“I had a brief debate with myself about working in a three-mile jog. I’d had to skip my morning run…I usually run at 6:00 when I’m still half-asleep and my resistance is down…Before I thought too much about it, I went up the spiral stairs to change my clothes.
…If I jog for ten minutes and really really hate it, I can turn around and come back. No shame, no blame. Usually by the time the first ten minutes have elapsed, I’m into the swing of it and enjoying myself.” These are the thoughts of Kinsey Millhone, Private Eye, in R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton.

“Come back and take a class with us! It’s only a half hour.” “I know. I know I should. But I just don’t want to!” This was a conversation I had last Thursday with one of the staff at the clinic where I’m teaching mat pilates.

How does someone get from the latter mindset, (I know, but…) to the former (I just will)? How is motivation formed? This isn’t just the question, “What motivates you?”, it’s a dig into the (maybe not so distant) past to ask, “How did you get motivated in the first place? What changed?”

I have a good friend, a life-long runner. She just always has. She did in high school, it got her a scholarship to college, she has continued since she graduated. I can understand that long-standing habit. But how do people, who are so ingrained in sedentary ways, make an enormous shift?

I’ve been trying to find out an answer, by searching myself and reading all sorts of things. I came to the realization accidentally; I felt I was just fine, then when I suddenly found myself teaching pilates I also suddenly found my ‘just fine’ was actually getting better. Who’d a thunk it? But I know lots of people who have other things to do all day, who can’t quite get there.

Here’s one thing I’ve learned: People like praise, and they like company. Getting your efforts noticed and encouraged makes you more likely to continue. Also, this positive reinforcement doesn’t just need to come from an instructor; social connections made between classmates can create friendly competition, just what many people need to jumpstart them on the hard days. The lesson from this is: Join a class! Get responsible for other people, and get them responsible for you, by being socially engaged with the people you exercise with. Pilates, walking or running or biking, water aerobics, whatever!

If you’ve already got a partner or a group in mind, great!. Make a deal with a friend. If you know they really need to exercise, but won’t do it without you, doesn’t that give you more incentive, or MOTIVATION, to get out there? Can your need for them give them motivation? You’ve just accepted some responsibility for helping them, so make sure you team up with people you can count on, and make sure YOU’RE someone who can be counted on, too. And if a day comes when your friend can’t make it, do it yourself anyway to show everyone, yourself included, that it can be done.

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