As a coach, motivation is tricky.
Clients sometimes report losing the motivation to continue their program.
On the one hand, I think motivation is a bit of a cop-out. You gotta want it—’cause if you do, motivation ceases to be an issue.
But it’s also not so cut ‘n’ dried.
Losing motivation is interpreted as “the goal just isn’t important to me anymore, or at least not worth the amount of work I gotta put in.”
But is that really the case?
Because, in my experience, complaints of losing motivation occur after a stretch of rough or busy weeks that led to:
* too many missed meals or off-plan eating or too much alcohol
* skipped workouts
* terrible sleep
* frantic state of mind or overwhelm
* no tracking or reporting or checking-in
So it’s not so much your desire to achieve the goal has changed—you’re just having trouble performing all the tasks that lead to it.
This leads to a crossroads:
1. You can accept you’re finding the process hard and need help getting in sync or require fewer/easier targets to hit.
OR
2. You can protect your ego and go full sour grapes and decide “I never really wanted the goal anyway.”
Obviously, option 1 is FAR more honest and productive. And screwing up the details of a plan is certainly not a reason to give up on the goal.
To be honest, most plans I see have WAY too many hoops to jump through.
You don’t NEED to track macros, weigh your food, report like a robot, or even hit every training and cardio session.
Those are all just helpful parts of a plan designed to bring you toward your goal.
But they’re not THE goal.
The parts can be swapped and adjusted—even entire plans overhauled.
Maybe you track breakfast and lunch but eyeball dinner?
Or need “weekends off” but with guidelines to help keep you in check?
With good coaching, there are countless options.
And while a revised plan may take longer, it might also be a more enjoyable and SUSTAINABLE journey.
And considering most discover the reward lies in the journey and not the destination, the scenic route is often the best route of all.
– Coach Bryan