What’s the key to building and maintaining positive habits? Discipline plays a role, but sticking with any habit requires motivation, and what motivates us shifts with age. Most older adults need deeper motivation than we did when we were younger.
A couple of weeks ago, at the end of a particularly challenging workout, PJ from Over Fifty Fitness made some insightful comments about the keys to sticking with a fitness program, and how motivation changes as we get older.
PJ maintains that sticking with a fitness program starts with discipline, but discipline alone only works for a short time. After that, you need habits to keep going. Even so, no matter how disciplined we are, at some point life will get in the way and we’ll fall down on our habits. That’s when motivation becomes key.
Older adults need deeper motivation
Something PJ said really stuck with me. When we fall down on our habits, we need to ask ourselves why we want to keep going. And as we get older, we need deeper and more powerful answers to that question. Looking good in our jeans isn’t powerful enough motivation.
PJ’s comments took me back to a conversation I had at work a few years ago. We were building customer personas for a pre-retiree experience. One of the profiles featured a quote saying the individual worked out to stay healthy. One of my younger co-workers scoffed, “That’s a lie. No-one works out for health reasons. Everyone works out to look good.”
As the person in the room closest to the target age demographic, I was a bit shocked by the shallowness of that point of view and respectfully disagreed. The individual who made the comment was adamant and just couldn’t understand why health would be the motivation for anyone to work out.
I had forgotten all about that conversation until I heard PJ’s comments about older adults needing a deeper and more powerful source of motivation.
Intrinsic motivation is key to sticking with any habit
This need for deeper motivation extends beyond fitness to any positive habit we’re trying to build. In recent years, I’ve seen a definite shift from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation in my own life.
Extrinsic motivation is driven by external sources. When we’re younger, this type of external motivation plays a bigger role. We care more about what others think and we spend our time and energy pleasing others and trying to live up to external standards of success.
As we get older, intrinsic motivation starts to take over. This type of motivation is internally driven. It’s more about personal fulfillment than trying to meet someone else’s expectations.
When we transition into retirement, we no longer have a boss to answer to. At this stage of life, we can please ourselves, but we still need to consider what motivates us.
What’s your deeper motivation?
As you embark on any lifestyle change, you’ll have a greater chance of success if you give some thought to why the habit matters to you. What’s your deeper motivation? It might be to have energy to play with your grandchildren. Or perhaps it’s about your legacy and how you want to be remembered. Maybe your motivation is simply a desire to be the best version of yourself.
The more you understand your personal values, the easier it will be to figure out what drives you.
As for me, my younger co-worker would disagree, but my motivation for exercising and eating well is health. Health is a priority for me for a couple of reasons. First, as a cancer survivor, I recognize how precious health is. More than that though, at this stage of my life I want to do everything within my control to stay healthy so I can travel to visit my daughters who live in faraway places.
And if I look good in my jeans, that’s a bonus, but it’s not the driving force.
What new habits do you want to build for a successful transition to your next stage of life? Contact me to get started on a plan to find your deeper motivation.
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