Here is a simple dictionary definition of motivation: “A driving force, responsible for the initiation, persistance, direction and vigour of a goal-directed behavior”. The question is – what is this ‘force’ that is referred to in the above definition? I see two possibilities. The first one is the way in which most people describe motivation; as a ‘feeling’ – of wanting to do something. So when someone says they want to be more motivated, they usually mean that they want to enjoy eg going to gym more – they want to feel like going. The problem with this notion of motivation is that as normal human beings, what we feel at any given moment is not totally under our control. Rather, it is significantly influenced by external circumstances. So in winter, when it’s cold, dark and rainy, you are less likely to feel motivated to get up and go to gym than in summer when it’s warm and sunny outside. And because this notion of motivation puts you at the mercy of circumstances which are not under your control, your gym attendance is likely to be less consistent. The second interpretation of ‘force’ in the above definition, would be that of a commitment to the specific behaviours (eg going to gym) that lead towards your longer term goal (eg health or quality of life). The important point here is that these actions are indeed totally under your own control. Ultimately it is these motivated actions – and not feeling motivated – that get you fitter. You can in theory feel incredibly motivated but do nothing, but the opposite holds true too – you can do lots even though you don’t feel motivated. What ultimately differentiates regular exercisers from non-regular exercisers is this commitment to action, regardless of what their feeling state might be at any given moment. This might feel like an impossible ask, but the truth is that we all employ this skill every day of our lives - when we cook even though we don’t feel like it, go to work regardless of whether we feel motivated to do so or not, or when we look after our kids even though there are sometimes other things which we would rather be doing. Bottom-line, when we make the same depth of commitment to the ACTION of exercising as we do to these other things, two remarkable things happen; firstly, we start actually exercising more consistently, and secondly (strangely enough) it becomes easier to do so – largely because we’re no longer allowing ourselves the whole debate of ‘should I / shouldn’t I’.