[CHEAT SHEET] 17 Motivation Boosters
Welcome! Below you’ll find a list of some of my top motivation boosters that you can use to help get your workout done day after day, and also to help you push through on those days where working out is the very last thing you want to do.
And when I say “workout” I of course mean doing your workout, but I also mean following through on the nutrition side of things. As we know, your nutrition is just as important as your workouts. So you can also use the motivation boosters below to help you follow through with the nutrition side of things (not ALL of them can be used to help you stick with your nutrition, but many of them can be used).
Also, many of these motivation boosters may seem really really simple. And they are. But don’t let their simplicity fool you into thinking they aren’t effective. They are all very, very effective and are based on my own trial and error in seeing what works and what doesn’t work. On top of that, most of them are backed by science and what has been proven to drive us to action.
Lastly, to get the best results from this cheat sheet…
I recommend reading it from start to finish first. It would also be a good idea to bookmark this page so you can reference it whenever you need a boost. Then just pick and choose whatever motivation booster you want to do to help push you forward. I personally use at least several of these motivation boosters everyday on days that I’m working out.
So you can definitely combine them and use multiple motivation boosters at once. I do exactly that, and I think you’ll get much better results that way.
At the end of the day though, do what works FOR YOU. That’s at all that matters!
Ok, here we go…
Motivation Booster #1
Play your favorite music for 15 minutes before your workout
Music is so powerful. It creates emotion. It creates excitement. And it can help you to CRUSH your workouts. So just blast your favorite music that hypes you up for about 15 minutes before you workout. This is something I do before ALL of my workouts. Guaranteed you will go into your workout fired up and ready kick your own booty. :-)
Check out this blog post for my all time favorite music app that I listen to before my workouts (and during).
Motivation Booster #2
Watch a motivational video
Just like music can create intense emotion within us (that can spur us to action), so can video. Video can be even more powerful because it combines audio AND visual stimulus (sounds scientific doesn’t it?). If working out is the very last thing you want to do, just play one of these videos here (or several), and then go get your workout on!
Motivation Booster #3
Look at inspiring photos
This might seem weird or superficial, but it works. Essentially you’re looking at other successful people (who have the results you want), and you’re admiring them, and visualizing that success as your own.
If you do any type of personal development, you’ll hear about this technique. Again it might seem weird, but it works. Now of course you can’t just stare at pictures and get fit with magic. You have to do your workouts. But doing this will help create motivation, inspiration, and drive to git r’ done!
All you do is just go to Google and type in whatever your goal is followed by your sex. Then you click on images to see images, and BOOM, you’ll see people who have the results you want.
Now as a warning weird images might pop up, like this one when I typed in “big chest man”-
But Google is overall pretty good at showing relevant images.
So just ignore the interesting looking dudes wearing banana shirts. ;-)
Motivation Booster #4
Think about your deeper “WHY” for working out
This is huge. Having a goal like I want to lose 10 pounds, or I want to get a six pack, etc…that’s a good start.
But on the days where working out is the very LAST thing you want to do, usually that’s not enough to keep you going.
So ask yourself…
- WHY do I want to lose those 10 pounds?
- Then whatever your answer to #1 is, ask yourself, WHY is that important to me? Or WHY do I want to accomplish that?
- Lastly, whatever your answer to #2 is, ask yourself again, WHY is that important to me? Or WHY do I want to accomplish that?
That’s usually enough to help get you to your deep WHY for working out.
This is something we go deep into for our Challengers (aka people who take me up on the offer I make at the end of this webclass). Mindset is everything when it comes to your success. It can either catapult you to accomplishing all of your goals, dreams, and more…OR it can keep you stuck, seemingly never hitting your goals and always struggling.
Motivation Booster #5
Tell a friend you’re working out today, and have them ask you how your workout went
This is a great accountability because it helps tap into our very human nature. Most people (including myself), don’t like disappointing others, AND we don’t like looking stupid, or looking bad in front of other people. So by simply just telling a friend that you’re going to work out today, and then asking that friend to ask you how your workout went at a later time in the day…it makes it way more likely that you’ll get it done.
Simple right? It is. So USE this whenever you need it.
Motivation Booster #6
Work towards “X” event
I’m a big believer in NOT working out solely because your wedding is coming up, your beach trip is coming up, it’s January, whatever.
Why? Because what do most people do after their beach trip, or after their wedding, or after January is gone?
They go right back to their old ways. Then the next event comes they’ll lose the weight again…then gain it back. Next event comes, they lose the weight again, and they gain even MORE weight back. This repeats over, and over, and over again.
That sucks! It crushes your confidence and self esteem.
HOWEVER…
Once you’ve established your deep reason for WHY you’re working out…you’ve gotten yourself in the habit of working out, using upcoming events is a great way to help propel you forward, to keep you going, and to help you push harder during your workouts.
So just look on your calendar and see what events you have coming up that involve you doing something athletic (like running a race, etc), or where you’ll have to wear a bathing suit (vacation at the beach, pool party, etc). Better yet, if you have nothing coming up, sign up for a 5K, or an obstacle course race. Set a weekend to go to your local water park. Just set up something so that you have an event to work towards to help keep you goin.
Motivation Booster #7
Have some caffeine!
Caffeine has been proven again and again to help aid in burning fat, as well as helping you to get a better workout. I mean we all know (unless you avoid caffeine), that caffeine perks us up and gives us energy. So if it’s early in the morning, you just don’t have much energy, or you just want to make sure you get an awesome workout in, then have some caffeine about 20 to 30 minutes before your workout.
Some people do coffee (I can’t do coffee because it gives me headaches, and messes up my stomach), some people do green tea, but then there’s also something called “pre-workouts” which are specifically designed to help you burn more fat, give you more energy, and just have a great workout. Just be careful though because there’s a lot of not so legitimate companies out there that sell pre-workouts, but then load them up with untested, unsafe mystery ingredients that people have died from or have caused serious healthy problems (seriously…I’m not exaggerating on this so be careful).
This is one of the very few pre-workout’s I personally use and recommend. Everything that is in it has been scientifically proven to help boost your energy. Plus it has no artificial colors, artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, or weird untested, unsafe mystery ingredients.
Motivation Booster #8
Use this powerful affirmation
One of the key things that controls our actions…is our identity. And our identity is who we see ourselves as. If I were to see myself as an unfit person who just loves food, and who can’t control themselves when around food…I’m probably going to have little to no control when I’m around food, and I’m probably going to be unfit.
On the otherhand, if I see myself as a “fit person” who loves being fit, who loves doing active things, and loves the challenge of a good workout…then my actions will more then likely follow that identity. Who we see ourselves as, controls our actions.
So one affirmation that I like to think about, or even say out loud when I’m working out, or about to workout when working out is the last thing I want to do is this:
“I’m just the kind of person who workouts even when I don’t feel like it.”
If you believe that, then that will help push you forward. You may not enjoy your workout, but you’ll get it done. And getting it done is always better than nothing at all.
Motivation Booster #9
Glance at your before photos or other embarrassing pictures
I know for some people, looking at your before photos can be discouraging. It can make you think about how much weight you need to lose, or how long it will take you to lose that weight, how long it will take you to gain muscle, etc. It can create feelings of this big ole’ mountain you need to climb. And it seems impossible.
But instead of thinking about it that way, think about it this way…Get angry. Get MAD at yourself for disrespecting yourself this way. YOU DESERVE to live a very long, very healthy life. You DESERVE to feel good about yourself.
Look at your before pictures and use them as MOTIVATION to get yourself going. Use them as MOTIVATION to what you NEVER, EVER want to go back to.
Leverage that anger, that disgust, that disappointment for good. Channel those feelings into your workout, and just go ALL OUT…let them go during your workouts.
I guarantee you, you will get an amazing workout in if you do that. You will go all out. You will feel the anger leaving your body. And it feels so dang good to let go of it…
Motivation Booster #10
Look at your recent after photos
Often times we don’t see a true reflection of ourselves in the mirror. Even though we’ve been working out, we’ve been sticking with our nutrition, you might still see that soft, flabby person in the mirror. So by simply looking at your recent after photos, or photos of you at the pool, or at the beach, you just might see a whole new you that you haven’t seen before.
And maybe you’re not yet where you want to be. That’s OK. Look for the positive changes. If you’ve been on your journey for at least 30 days, I can almost guarantee that the positive changes are there. You just have to look for them.
Motivation Booster #11
Dance like a crazy person to your favorite music
This might seem weird, but there’s something very, very gratifying about just letting lose, and being your true crazy self. :-) So all you need to do is just flip on your favorite music (whatever song or genre that when you hear it, you just want to sing at the top of your lungs, and it gives you a burst of energy), turn the music up loud, and dance. Let lose. Be you.
Just have fun, and do whatever you have to do to hype yourself up for the amazing workout you’re about to get.
Motivation Booster #12
Play your favorite music WHILE you workout
This is another super simple motivation booster. Play your favorite music WHILE you are working out. If you workout at a gym, just load up your phone with your favorite tunes, or connect to your gym’s wifi, and play your favorite music using a music app.
Or if you workout at home like I do, then just do the same thing. Check out this blog post for my all time favorite music app and setup I use at home to play my favorite music.
Motivation Booster #13
Write out what would happen if you skipped today’s workout, and then made a habit of it
This is somewhat similar to the motivation booster where you think about your deep “WHY” for working out. But the difference here is you want to think about the negative, horrible things that can happen if you make a habit of skipping your workouts.
YES, this uncomfortable, YES you have to go to a negative, dark place…BUT, we are simply tapping into another proven driver of human behavior. And that is the tendency for most people to take action based on moving away from pain, or to avoid pain. In otherwords, it is usually much more likely that we’ll take action so we can avoid or move away from pain, versus taking action for pleasure.
I’ll spare you from the boredom of sharing a bunch of examples proving this, but just know that this is something we can leverage to help us get our workouts done.
So all you need to do is just grab a sheet of paper, and spend 5 minutes to 10 minutes (or as long as you need), and just write out what are the really bad, negative things that will happen if you make a habit of skipping your workouts. Really go deep, dark, and get emotional with it.
Think about how this will affect you, your health, your kids, your spouse, your friends, etc. The more pain points you can come up with, the better.
Motivation Booster #14
Think about the people in your life who you want to prove wrong
Proving someone wrong can be a powerful way to help move you to action. It has been for me at least. I think almost all of us have people in our life who have made fun of us, who have doubted us, who have looked down on us, who have made us feel stupid…
And unfortunately, sometimes we have family members who are like that. So unlike non-family members, we may not necessarily be able to just shut them out of our life. Or maybe they’re a coworker and we just can’t avoid them.
Instead of letting people like that bring you down, we can use those people to help keep us going.
So just think about someone in your life who you want to prove wrong. Someone who has made fun of you, doubted you, looked down on you, or made you feel stupid…Picture them in your mind. Imagine the situation where they made you feel that way…then use that negative energy to DO YOUR WORKOUT, to push as HARD AS YOU CAN, and to POWER through it.
THEY are the ones with the a low self esteem. Bringing other people down is how they lift themselves up and feel good about themselves. SCREW THAT. SCREW THEM. PROVE THEM WRONG.
Motivation Booster #15
Think about the people in your life you want to impress
This might seem superficial (it is), but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it. This is yet another great motivator to get your workouts done. As a married dude, I want to impress my wife. I want to look good for her. And while we have a rock solid relationship, I fully accept that we are humans who notice other attractive people. Right? I mean lets be real.
With that in mind…I may not be the fittest dude on earth, but I want to be the best, fittest me possible so I can impress her. So she looks around and is thankful for having me as her husband. I want her to want me, and see me as attractive. Again I know that sounds superficial, but if that helps keep you working out…then who cares right?
But of course, YES, you shouldn’t SOLELY workout to impress someone (that’s a given), but stacking this on top of doing it for you, is an awesome motivation booster.
So just think about someone you want to impress. Use that to help you stick with your workouts and keep going when you don’t want to workout.
Motivation Booster #16
Go to the one person who looks up to you most, and tell them this to their face
Here’s what you do. Just think about someone in your life that you look up to, or someone who looks up to you. So it could be your son, your daughter, your spouse, a mentor, etc.
Now, either do your workout now, OR go tell them this to their face right now:
“I don’t feel like working out today, so I’m not going to do it.”
If you really truly look up to that person, or they look up to you, this is a going to be a very hard, very painful experience that you’re not going to want to do. So you’ll end up either just doing your workout, or…the pain you experience from having tell the person you don’t feel like doing your workout will be enough to help push you forward when you feel like skipping your workout in the future.
Motivation Booster #17
If you’re part of our private Challenge Facebook group, let us know how you’re feeling
I literally did this this morning (about 2 hours ago) as of me typing this. Here’s the post I made-
And guess what? I did my workout. I definitely didn’t feel like working out, but I got it done.
Knowing that I was going to have to tell a bunch of people that I either did my workout, or I didn’t do it, definitely helped push me to just do it. So this is so simple, but it’s very, very effective.