When the motivation to get healthy or fit inevitably fades away, strong habits and mental fitness can keep everything on track. Building discipline can lead to success.
“I define motivation as a feeling … feelings come and go,” said Steve Tackett, a licensed professional clinical counselor in Ashland. “You can’t really create motivation all the time.”
Rather than attempting to find motivation at every turn, Tackett said it’s important to remember the reason behind the goals.
“If you only do things when you’re motivated, you’re probably going to set yourself up for failure,” Tackett said. “Because motivation is just going to come up and down, this is really going to come back to your goals … whether it’s fitness, whether it’s trying to be a better parent, better person, whatever it may be.”
This is where being disciplined in good habits comes in to play.
“Discipline means to teach,” Tackett said.
Just as parents discipline to teach, building habits is about teaching routines to reach goals. It isn’t about punishment, he said.
Before building the habits and routines, goals must be set. When setting goals, Tackett recommends the acronym SMART, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Be detailed, said Tackett.
Beyond the SMART acronym, Tackett works with people to look at the reason behind their goals. He works to help people find the intrinsic motivation behind what they hope to achieve.
Intrinsic motivators are often more successful than external ones like looking good in the mirror, Tackett said. Once the goals and reasons behind them are clear, habits can be built to obtain those goals.
Tackett said looking at what has worked for someone in the past is a first step.
To build better habits, Tackett explained it is important to look at the habits already in place and the reason behind them. This is especially critical when trying to break bad habits.
There is something being gained from the habits, good or bad, “there’s some sort of payoff,” Tackett said. Determining the payoff helps people understand why they continue in the habits. He said it takes some self-reflection, recognizing what bad habits exist and being honest about why they exist.
What someone is currently doing is either helping them toward the goal or not, Tackett explained. He said to identify what is and is not working. From there, it’s baby steps. Establishing new habits can take anywhere from four to eight weeks.
“You’re not going to do this overnight,” Tackett said. “You have to train yourself to do it.”
Tackett advises making new habits convenient so it is easier to stick with them. He gave an example: If the habit is adding a workout into the day, Tackett said scheduling based on your current habits is best.
If someone is a morning person, adding it at an early morning hour like 5 am is probable, while an evening workout is unlikely, he explained. Meanwhile, those who are the opposite would struggle with the new workout time. Night owls would have a better chance of success adding the workout in the evening.
Tackett frequently works with people on establishing routines. They don’t need to be rigid, but general guidelines, he said. Tackett also advised scheduling things so they get done.
Though it sounds oppositional, Tackett’s advice here goes along with the morning versus evening workout example. A general schedule can be workout around 6 or 7 p.m. or go for a walk after work. Adding the habit in a way that doesn’t make a lot of changes as once.
Tackett said start small and focus on being 1% better every day. Focus on the small victories.
“You can’t compare yourself to other people,” Tackett said.
However, other people can help along the journey. Accountability is another way Tackett encourages people to keep going with their new habits and routines.
“Find people that will be in your corner,” Tackett said. “Let them know what you’re trying to do … but they’ve got to be supportive of you. You don’t want to go get the friend that is super negative all the time.”
Negativity from others or from within can derail goals.
“Whatever we put into our bodies and put into our mind is important,” said Tackett. “I always tell people, you focus on the effort. Make it measurable regarding your effort, not necessarily measuring the results, because the results will come in their own time.”
Rather than looking at the number on the scale, count the healthy choices made.
“That’s the reason I tell people don’t trust the mirror or the scale because your body will determine when and where it loses weight if that’s what you’re trying to do,” Tackett said.
Everyone needs good sleeping habits, eating habits, social habits and regular physical activity, Tackett said. However, those can look different for everyone.
People should be on a sleep schedule that allows eight hours of sleep, ideally during the 10 pm to 10 am timeframe, Tackett said, and three or four days of physical activity for at least 30 minutes that gets the heart rate up and regular eating habits . Tackett said he’s not a fan of diets.
Nightly routines done around the same time of night will train the brain to go to sleep, Tackett said.
Keeping sleep, eating, social and activity habits are “almost like muscle memory, except for your brain and your emotions,” Tackett said.
There’s no step-by-step perfect solution with a linear result Tackett can give. He said when he works with people, he gives the outline and they fill in the rest of the picture based on them.
That largely comes in daily self-care.
This can be through many ways. Some may include yoga, meditation, mindfulness and breathing. Tackett said it is a common misconception that the point of these practices are to stop the mind’s thoughts. He said it’s the opposite.
“What you’re doing, whether it’s a guided meditation, or you’re sitting watching the sunrise, what you’re doing is staying fully engaged in that moment,” Tackett said.
It’s about focus in the moment. The mind will wander. Tackett said it’s inevitable for everyone.
“I tell people, just recognize where your mind went and just come back, so you are non-judgmentally paying attention to the moments while you’re doing it is very helpful, because you can actually rewire your brain,” Tackett said.
Tackett said this can help with anxiety. Athletes use these techniques to help center themselves and help them respond in the heat of the moment, Tackett said.
“When you are anxious, when you’re stressed … your brain isn’t focused, like the front part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, it’s not active,” Tackett said. “So when you focus on your breathing, that automatically will trigger that front part of your brain. Your brain gets triggered and gets turned on — the part of your mind that deals with stress, anxiety, all of that stuff is turned off.”
He likes it to a light switch that has to be turned back on.
“I don’t think our culture or our society teaches us to just breathe and be present,” Tackett said.
When breathing exercises, mindfulness and meditation are brought up, people often think of Buddhism and Eastern philosophy, Tackett said. He said prayer is a formal practice of meditation. Mindfully eating or exercising are also examples. Connect with your environment, Tackett said.
Tackett said doing so will play into overall wellness. People can be more focused and present-minded. They have increased oxygen in the body, which leads to physical and mental benefits.
“It’s going to help regulate your heart rate,” Tackett said. “It will better manage stress, but you’re going to have to start small.”
The benefit is mental fitness which leads to physical fitness.
“They are intertwined,” Tackett said. “You could be super fit, but if your mental health is struggling, that’s going to get you. If you’re overly stressed out and got a lot going on in your head, it doesn’t matter how you eat, or how you work out sometimes, because your body is going to interpret you’re in danger because of the stress, which will then you make you hold on to fat more, etc. But we also know that if you are depressed or anxious, being physically active helps as well.”
Physical activity helps mental health because of the release of endorphins, or the feel-good chemicals in the brain, Tackett said. Poor mental health can lead to back pain, stomach issues, headaches and more.
“If your mental health is good, your physical health tends to be better, and vice versa,” Tackett said.
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