A Body in Motion Stays in Motion
Newton’s first law of Motion – An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion.
A big part of why I love the work I do is seeing the breakthroughs my patients have on a daily basis. Sometimes they falter, they fail, and they let COVID get the best of them. That is OK. This is like nothing we have ever dealt with before.
The part I always find so inspiring is that no matter the stress they never fall back to where they started. They are able to find the strength again and to start moving forward again.
‘A Body in Motion Stays in Motion’ – this was one of the breakthroughs a patient of mine had this week. What he found was that once he got started, it got easier and easier to make further changes. He became increasingly motivated to start exercising again and watching his portions. Not only is this a law of physics, but there is also an entire psychological underpinning as well.
People often wait for the motivation to hit. They wait to be inspired. I hear it all the time, “If I just had more motivation, I could do it.” Or ‘How do I get motivated?” It is a common misconception that motivation comes before action. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Motivation doesn’t actually come until AFTER action. Sounds counterintuitive, right?
Though, I am sure you have experienced it. Let’s take that household task or that project from work that you have been procrastinating on. We delay, distract, clean the entire house and find literally anything to do but that task. I have no doubt I have this down to a fine art. When you finally bite the bullet and get started…all of a sudden it doesn’t seem so bad. Actually, it probably takes you a lot less time than you expected. I would even wager that when it’s done, you feel pretty darn good. Maybe even motivated to do more?
Action Drives Motivation. A Body in Motion Stays in Motion.
If we spend all of our time waiting for the motivation to come, it is never going to happen. Or if on the off chance you find some motivation or inspiration and it is the middle of the week, I always tell people START NOW. Don’t wait till Monday or the beginning of the month. The moment it strikes, get started. I will let you in on a little secret. It might seem like the motivation came before action in this case….but in reality, your action is thinking about it. Becoming emotional about it. Maybe reading about it or researching it. You took an ACTION that has set you in MOTION. If you decide to hold off till Monday or the 1st of the month, you are putting your body back at rest.
Of course, good ol’ Newton stated – an object at rest stays at rest. So Monday comes, you are at rest, and your motivation has vanished. We continue the same cycle of not taking action and hoping the motivation will come.
Today you can change that. Today you can engrain the words – ‘A Body in Motion Stays in Motion’ into your brain or hear my voice (I know some of you have me with you all day long as the voice in your heads).
Today you can take action. It doesn’t need to be anything grandiose, just ONE SMALL STEP.
Put on your running shoes. Pack your gym bag. Drink more water. It doesn’t matter as long it is an action toward the thing you want to change. When you are successful, take another step, then another, and another, and so on! Eventually, you will be on a roll. You will start feeling more confident, successful, and MOTIVATED because your body is in motion. Every step is a subconscious signal to your brain and yourself that YOU CAN DO THIS. YOU CAN CHANGE. Isn’t that an incredible power? That you have that ability? I think so.
So it is time to get started. If you are waiting for motivation to strike – STOP waiting and START DOING. The motivation will follow. 
Until next time my friends!
Always remember small tweaks lead to massive peaks!
Dr. Dan
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