Lack of energy or lack of motivation?

A client reached out recently because she wanted to better understand how to boost her energy. We talked through her current routine, lifestyle and diet and it became quickly evident that her energy levels were pretty good. She had scored herself about 6/7 out of 10 (I’ve worked with people who score well below 5/10!) We talked about what 8 or 9/10 might look like and it transpired that she’d love to be more active daily. Her diet was good, sleep was excellent and 90% of meals were home cooked. All the foundational elements were in place, apart from one…

Her own ROUTINE.

She told me she absolutely loved when she had a routine but lately felt like her mornings had backslid into procrastination, self-blame, perfectionism, and lethargy. A self-fulfilling prophesy creating more of the same. She described herself as an unproductive perfectionist.

We talked about what she might love to do. We stripped it right back to the most basic of routines even down to writing down what time she’s wakes up, makes her coffee, things to eat to fuel her for exercise and then a simple routine for afterwards. We put it in black and white as she needs to SEE it to do it.

We took away as many obstacles to procrastination as we could so for her, as soon as she wakes up, she gets dressed in her workout gear. Staying in her pj’s made her feel lethargic so we created a new habit to get her motivated.

Now we are leveraging her INTRINSIC MOTIVATION. She is doing something she WANTS to do and not what she THINKS she SHOULD or HAS to do.

This is where lasting change happens. 

Her energy was just fine. She just hadn’t defined a vision for herself.

If this is resonating deeply for you then you might enjoy my podcast with Rebecca from Tricres where I talk about this in more detail. Two books that I highly recommend to every client is Rushing Woman's Syndrome by Dr Libby Weaver and also The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control by Katherine Morgan Schafler.