Episode 17: You’re Not Unmotivated, You Just Lost Your Focus

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Welcome to the Reclaim podcast. I’m your host, Leah Van Dolder. I’m a weight loss dietitian and mindset coach and this program’s for you if you’re a busy working woman or female entrepreneur and you’re ready to take charge of your health, you’re ready to lose weight and make lasting positive change in your life.

The only kicker is that you’re on the brink of burnout. You’re exhausted. You are frustrated. You’re feeling discouraged and uncomfortable. And this is how I help my clients, giving you simple, practical and savvy strategies to help you achieve your goals while reducing your stress, boosting your mood, your energy and your self-confidence. To learn more about working with me, check out my website at leahvandolder.com. Welcome to the show.

All right. All right, guys, welcome to this episode of the Reclaim podcast. We’re going to talk about motivation because how many times have you gotten a slump over there and you have a really hard time pulling yourself out. And I was talking to a client the other day, she’s like, I’m all motivated when I chat to you. And then, you know, after I get off a call with you and life happens and kids come in and then I just lose my motivation. So we’re going to talk about creating motivation, how to keep it and really pushing through on your health and your weight loss journey. So let’s get right into it.

So when it comes to motivation, I’m here to discuss a few things that I’ve learned about motivation over the years. And like you guys know, yes, I’m a weight loss dietitian, but I’m absolutely fascinated with psychology, how our brain works and how the, how the opportunity to work with a lot of really great psychologists and registered psychotherapists over the years and really understanding motivation.

So some things about motivation, I mean, there is this common misconception around motivation and it sounds something like this. You know, you’re waiting around for motivation to appear before you actually take action on something. We think in our mind that motivation is something that, you know, we have to wait for before we do something, which is the biggest load ever, because really you’re going to be waiting around a long time before you actually do something. If that is your tactic, if you’re waiting around to feel motivated before you actually do something, it’s going to take you a long, long time to achieve your goals because motivation is not going to be there every single day. It’s not.

And the really cool thing about motivation is that it’s a state, you know, it’s an emotional state or a feeling that is created within us. And motivation is actually the byproduct of you taking action. So think about the most or think about a time when you felt really motivated, right? It’s probably when you are doing all the things that align with your health and your weight loss goals, right? You’re getting in your seven to 10,000 steps a day, your meal prepping on Sunday to have healthy food in the house. You are really paying attention to the portions on your plate. You’re reining in that nighttime snacking, right? You’re feeling really good. You’re feeling motivated because you’re taking the actions that align with your healthy and happy vision. You are the one that’s creating motivation.

I find it really empowering that is within our control to create that feeling of motivation, right? So stop being a victim to, oh, well, I don’t feel motivated. Hold on. You can create motivation within you because motivation is the byproduct of you taking action, even if you just start. Because when you’re feeling unmotivated, I mean, the last thing that you want to do is like get your shoes on to go out for a power walk or, you know, get into the kitchen and make a big batch of chicken and vegetables. Like you’re not super stoked about doing that.

So I find it’s really helpful. Like for me and for a lot of my clients, using the language, just start. All you gotta do is just get in the kitchen and just start by cutting up that one vegetable. Just start. It makes it a little bit easier for your brain to digest that versus, oh my gosh, I got to go make this massive chicken stir fry. Like, oh, it’s going to take me so long, blah, blah, blah. You just get down a deep, dark hole. Just don’t even go there.

Bring him back to all. I gotta do a start. I can do that. Same thing with your walk, right? All I gotta do is the first three minutes, which means getting your butt out the door and just going. All I gotta do is start because when you start, you’re actually taking action and motivation is a byproduct of you taking action. You’ll start feeling motivated when you start doing something.

So I want you to start thinking about that too. Now you’re probably seeing like action and motivation and the flip order of how you thought it was. Motivation does not have to come first before you start doing something. Switch that order in your mind. You take action and then it creates motivation within you.

It’s cool. I was listening to Mel Robbins the other day. She was talking about motivation, right? She’s like, you’re not unmotivated. You’ve just lost your focus and it’s so true, right? It is so true. You’re feeling unmotivated because you’ve lost your focus on your goals. You know, you’re not taking action towards your goals. You’ve lost that focus and it’s, you know, just as quickly we lose focus on our goals, we can just as quickly refocus on the goals.

And I think that’s something that, well, it’s a massive thing that I help my clients with is, you know what? Yeah, you had a wrench thrown, thrown in your plan this week. Like your kids are sick or you’ve got crazy hours or your hubbies now working like 12 hour shifts, like five nights in a row and you’re solo parenting. Like, yeah, sure. Life will throw you a wrench, but you can pull yourself back. You can recalibrate at any time. That’s within your control. Recalibrate, refocus.

The other cool thing about motivation is I like to think about it as a separate entity from myself. So instead of throwing out the old, uh, Oh, I’m not motivated. I’m so lazy. You’re actually without even realizing attaching a label to yourself personally, right? I’m unmotivated. I’m lazy. No, you’re not. Separate out those two by saying, I’m just feeling unmotivated at the moment. I’m just feeling lazy at the moment. Separate those two.

Stop labeling yourself as an unmotivated person. No, you’re not. You’re just temporary feeling this sense of unmotivation. I find that’s really helpful. Separate the two. It kind of gives you a little bit of perspective, right? And then you can step into the old power seat and say, all right, this is just this temporary feeling that I’m experiencing, but you know what? I have the power to create motivation for myself by taking action and I’m just going to start.

This is kind of cool, right? It shifts your perspective around motivation. It makes you think differently about motivation. And this is what it’s all about. Like, this is how I held my clients. I was talking to a woman the other day. She’s like, you just helped me see things so differently and really pay attention to my thought process. So I’m able to catch it, change it. And it’s completely changed my life.

We were chatting just yesterday and she’s like over the last three to four months, I’ve lost 12 pounds. I look at myself in the mirror and I am happy with what I see because I’ve created such a sense of accomplishment within me because I’ve been able to separate myself from that feeling of unmotivated or feeling lazy, been able to really tap into the action to create motivation for herself. She is doing so much more. She is taking action so much more often. You get results.

And if you’re sitting over there and you’re really feeling unmotivated, you’re feeling lazy, you have a really hard time creating motivation for yourself or getting back on track, reach out. I would love to talk to you about your goals. Come follow me on Instagram at Leah Van Dolder. Send me a DM. I’d love to chat with you and connect. And there is a link in my show notes to apply to work with me. So go check that out.

So let’s talk about some action steps because we’ve talked about, you know, the thought process around mindset. We’ve talked about some abstract things here, but we got to talk about strategy, right? How can you apply this stuff in your everyday life? And this is how I help my clients application, application, application, right?

Because you could learn all of this stuff. You can take in all the knowledge, tips and tricks in the world, but if you don’t apply it, you’re not going to get anything out of it. That’s what’s so great about a coaching program, accountability, having somebody there that, you know, sees you. So you’re not slipping through the cracks action steps for you.

So if we know that motivation is something that can be created and knowing that you haven’t lost motivation, you’ve just lost focus on your direction. Well, let’s make a plan every single week. This is what I talk about with my clients and I do this for myself within my business. Every single week, Sunday afternoon, I take 10, 15 minutes of my time. That is sacred time to look at my week in advance.

Look at what’s coming down the pipeline for the week. Look at your calendar and make a plan and map out your goals, your action steps for the week. So for me, you know, I take my calendar and say, okay, I’m going to talk to 10 people every single day. I put 10 little boxes on every single day of the week so I can check them off. You know what you’re working towards. Now you’ve refocused yourself because you can see exactly what you’re working towards for my clients, for example.

And honestly, for myself too, mapping in or blocking in the exercise that you’re going to accomplish that week. Block in Monday. I’m doing strength training at 9 a.m. Tuesday, I’m going to do yoga. That’s at 5.30 after work. Thursday morning, I’m going to go out for a power walk with my friend at 7.30 in the morning. Sunday afternoon, I’m going to get out for a hike with my family. Put those in your calendar. It gives you context. You’re super specific about the time. You see what’s coming. You got to make a plan.

Now you’ve focused and you know exactly what you’re working towards. Same thing with your nutrition goals, right? Put a little check mark box in your calendar for, say, your goal is to eat lunch. Eat a balanced lunch. Put that in your calendar. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Give yourself a check mark for it. Or meal prep on Sunday, right?

You want to take 30 minutes of your time on Sunday investing that time in mapping out your dinners for the week in advance and maybe cooking up a protein and a couple of veggies so that they’re sitting there in the fridge for the week. Block that in your calendar. Make it happen. That can really help with motivation because now you have a, you’ve got focus for the week and that’s something to do every single week.

Because when you’re feeling unmotivated, it’s because you’ve lost focus. So if you’re not putting those goals in your calendar, if you’re not seeing them, well, yeah, we really forget about our goals when they’re not in our face all the time, right? This is how I help my clients really refocusing, looking at those goals on a weekly basis, mapping them out every single week so that you’ve got direction.

You know exactly what you’re doing every single week. That just brings so much excitement to the week. Plus you’re not all stressed out about it, right? You know exactly what you’re doing. And the second strategy here, and Hey, if you’re loving this episode, go rate five star and review. It honestly helps so much. Get this podcast out and it helps me get to you every single week. So go rate five certain review. Thank you.

Next thing was motivation is now that you’ve got your weekly strategy and you’ll, you know exactly what you’re working towards. You’ve got data to refer back to because here’s the most important part about motivation. We just lose it and we get in our mind about, Oh, I’m not making any progress, blah, blah, blah. We just get in this rabbit hole of just stewing over the last couple of days or even a week. And we lose sight of how far you’ve actually come.

So monitor this stuff. You know, you can look back in your calendar from four weeks before be like, Hey, I’m actually exercising and moving my body much more than I did last month. Or Hey, my steps are up by 2000 a day. Like that’s massive. So you can look at that data, look at how far you’ve come by, by looking back on your calendars, looking back at progress photos. You know, I was chatting to a client the other day we were celebrating. She’s down 25 pounds in the year.

And she’s like, I pulled up a photo from my camera roll. And like, I was amazed with how far that I’ve come. Like my body looks so different. I look so much more vibrant and happy and I don’t look so bloated and uncomfortable. Use these things to measure your progress over time. Look back, look at photos, look at your, you know, measurements from six months ago, look at your calendar to show you, wow, I’ve really leveled up my prep. I’ve really leveled up my exercise, self monitoring and giving yourself those reminders and reassurance that goes so far with building that motivation again.

Right. Cause you’re like, all right, look at how far I’ve come. It refocuses you. It reinvigorates you. Right. And if you’re having a hard time staying motivated and really making progress towards your health and your weight loss goals, girl, reach out. I’d love to chat to you. Send me a message on DM or check out my show notes and apply to work with me. If we’re not working together, why not send me an application? Let’s see if we’re a good fit.

That’s all for today, guys. I hope this has really motivated you to take action over there and I will catch up in the next episode. Bye for now. Thanks for tuning into this episode of the reclaim podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to follow rate and review to learn more about working with me. Check out my website at leahvandolder.com.

Thank you again for being here. It means the world to be able to connect with you. Girl, keep doing amazing things. You have everything that it takes to achieve your goals and be successful at anything that you want.