25 Oct Define Your Health & Fitness ‘WHY’
Define Your Health & Fitness 'WHY'
Does this sound familiar?
You know you ‘should’ exercise... you understand that you will feel better both physically & mentally as a result of a regular fitness routine. But, you struggle to start, create a habit or feel motivated enough to stick to exercising regularly long term?
You could be missing your ‘WHY’. Knowing your ‘WHY’ needs to be a part of your fitness goals just like any other area of your life.
Your 'WHY' is your purpose.
Your purpose is what inspires you to take action & it can inspire others to take action - it needs to be based on emotion & feeling.
Ask yourself... is my 'WHY' because I want to:
- Avoid pain e.g. I had a health scare last week and I need to reduce my risk of heart disease so that my kids grow up with a father
OR
- Seeking pleasure e.g. my weekly boxing classes are fun/social & I’m setting a good example for my children
Make sure your personal fitness goals have enough “depth” and that you want to achieve them badly enough. Understanding your 'WHY' is a big part of setting fitness goals and achieving them.
When you know your 'WHY', you will be able to make more intentional choices. You will be clearer on what actions to take and strategies to use to move you forward in the direction you want to go to live the life you want.
As fitness professionals at switch2fitness, our 'WHY' is "To provide a supportive, family-friendly and inspiring environment, so that our members stay motivated, are challenged and are having fun at training."
Draft Your 'Why' Statement
The "TO ____ SO THAT ____" format was designed to be simple and straight-forward enough such that anyone can draft a meaningful 'WHY' by using it. You can use it to create an individual 'WHY', a family unit 'WHY', or you can use it to create an organisational 'WHY'. It’s a powerful tool that can pull your thoughts and actions towards doing what matters most to you.
- Grab a pen and paper and use the “TO ____ SO THAT ____” template to start drafting your own 'WHY' Statement
- Take as long as you need to do this, and keep in mind that you can modify your 'WHY' as you evolve as an individual — none of this is set in stone unless you want it to be
- Draft as many 'WHY' statements as you need until you find the one that resonates with you on an emotional level
- Once you’ve chosen a meaningful 'WHY' statement, take a second to congratulate yourself — you now have your very own 'WHY!'
