Am I happy enough to stay where i am? reframing health and fitness motivation.

Not being motivated enough is often the most cited reason for people not exercising, not eating more healthfully, not going to bed earlier, and lots of other things which would give us long term benefit. So why don't we do the things we know we should? Why don't we change, when the things we need to do aren't even that difficult in the first place?

There's plenty of factors which effect motivation like, confidence, peer support, rewards and punishments, social status, the list goes on. All of these are valid but the psychologist Daniel Gilbert gives us a different way to frame our current situations to help move us into action. Gilbert hypothesised what he calls the Beta Region Paradox, where a problem is not bad enough to change but only enough to adapt in order to carry on. He applied this theory most frequently when analysing relationships and why we often adapt to stay in somewhat bad relationships but we act quickly to get out of really bad relationships. The same applies often in our work life too, we stay in a bad job because it still fulfills most of our needs even if it's ultimately having a negative effect on us, we adapt to stay. It's not until something really bad happens that our brain is mobilised into action and we start problem solving to make a change.

Now think about your health and fitness. As an exercise physiologist, I often see people who have received diagnoses of a chronic condition or need for surgery, this is a situation not worth bearing so the change is made and exercise is undertaken with a great level of motivation. But that's not most people. Most people sit in the Beta Region of health, where we might be mostly sedentary, slightly overweight, not eating enough vegetables, and maybe there are some biomarkers to go with that like elevate blood pressure or some mild back pain. The level of discomfort is not so strong that it will fire us into action, but we will adapt to keep doing what we need to. In this situation you've probably heard some fitness professionals say something like "you've just got to want it!" or something of that theme. The problem is, we often don't know what "it" is. We don't know what the future outcome looks like or feels like so it's hard create a drive toward it. Daniel Gilbert proposes a different reframing of the situation where the question becomes, "Am I happy enough to keep going?" this questions forces the individual to move out of the grey area and into either acceptance or change. Once that decision is made, then the other components of motivation will most likely have more impact as well.

So if you've been just "putting up with things" for sometime, perhaps you need to ask yourself, are you happy enough to just keep going?

Tim Douge AEP

Exercise Physiologist, Director

Studio 99