Ready or Not, Here’s How to Finally Change Your Health
Ditch the Motivation Trap and Start Building Habits that Last
In Today’s Edition:
🌱 Roots Reflection: The Struggle to Start
🧘🏽♂️ Awareness Action: Why Your Motivation is Low
💛 Kindness Opportunity: Start Small, Build Belief, and Leverage High Motivation
🌱 Roots Reflection: The Struggle to Start
Have you ever said, “I’ll start when I’m ready,” only to never start. I’ve been there many times. When I learned about a plant-based diet, I had all the reasons to do it, but I was afraid to.
Besides the unknown of starting, I was second-guessing if I could even stick with it. In the past, I’d tried restrictive diets, and while I always started strong, they never lasted. Worse, they didn’t feel good. They felt like punishments. So, when the idea of going plant-based came up, all that baggage from my previous experiences made me hesitate.
I’d think, What if this just becomes another short-term struggle? What if I end up feeling deprived like before? That doubt made the change feel so much bigger than it actually was. The longer I delayed, the harder it became to imagine myself succeeding.
And that’s where most of us get stuck—not because the goal is out of reach, but because we start questioning if we can make it work long-term. Waiting for motivation feels like a safe bet, but really, it’s just a way of avoiding the discomfort of past failures and fears of repeating them.
🧘🏽♂️ Awareness Action: Why Your Motivation is Low
Motivation is a tricky thing. One day, you feel unstoppable, ready to take on any goal. The next, it’s gone, leaving you wondering why you felt so energized in the first place. As the graph below shows, motivation is anything but steady. It’s a wave—peaking and dipping, often without warning.
This concept comes from Dr. BJ Fogg, a behavioral scientist at Stanford who studies the psychology of behavior change. His work illustrates a reality many of us experience firsthand: motivation fluctuates, and those fluctuations make it an unreliable fuel for lasting change.
Take a look at the above graph. In those moments of high motivation (the peaks), everything feels possible. These are the times when we think, “I can totally do this!” But as the initial excitement fades, motivation naturally dips. And here’s the important point: motivation is usually at its lowest right at the beginning of a new behavior. When we’re just starting something unfamiliar, we don’t have the momentum or confidence yet, and that makes motivation fragile. It upticks once we start, but can dip quickly, especially when we face challenge or uncertainty in our life.
The more unfamiliar or challenging the goal, the steeper that initial dip. This is the point where most of us get stuck—not because we lack the desire to change, but because we’re waiting for motivation to stay high. But as Fogg’s research shows, if we rely solely on motivation, we’re likely to stall at the first dip.
As always, before we can make change, we need to build awareness about our current state. So let’s reflect on where motivation has been holding you back.
Self-Reflection Questions:
Is there a goal you’ve delayed because you’re waiting for “enough” motivation?
How might your approach change if you planned for these inevitable drops?
💛 Kindness Opportunity: Start Small, Build Belief, and Leverage High Motivation
If motivation is naturally unpredictable, then the key to building sustainable habits is to match your actions to motivation’s highs and lows. The graphs below illustrate a simple approach: keep a Minimum Action in place that’s easy to maintain during motivation dips, and seize Momentum Moments—those high points on the graph—to make bigger strides or build skills.
1. Set a “Minimum Action”
Look at the first graph. You’ll notice that smaller, simpler actions are easier to sustain through the inevitable drops in motivation. A Minimum Action is exactly that—a version of your goal that’s so easy that you can do it consistently, no matter your energy level.
Examples:
If your goal is to exercise, commit to a simple step, like putting on your workout clothes each morning. You’re not committing to a full workout—just putting the clothes out so you are ready to go in the morning.
If you’re working on healthy eating, try one plant-based meal weekly. I did this for several months before I built up the confidence to do more. This let me explore new foods and recipes without feeling overwhelmed.
Why it works: By keeping things manageable, you can stay consistent, even when motivation dips. This builds momentum slowly but steadily, helping you avoid burnout and frustration.
2. Leverage “Momentum Moments”
Now, look at the second graph, which highlights motivation peaks. During these Momentum Moments, motivation is high, making it a perfect time to tackle bigger challenges and build skills that facilitate future behavior.
Examples:
For a fitness goal, take advantage of a high-motivation day to try a attend a new class or find a new workout buddy.
For healthy eating, consider a short-term commitment, like taking an online cooking course or going fully plant-based for two to three weeks. This temporary challenge allows you to practice meal prep, test new recipes, and adjust your taste preferences.
Why it works: Using these peaks to push yourself creates experiences and skills that help reinforce your habits over time and, importantly, facilitate future desired behaviors.
3. Prepare for Low-Motivation Days with a “Fallback Plan”
Motivation will inevitably dip, as shown in the graphs. By planning for these low points with a Fallback Plan, you ensure that you still make progress, even on tough days.
Examples:
On a low-motivation day, go back to your Minimum Action—like that one plant-based meal or a few minutes of stretching. It’s better to stay consistent with a small step than to do nothing.
Simplify your tasks to essentials, like prepping one healthy snack instead of cooking a full meal or doing a short warm-up instead of a full workout.
Why it works: Your Fallback Plan keeps you on track without draining your energy or willpower. It maintains your progress and reinforces your habits, even when motivation is low.
Motivation may come and go, but you don’t have to wait for the “perfect moment” to start making meaningful changes. By setting a Minimum Action that keeps you consistent, leveraging those high-motivation Momentum Moments for growth, and having a Fallback Plan ready for the low days, you’re building a system that’s both adaptable and sustainable.
Change doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing journey—it’s about showing up in whatever way you can, trusting that each step forward, big or small, adds up over time. So, take that next step, no matter how small, and keep moving forward.
Until next time…
Live well and RAK ON,
Dr. Rak 👊🏽