Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Paramotivation

When watching the Mish Vid on the "Motivation Myth", I really did exercise my little brain cells, and I had something of an epiphany.

Yes, it is bad to use motivation as a reason for exercising.  It's bad, because being motivated is something that we need to add to our normal state of being in order to do something.  And so if we don't adopt that thing, it implies that we won't do what we should be motivated to do.  It actually gives us an 'out', too: put on your best whiny voice, and say, "But I'm not mooooootivated to go outside in the freezing cold and run today".

Oh, but of course.  You're not motivated, and so how could you do it?

So, if we want to ensure that we run up those hills and sweat our little guts out, we need to lose motivation as a reason for doing something,

And that is where JFDI comes in.  I can say it here.  Just Fucking Do It.  

You know that's what she says to her clients in real life.

That is, we just do.  We do it.  No particular reason.  Kind of like we breathe. It just happens, all on its own, without us being motivated to do it.

If we are really attached to the concept of motivation, perhaps we should forever definite it in its opposite, negative (the but-I-don't-want-to) sense .  It's paramotivation: it's that thing that stops you from doing something.

Thus (and I'm really sorry that I'm beginning to sound like my Logic 101 lecturer; oh God, please don't let me grow a long white beard and start shopping for plaid shirts), our default should be that we JFDI.  That's what we do.  If you don't wan't to do it, then you are paramotivated.

That is, we don't need an excuse to exercise.  It's because it's something that we just do.  It's our normal state of being.  The abnormal state of being is when we don't exercise; that's when we're suffering from paramotivation.

Sounds like a yucky disease; thank goodness I'm cured.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Emily. Do you really? You seem like you are doing amazing! Is it maybe that you have done so well thus far that you are resting on your past achievements? Also, you seem to be putting sooooo much into this; maybe you are tired? Maybe give yourself a day off the exercise (if you really are tired) and then you'll probably be aching to go for it the next day.

    And I'm going ok. I'm not a model student, but I'm feeling good about myself for as long as I know that I am doing my best to eat and exercise according to the plan as much as possible. My 'situation' (living with parents, with two littlies, and having this little thing called a law practice to run!) doesn't allow me to commit to this to the letter, but I'm not allowing myself to do anything 'naughty', so that the upshot is that I'm losing weight and getting fitter. It's all heading in the right direction, but maybe just a little less dramatically than if I could devote more time to it.

    Thanks for your support Emily.

    Now, stop playing on the internet, and do some study! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I've just been getting a little bit complacent about the exercise but I don't feel like I'm ready to give up just yet either :) I think I might be a bit tired, we actually missed our Tuesday session because I got home around 5 and we both just fell asleep until 11pm! then we had some toast and back to sleep we went.

      I think it's great that you're being smart about it, changing things around to suit your situation and not beating yourself about not being about to commit to the letter. You will be able to sustain long-term changes better that way as well :)

      I hope you have been well!

      Delete
  2. Oh, I do love a new word. And a new concept. How you managed to think up both while juggling everything else from babies to a proper job and living away from home and 12wbt plus plus plus, I'll never know. But I'm very glad that you can. Bravo! Excellent post.

    ReplyDelete