How to Get and Stay Motivated

The A —> R —> M Cycle

By Coach Elise Pérez

Struggling With Motivation?

We hear the question a lot: “How do I get motivated?”

Most people expect to be struck with motivation, as if being struck by lightning.

It happens, but it’s rare.

To think that motivation will come out of nowhere and to rely on that is a poor strategy for success, not just with health and fitness, but in any realm of life. 

Here’s the expectation:

Motivation → Action → Results

In this line of thinking, motivation suddenly hits, then with that motivation you take action, from that action you will get results, and from those results you will get more motivated. 

This is not how it works. 

It’s close. But in reality, it’s a slightly different order:

Action → Results → Motivation

To get motivated, first you have to take action. From that action you will get results. From those results you then get more motivated to take more action. 

Once you make this a habit, it becomes so much easier to become disciplined. With A → R → M, you now understand how to motivate yourself and you can perpetually cycle through this with any goal. 

Let’s put it into practice:

You’re home from work, exhausted, you don’t want to work out. Just the idea alone of needing to go workout is draining. 

So you have a reason: Exhaustion. 

Which is leading to lack of action. But there is always an answer for every single reason.

Action

A 5 minute walk. 

The action doesn’t need to be big. 

Result

You feel better. You got up, you did it. Now momentum is rolling…

Motivation

You’re feeling better, you’re already up, so you feel motivated to walk for another 25 minutes. 

It can continue to trickle. You get home after your 30 minute walk and because you moved, you want to give your body something good, so you have some fruit. 

Now you’ve moved, you’ve given yourself nutrients and then you think: I’ll put my phone down and go to bed at 10pm. 

So you’ve repeated the A → R → M cycle multiple times in a single day, you’ve proven to yourself that you can do it, and you continue to do this day in and day out. 

We’re not saying it’s happily ever after from here. It’s something you have to work at constantly. But if you do this, you will inherently get more motivated with every action you take. 

The result is also that you’re growing the belief in yourself. Which causes your motivation to increase, which causes you to take more action, which causes you to get more results… Okay, we think you get it now.