfect action because it wasn't going to be perfect. But really I need to stay in action to keep the momentum that I already built up going. And I can see it already starting to just kind of wane.

[00:03:55] So, I want to just start out talking about the power of momentum. Because when you're first beginning some sort of new endeavor, motivation is usually high. You've got a clear reason why this goal matters to you and the outcome that you're working toward. You can see in your mind's eye how exactly your life is going to be better once you reach your goal.

And so after this enthusiastic beginning, you settle into actually doing the work and then things start to feel a little bit different. Progress seems slower. I know in my case, progress has been way slower than I thought it was going to be. And I realized it's just consistency, you know, putting in the volume of work that I needed wasn't happening.

And then I'm, you know, midlife and yeah, you just don't build muscle at least not quickly. It's possible. It happens, but it just doesn't happen like it did when I was in my 20s. And, so the goal and your vision for accomplishing that goal can kind of fade into the background as the day to day demands take over your focus.

And then without realizing it, your effort and your consistency starts to slide, or you hit a really unexpected obstacle like I did, and it just feels easier to procrastinate or avoid the work for a while. So here is the thing. This ebb and flow of motivation is totally normal and crushing every single day with unbridled passion is not realistic for big complex goals that take months or years to achieve.

Discipline during those periods, when you don't feel like it When you don't feel like putting in the effort, it really can start to falter. So a key mindset shift is realizing that motivation is going to ebb and flow and that consistent action helps get you through the times when motivation is low.

When it comes to accomplishing any major goal, you've just got to show up day after day, putting in the work on a regular basis. If, you want to see those lasting results. Consistency comes first and that creates the conditions for the big successes and the transformations to emerge over time. You know, the people who make real remarkable change in their lives, they're just showing up like every single day, taking small steps forward.

It's not sexy, it's not clickbaity, but it, it is just the way it is. Even on days when you don't feel like it or you're just not able to do 100 percent or even like for me, when I got back to working out last week, like not even like 90%, probably not even 80%. Even when that progress is going to seem painfully slow, taking those small actions makes a difference because it's a compounding effect, just like when you have money in a savings account and you're getting compounded interest.

Those small repetitive actions lead somewhere amazing after months and years. There's a saying I like to remember, it's “yard by yard, it feels pretty hard. Inch by inch, it's a cinch.” And so rather than waiting until you feel super motivated and inspired again, or waiting until all the stars have aligned perfectly and the path is clear, you know, it's just the perfect time, rather than wait for that to happen, take imperfect action.

Do what you can, even in small ways, to keep going in the direction of your desired outcome bit by bit. Your job is just simply to focus on the inches, the daily actions, the small increments of progress. For instance, if you wanted to get really fit this year, whatever that looks like for you, most likely exercising once or twice a week for 15 minutes isn't going to cut it.

Depending on where you're starting from, you may see improvements. Yes, but is it going to really get you to where you want to end up at the end of the year? So you really think about that. And then think about what it's going to take. And if, it's going to take committing to 30 to 45 minutes of movement every day then.

How can you work that in? Because that's going to be more powerful. Think of that compounded interest day after day after day. So I invite you to get out your calendar and schedule these appointments with yourself. I like to call them consistency appointments. And I block out those workout times or set up a recurring alarm that reminds you to like, If your goal is meal planning, prep your vegetables, have a healthy protein and a whole grain, and then do that all on a Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. so that you have what you need for at least the beginning of the week. You know, treat these time blocks like important meetings with your future self that cannot be moved or canceled. Even if all you do is show up and do 10, 15 minutes of that habit of a day, call that a win.

Stop judging yourself and instead celebrate the fact that you followed through on that commitment to yourself.

When I started February 1st this challenge, I started a consistency calendar. I got this idea from my significant other when he was training for his Ironman races. He would map out his workouts for a month and then every day that he did that workout successfully, he highlighted it in yellow.

I'll share my consistency calendar at lisadupreecoaching on Instagram. I'll share that for you so you can see what that looks like. I found that super motivating and it helps because you can see the momentum. So on the days where I met my meal plan goals, I circle the day in yellow and then on the days that I completed my workouts, I put a check mark in blue.

It's really nice cause I'm at the end of the month now and I can see how much work I've actually done. Thinking about, kind of, how are you going to, hold yourself accountable and get that consistency 

[00:010:22] I want to transition into talking about self-judgment, self-compassion, cause that's another piece of the consistency puzzle and that really, really hit home for me when I got sick.

In that third week of this month because having compassion for yourself is absolutely essential for sticking with positive changes over the long haul because you will mess up, you will have bad days when you break your promises to yourself and fall off the wagon. That's a hundred percent guaranteed to happen at some point.

So in order to get back up and stay consistent, you have to be kind and not critical with yourself in those moments. Like. Talk to yourself in the same gentle, caring way you would a good friend who's struggling or made a mistake. Because my friend, you are human and it's okay and dare I say expected to stumble, take a couple of steps forward, take a step back.

So thinking about, like, Just taking a moment, pause, re center yourself, you know, take a couple of deep breaths if that helps you in the moment and reflect on how far you have already come and don't focus on how you fell short of perfection one day because it is not at all about being perfect.

It's about learning and making consistent progress. One overindulgence, one missed workout is not going to make any difference whatsoever. What does make a difference is when you allow that one overindulgence or that one missed workout or whatever it is you slip up on to compound into two, three, four misses, four overindulgences, and then you get to the point where you just say, screw it, I can't do it.

Or, you know, even sometimes we'll say to ourselves, like, I just don't have what it takes to do this. You know, I don't even deserve to reach my goal. Why am I even going to try? Notice those thoughts in that internal voice that's coming up in these moments. Cause I will tell you when I got sick and I couldn't do the workouts and then I felt like when I was getting back to where I felt like I could do the workout, I couldn't do it a hundred percent.

Like I had to go down in weights. I had, you know, an hour workout took me an hour and a half because I had to sit and rest so long between sets because I just couldn't breathe as well. So, those voices kept coming into my head. And listen to those because it creates a narrative and this personalized story has a huge impact on your likelihood of staying the course and doing the work required to accomplish what you set out to do.

The more that you build emotional resilience, It's self-compassion. The less likely you are to quit after any given setback. Use a slip up to get curious and learn what went sideways, and then, take a pause, course correct, but do that with encouragement for yourself and self-compassion and not judgment.

So when you're cynical, mean, inner critic pipes up, you know, notice the story it's trying to tell you. What is it trying to sell you on? And purposefully pivot your self talk. Things that I know helped me, are just saying things like, Today was a tough day, but tomorrow, tomorrow's a new day. It's a fresh start.

I get to try again. Speak to yourself the way you would want your best friend or your child to speak to themselves. Honestly you deserve that kindness. Remember that. You deserve that kindness. 

[00:14:11] All right, so let's shift gears one final time and get into an essential structural piece to keep progress going and that is cultivating routines.

Having solid routines in place gives you ready made actions to take on days that you, you don't feel like it, you're not feeling it, you don't wanna. Now, I know talk of routines or discipline can sometimes sound rigid and boring. I was very resistant to the thought of routines because I honestly, I felt it would confine me to a dull lifeless existence. I envisioned no spontaneity, no freedom of choice. However, I will say I've come to embrace routines more recently and that is because thoughtfully designed routines actually create the structure that frees you.

I would have probably argued with you a year ago on that point, but now I've totally bought into it because what creating a thoughtful routine has done for me is it's freed up my mental and emotional energy to just do the work, do the things. So yeah big, big switch for me. But it's working so I'm going to stay with it. 

By turning important actions into consistent habits, you conserve mental bandwidth. And I need all the mental bandwidth that I can get to do all the things I want to do. So rather than constantly having to decide Oh, what should I do now?

How am I going to fit this in? Having these habits and routines allow you to know exactly what to do next and when to do it. The key though, at least I found this is key for me, is building flexibility into these routines. Scheduling blocks of time for your goal related tasks is important, but don't try to micromanage every moment.

Nobody wants to be micromanaged. Don't try to inflict that on yourself. Leave plenty of breathing room for spontaneity, for fun, for variety as part of the bigger picture. So for example, my current routine is setting aside one hour a day, four days a week for strength training.

But the details of the exercises, how many reps I'm going to be doing the different exercises that I can do to work the same body part, what music I listen to, the time of the day, I do the workout, it kind of varies. It's within a time block in the afternoon, but it can be changed up for variety and, make it fit into what else I've got going on. The consistency piece here is just showing up for your workouts on those four days of the week for strength training.

When it comes to timing your routines as well, work with your own natural rhythms. This is something that it's taken me a long time to accept and work with. But consider, are you a morning person or are you a night person? And when is your energy highest? When do you have the most focus?

You want to schedule your most important work during those peak energy times, trying to force yourself into an unnatural schedule is exhausting. And it doesn't set you up for success. What are the optimal times when you operate best and plan around those. For me, I am straight up a night owl.

I prefer to work out in the evening. I'm productive in the late morning and early afternoon for work tasks, but for working out, I strongly prefer the evening. 

My partner loves working out in the morning. He will get up at 5 in the morning and go and work out and have energy all day. It jazzes him and I've gotten up and gone and worked out with him and one I am not pleasant to be with in the morning, especially at that time because I feel like I should be asleep and yeah, I just was wiped the rest of the day. It made me grumpy the whole day. So accepting that about myself. I know this, so working out at night it is. Another example that I've found that really worked for me is to take advantage of doing things at night that prepare me for the next day. Packing my gym bag on Monday nights and putting it in my car because I plan to go to my Zumba class after work on Tuesdays at 6:30. 

This accomplishes a couple of things for me. One, I'm not scrambling to find my shoes, my water bottle, my exercise clothes on Tuesday morning and I can go straight from work to class without having to stop back at the house because I already have what I need with me. Taking that five minutes to toss everything into the gym bag the night before really eases the stress for me in the morning.

It's one less thing to do and it decreases the likelihood that I'll go home and just veg on the couch after work and skip class altogether. Another example is prepping breakfast. Putting oatmeal with cinnamon and dried fruit into jars. And then hard boiling eggs on Sunday for the week ahead. That way I've got a healthy breakfast option that is ready to just be grabbed out of the fridge.

And I don't have to think about that in the morning either. So, yeah, you can tell I'm not at all a morning person. You know I gotta make mornings easier any way that I can. 

[00:19:43] All right, we've covered quite a bit, so if you only take away one thing from our time together today, please know this. You absolutely have what it takes to create positive change and live a healthy, vibrant life that you deserve in your 40s, 50s, and beyond.

So when motivation starts to flag, willpower and white knuckling it may keep you going for a little bit, but it's not likely to get you to the finish line. You need tools like consistency, self-compassion, and routine on your side. So here's a quick recap of some of the key points. Consistent action helps power you through motivational ups and downs.

Keep moving forward with small steps, even on days when you don't really feel like it and appreciate any action that you are taking, even if it's imperfect action that keeps you moving in the direction that you want to go. And cultivating self-compassion is key so that you can relate to yourself with care, especially when obstacles arise.

Notice that judgmental self-talk and consciously reframe it with understanding. Finally, thoughtfully designed routines create structure, so you always know the next step to take. But, build in flexibility so your schedule doesn't become overly rigid.

Plan your routines intentionally, taking into consideration your natural energy patterns, and existing schedule, and protect the time that you've dedicated to actionable steps towards your goal, protect that as non-negotiable. You have so much wisdom and life experience to draw on that your younger self didn't have access to.

Now is your time to thrive and I'll be right there cheering you on every step of the way. Please reach out anytime for more support and strategies. For now, go out there and keep your mojo rising. 

If this episode has been helpful to you, I'd love to hear from you. If there's a topic you'd like to hear more about, email me at Lisa at LisaDupreeCoaching. com or connect with me on Instagram at LisaDupreeCoaching. Thank you for listening. Bye for now.