A couple days a week my alarm goes off at 4:02 am. Honestly, it usually scares the shit out of me and all I want to do is throw my phone against the wall and curl back up and fall back asleep. But 4/5 times I don’t. I have a conversation with myself that goes something like this:

Go back to sleep, now. Really. Do it. 

No, no, no. 

Do it. That extra 35 minutes will make a huge difference in your day!

But will it really? I don’t think it will.  Get your booty up!

SLEEEEEEEEP. 

Nope, you’ll be so mad at yourself. Get your ass up, brush those teeth and go. 

And then generally, I get up. A little mad at that voice still, but I go. I go to work 40 minutes early and I get my work out in. (I usually snap about it @sloanderr) with a pic of myself, not so happy and whatever time it is, usually 4:43am.

I am a huge proponent of finding your own intrinsic motivation. What does that mean? It means being able do something because you’re motivated by how it will make you feel, not by some sort of external reward dangling in front of you. Another, non fitness, example–for me, this blog. I’m both intrinsically AND extrinsically motivated.

Intrinsic: I do it because I love writing, I love teaching and I the feeling of accomplishment I get when I finish a post. It’s really uplifting and I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

Extrinsic: I love seeing the ‘views’ number go up. I love comments, I love getting ‘likes’ and responses. Engagement is huge (hint hint…)

Trust me: if I was ONLY extrinsically motivated for writing, I would fall short most times I post. My followers are growing, but it’s happening very very very slowly and that can be frustrating in this day and age–we all want immediate gratification, right? But I enjoy the process and hope that eventually others will enjoy my site as much as I enjoy the process of it.

Let’s bring this all together–if you can hone in and develop your intrinsic motivation, it will make not hitting the snooze button a lot easier. Try to start listening to that little, tiny, quiet voice that is egging you on to get up and get moving. That voice that mentions maybe you don’t need that second cookie. Maybe it’s a voice suggesting you need help. Try to listen and see if there is any internal reward by listening. I trust that when you start doing this, that voice will get louder and clearer. I can help you find that voice, if you let me.

When you start to listen, start to pay attention to how you feel inside. Fitness and healthy habits really start by acknowledging the internal feels, and then you start to see the external results. Eventually, all of this stuff becomes habit–

…unless it’s 4am…I’m not sure if you ever get used to that.

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