motivation

From Motivation to Habit

September 20, 2024 by Michelle 12 Comments

Happy Friday!

Maybe it’s being on the cusp of a new season (hello Fall!), or perhaps it’s all of the years of getting my kids ready for “back to school”, but I have often thought of September as a kind of “new year” – a time to settle into a routine, create new habits, and set some goals for the remaining months of the year.

And, a peek at my social media feeds tells me I’m not alone in viewing the pending new season as an opportunity to create some new habits.

So for this week’s Fit Five Friday, I’m sharing a few tips to help turn this “new season motivation” into good habits to finish the year strong.

This post has been updated from September 2021.

Fit Five Friday – From Motivation to Habit

Pace yourself — Take starting a new fitness routine or upping your training; it’s very easy to get too hyped up, go out too hard, and then fizzle, or worse … get injured. Start small…baby steps can add up to big payoffs down the road.

Be consistent — Everything I’ve ever read says that it takes between 21 and 28 days to build a good habit, and from personal experience, I believe that to be true. Whatever the new habit is that you’re trying to adopt, schedule it into your day/week. Being consistent will help ensure the new habit sticks.

Be kind to yourself — Everyone experiences setbacks. When you fall down (either literally or figuratively), the key is to not beat yourself up over it, but be willing to pick yourself up and begin again.

Find a partner or group — There’s a lot to be said for being accountable to someone else and having someone to draw motivation from on those days when you’re not feeling it. On the flip side, beware of spending time around others who don’t support your efforts – they will drain you! As much as possible, spend time with others who model the behavior/habits you’re striving for.

Keep your “why” front and center — Whether it’s a word, phrase, or photo, posting visual reminders where you’re sure to see them will help keep your why and your goals at the forefront. Energy flows where attention goes so make your goals hard to ignore and you’re more likely to follow through.

Do you use this time of year to build new habits or set goals? What tricks work for you?

Welcome to Fit Five Friday!

Join My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and The Running Teacher every Friday for Fit Five Friday! Share your fitness-related link, link back to your hosts, and please share the link love by visiting and commenting on your hosts and at least two other Fit Five Friday bloggers!

Filed Under: #FitFiveFriday, Friday Five, goals, habit building, motivation

Five Tips for Staying Motivated for Winter Running

January 22, 2016 by Michelle 22 Comments

While December was gloriously warm here in New England, Mother Nature has finally caught up with the calendar and the frigid temps are here. I’ve been digging deep to get myself up and moving for my runs, so I thought I’d share a few tips for staying motivated for winter running.

Use short term goals to keep you focused — sign up for a small local race or join a winter challenge (or create one!). “Competition” in the form of a race or mileage challenge can help to keep you going.

Join a group or find a running buddy — Committing to meet others on a regular basis will always help get you out the door, and it’s always easier to brave the elements when you’re not alone.

Keep visual reminders of your spring goals — Aiming for a PR? Got a great destination race planned? Post some visual reminders in key spots around your house.

Make sure you have the right gear — Dressing the part is always important, but never more so than when facing winter weather. Check out my cold weather running tips here and here if you need any ideas.

Change your alarm — Switch up the music on your alarm in the morning to something that will motivate you to get out of bed. (A friend gave me this suggestion a couple of years ago and I still use it.) Another option is to move your alarm so you have to get out of bed to turn it off – once you’re up you might as well keep moving, right?

What’s your best motivation tip?

I’m linking up with Courtney, Mar & Cynthia for today’s Friday Five.

Also linking up with Jill for her Fitness, Health & Happiness link up.

Filed Under: Friday Five, motivation, winter running

Monday Motivation – #1MillionMinutes

June 22, 2015 by Michelle 8 Comments

Happy Monday!

If you have been around here for any period of time then you know how much I like a good challenge! Well, the whole Sweat Pink community is coming together to try to rack up 1 Million Minutes of activity this summer.

From now until August 21, the goal is to inspire and encourage everyone to get moving – any and all sweat-worthy activity counts…the point is to move. You can sign up and track your minutes along with Sweat Pink – and, of course there will be some fun prizes along the way for a little extra incentive 🙂

It’s a fun way to celebrate Sweat Pink’s 4th birthday! My goal this week is to try to average 30 minutes/day for 180 minutes total.

How about you – how many minutes do you think you log in a week?

Filed Under: #1MillionMinutes, motivation, Sweat Pink

A Little Mid-week Motivation

November 12, 2014 by Michelle 7 Comments

Just sharing a little mid-week motivation! Happy Wednesday!

Filed Under: motivation

A friendly reminder…

July 15, 2014 by Michelle 3 Comments

Just a little reminder for myself and everyone else training this summer!

Filed Under: motivation, Summer running, training

Eliminate Can’t

September 16, 2013 by Michelle 6 Comments

Saw this image multiple times on Facebook over the past few days – nicely sums up my biggest goal for the rest this training cycle!

Filed Under: attitude adjustment, half marathon training, mental toughness, motivation

Motivated by Gratitude

August 19, 2013 by Michelle 5 Comments

As I was out on my long run Saturday, one thought kept occurring to me – just how grateful I was…

… grateful for a beautiful morning with cool temps

… grateful for having my running buddy E to laugh (and groan) with

… grateful my hubs came out to check on us and bring fresh water

… grateful to not feel any pain in my lower back/hip

… just grateful to be out running, to be out doing something I’ve really come to love doing!

Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the “should of’s” of a run – it’s important to remember to just simply go out an enjoy the run, to enjoy what your body can do and worry less about what it “should” do.

So as I head out for this morning’s run I’m motivated simply, but deeply, by gratitude.

Happy Running!

Filed Under: gift of running, gratitude, motivation

Under Armour Challenge – #WhatsBeautiful

May 8, 2013 by Michelle 4 Comments

Under Armour just launched their third What’s Beautiful campaign and I’m very psyched to be a part of it through FitFluential.

Under Armour’s What’s Beautiful is all about pushing limits and redefining the female athlete. This is for women who want to push past where they have been before — To put a goal out there and then go after it in a big way. It’s easy to get started, just declare your goal on the What’s Beautiful site and then get to it! You stay accountable and get extra motivation by accepting challenges and interacting with other participants. You can also team up with others who share similar goals for additional support and motivation.

My What’s Beautiful goal is:

Focus on speedwork, strength training and core work so I can own new PRs for the 10k and half marathon; and most of all, be a stronger version of myself.

For added motivation I also created Team Core Strength for anyone who wants to make building a strong core a key to their overall success – you can join my team here!

You can also keep up on what’s going on by following along on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtags #IWILL #WHATSBEAUTIFUL.

Are you ready to set some new goals or re-up your current ones? Join us as we redefine the female athlete. #IWILL.

Filed Under: #IWill, #WhatsBeautiful, FitFluential, goals, motivation, Team Core Strength, Under Armour

Turning Motivation into Habits

January 7, 2013 by Michelle 9 Comments

Source

Right now everyone’s all fired up to make a change, to bust out some new goals, declare their resolutions. The gyms are busier than ever, and all types of assorted diet products are flying off the shelves.

But what happens in a couple of weeks…after the dust settles…after the New Year’s confetti is gone?

Here are a few tips to help turn all that New Year’s motivation into good habits all year long.

Pace yourself — It is very easy to get too hyped up – even “over-motivated”? – go out too hard, and then fizzle, or get injured. Start small…baby steps can add up to big payoffs down the road.

Be consistent — Everything I’ve ever read says that it takes between 21 and 28 days to build a good habit, and from personal experience I believe that to be true. A little something each day during the first 3 – 4 weeks will help ensure the new habit sticks.

Be kind to yourself — Everyone experiences set backs. When you fall down (either literally or figuratively), the key is to not beat yourself up over it, but be willing to pick yourself up and begin again.

Find a partner or group — There’s a lot to be said for being accountable to someone else and having someone to draw motivation from on those days when you’re not feeling it.

Surround yourself with success — Part two of finding a partner is to beware of spending time around others who don’t support your efforts – they will drain you! As much as possible, spend time with others who model the behavior/habits you’re striving for.

Keep visual reminders — Whether it’s a word, phrase or photo, posting visual reminders where you’re sure to see them will help keep your goals at the forefront. Energy flows where attention goes so make your goals hard to ignore and you’re more likely to follow through.

What new habits are you trying to build?

What tricks work for you?

Filed Under: building good habits, goals, motivation