Willpower is limited so make better investments with it

you just watched an inspiration scene from the movie Rocky or a clip from Bruce Lee's YouTube video on self improvement.

You bought tickets for your next family vacation and you need to get bikini ready in 2 month.

You made a bet with your coworkers to get in shape for $300.

You're super pumped and motivated.

Now what? How are you going to achieve your goal? What are your plans? What's the first step?

Writing down when you will workout on a calendar 8 weeks out is not going to help you.

Telling yourself you'll never eat carbs is NOT smart planning either.

something will get in a way. kids, strep throat, homework, knee injury, bills, thanksgiving...

Motivation is momentary and willpower is a limited resource you have.

Unless a gun is held to your face, you have money to throw at a trainer every month, or your country is depending on you winning the medal, motivation and willpower is not the ultimate answer to better your fitness.

Stop saying to yourself you need to "get motivated" and "be stricter with my diet". saying it doesn't do anything.  Waiting til Jan 1st won't help you either because you'll end up quitting by the 3rd week just like everybody else in the statistics.  What you ultimately need is to turn your limited resources of will power, money, time, etc into something sustainable, like habits.

You have to learn the skills to manage this limited resources because it is competing against another pool of tough decisions like paying bills, job interviews, caring for your pets, dealing with dramas at work, and have time for relaxation and hobbies.

Capitalize it when you have it and generate as much momentum from it when you can but ultimately, you have to be smarter with your investment (time/money/mood/energy) if you're in for the long hual. Esp if you plan to get strong and stay strong forever or simply have 60lbs to lose. that's a long journey for you to not screw up!

How do you capitalize on these fleeting moments?
you have to learn new knowledge because your old knowledge is crap and not working,

you have to reflect upon your habits objectively and with compassion so you are confident for change,

You have to plan things correctly so you're not wasting your resources on fluff,

once you have a plan, doing it is actually very simple. This is why ppl hire trainers

Plan to have the least amount of resistance in your way of getting to the gym. Regularly. Remove the issues (or excuses) of time, energy, funds, or mood to make this happen.

You also have to plan to have the least amount of distractions from having that cupcake reaching your mouth (hunger, boredom, emotional eating, social obligations...).

Examples of good, actionable planning:

Setting your alarm to drink more water when you tend to forget or do push up when you don't have time to make it to the gym.

having your gym clothes ready by the door or in your gym bag,

having foods already marinated and cleaned ready to be cooked for that day and the next few days if you're good,

tell your friends you'll show up for accountability or pay a trainer for it,

remove junk from your cabinets and stop buying them, seriously it works.

know how many calories are in foods you most likely will eat for the rest of your life. if you're stuck with pizza for the rest of your life, might as well get to know its content and work it into your diet

buy exercise bands/tubes you can carry and use when going on vacations,

having your dishes washed so you'll more likely to end up cooking in a clean/organized kitchen helps

tell your friends you rather go for a hike or window shop instead of happy hours where you know you'll end up drinking all that margaritas.

Now THAT'S planning.

Next time you see a motivational video that tells you "just do it" don't just say you'll do it, take action like the things mentioned above.

Do make sure there is a start and an end and every step of the way is something in your power to manage.

and DO make sure it is as easy and painless as possible.    A unit of willpower (whatever that is) spent on fluff is wasteful spending of your resources. Stop doing fluff n make better investments.

that way you can keep doing this miserable business call "eat less and move more" long term, so you don't have to depends solely on willpower. Willpower and Motivation is overrated