How to Stay Disciplined With Fitness When Motivation Fades

Nikkiey: Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.

These three things are concepts to fully understand that will take you to not only the full-on transformation that you want, but will make working out so much easier. It'll make tracking macros so much easier. It'll make checking in with your coach so much easier. These concepts are so important for you to be successful, and they are the behavior change that will drive the transformation that you want to accomplish.

Yo, yo, yo. What is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott, and welcome to today's episode, episode 151, where we're going to talk about what I personally think are three of the most important concepts one needs to understand when committing fully to a transformation journey.

I've probably said it time and time again. I know I say it to our coaching team. I know I say it to our clients inside of WarriorBabe: following a nutrition protocol, following workout programming, is the tip of the iceberg. It's the thing everybody sees you doing. They see you trying to eat better. They see you trying to work out. They see you trying to stick to a schedule. They see you saying no to things, whatever it may be. They see you making excuses, if you're making excuses. They see all the things. It's the tip of the iceberg. Everybody sees that kind of stuff happening.

But the bottom of the iceberg, you guys, is actually one of the most important things. It encompasses willpower, discipline, perseverance, resilience, follow-through, taking action, the things people don't see. Or maybe they do see it, but they're so focused on what program you're following and what workout program you're doing. The bottom of the iceberg is the mental side, the conscious awareness you bring to doing those things and getting the results and getting the transformation.

So the three things I want to talk about today are, I feel, three of the most important things, and they all interlock together. If you can nail down all three of these, then apply the macros and the workouts, that's your ticket to transformation. And the three things I'm going to talk about have absolutely nothing to do with nutrition, absolutely nothing to do with fitness, absolutely nothing to do with working out, picking up a dumbbell, going in and crushing your workout on your plan. But they are a driving factor in you following through on those things.

I've been in the fitness space and on my fitness journey for 10 years. I have coached thousands of women. And now I'm coaching a team of 60-plus coaches behind the scenes at WarriorBabe who are making the impact on these women. If there's anything I can narrow ultimate transformation down to, the ultimate success of someone starting from ground zero to achieving the biggest results they've ever achieved from following a program, it's these three specific things.

And again, they all interlock. You can have one or two of them, but the third one is what will propel you the fastest and literally take you on a neural pathway to where you want to be. The third one is also one of the hardest ones to do. A lot of people think it's woo-woo-ish, and I'll talk about that when I get to number three. But I think it literally has scientific evidence that if you can do that thing, you can do tremendous things, and I can speak to this as well because I've experienced it firsthand. You can have a tremendous transformation locking in all three of these. But the third one, I think, is the most important one. You can definitely have one and two, but the third one will propel you there much faster.

And again, this has nothing to do with macros. This has nothing to do with workouts. But these types of concepts, once integrated into you as a human, can make macros so much easier, can make workouts so much easier, can make getting to the results so much easier. When I talk about each of these, I want to include personal insight from my own experience. I'm probably going to do that in all three.

The first one I would talk about is self-discipline. It's literally the engine behind your daily choices and your actions. It is what keeps you adhering to your fitness routine and your nutrition plans, even on the days when your motivation is low. All the time people ask me, how do I get more motivation? And I'm like, you don't. Motivation ebbs and flows. Motivation is an emotion. Motivation is going to come. It's going to go. And so many people are constantly waiting for motivation to start a plan or start following through on their nutrition or their workouts.

The concept of discipline is what you need to understand. Discipline is what will keep you adhering to your fitness and nutrition plans when motivation is low, when motivation is not there. It's about making decisions that are in alignment with your long-term goals and the results that you want to accomplish, rather than just giving in to what feels right and good in the moment.

For example, those of you who hit the snooze button in the morning when you know you should be getting up to work out: what's in alignment with the long-term result that you want? Getting up and working out. But some of you feel so good and comfy underneath that blanket in your bed that you just stay there because it feels good in the moment. And that's not discipline.

Developing self-discipline means you need to build mental strength to push through temporary discomfort for lasting gains. Discipline can influence everything, from how you handle nutritional choices, to whether you skip workouts or don't, to whether you hit the snooze button or don't, to how you prioritize your time and your resources to achieve your optimal health and the results you are after. This literally comes down to discipline, not motivation.

I want to share a bit about my own journey with this, because I will be the first one to tell you that I am not always motivated to do the things that are required of me for success. In fact, like anybody else, I have days where I'd rather do anything but follow through on my commitments. Seriously. However, I can attribute 99.9% of my success to my discipline. I act despite how I feel. Despite how I feel, I act.

This discipline has been a cornerstone of not just reaching my goals but exceeding them. When I was in the bodybuilding space, when I was first starting out on my journey, I had to train an obscene amount to achieve the goal of stepping on stage. And not just stepping on stage: I wanted to go pro, and then I had the goal of beating the pros. Do you think there were days along my journey where I did not want to go to the gym? Where I did not want to eat another chicken, rice, and broccoli meal? Absolutely. But do you know what? I acted. I had to follow through on the discipline and the actions I knew I had to take, despite how I felt.

And I followed through on that because I worked on this muscle every single day. Discipline doesn't happen overnight. Discipline is a skill set that can only grow stronger when you apply it. And I'll be the first one to tell you, the only reason I will ever say bodybuilding is an amazing feat to take on is the discipline one has to endure going through that type of journey. The results, I couldn't care less about. The winnings, I couldn't care less about. The mental fortitude I developed, grew, applied and then bettered will serve me for the rest of my life.

So mainly, it's all about acting despite your feelings. If you want to lean into somebody else who is very big on this, he's my role model when it comes to discipline, when it comes to leadership, when it comes to just being an overall badass: his name is Jocko Willink. He has a book called Extreme Ownership.

How you're blaming everybody else around you and not taking extreme ownership for your life. The second you take extreme ownership for your life, the second you take responsibility and accept that everything laid out in front of you on a day-to-day basis is in your control, you have the ability to make decisions on whether or not you're going to eat this food, whether or not you're going to go to the gym. It doesn't matter about time. It doesn't matter about kids getting to soccer practice. It doesn't matter about any of the external factors around you, because you have the control of saying when you're going to do the things that are in alignment with your goals.

Anyway, that's a side note. Extreme Ownership is a great book. I only learned about him a couple of years ago, but I love everything he says, because you have to act despite how you feel. And that is a principle that has driven every success I've encountered along the way.

Now, cultivating a disciplined mindset involves understanding, and this is how they're interlocked together, the deeper why behind your goals. I've talked in many podcast episodes about the why of pursuing the result you're going after. I think there are probably two dedicated solely to figuring out what your why is. I've always brought in the concept of understanding your deeper why, because it's not just about looking a certain way, you guys. It's about valuing your health and your future and optimizing your well-being for longevity. And most importantly, it's about being proactive about your health right now for future years, rather than reactive when you're told you have a diagnosis or you have a health scare.

Right now, you need to be proactive about it. And the way to be proactive about it is to have a deeper understanding of what your why is and then deploy the discipline aspect I just talked about. The mindset that helps you stay the course, even when the external motivations fade, comes when you have a deeper understanding of what your why is.

Self-discipline also involves being able to adapt, being able to respond to life's challenges with a focus on solutions rather than obstacles. It means you have to adjust your plan when needed, but always keep your eye on the prize. And what is always going to keep your eye on the prize is understanding why you're doing the thing you want to be doing, or why you want to achieve that result. With your eye on that prize, you have to have the discipline to follow through on it, but you have to know why you're doing it.

Whenever I ask anybody what their why is, it's like, oh, well, I want to lose weight, I want to look good in a bikini. It doesn't all pertain to just wanting to look a certain way. So I always say very bluntly, respectfully, that's a freaking awesome goal. However, it is so superficial and surface level. And there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just being blunt and honest. But I want to get a level deeper with you. Why do you want to lose weight? Why do you want to look good in a bikini? Why, why, why, why?

And I will ask it until I get a deeper understanding, both for me to understand if I'm coaching you, and for you to articulate the words so that you fully understand it as well. I think that is one of the most important parts, second to discipline. Your why is the heart of your fitness journey. It's the reason you started on this path, and it is the anchor that keeps you grounded when the going gets tough. It's not just about achieving the certain look that I keep mentioning. It's about realizing a vision for your life.

Reconnecting with your why is so crucial, especially when your motivation wanes and you have to tap into the discipline muscle that you're working to build, but it's not that strong yet. When you have the backbone of your why, the two of them married together are going to propel you forward on the action. And I'm going to talk about this in number three: you're going to pull energy from the vision you are realizing you want for your life and your body and all of the things that come with it. You're going to be able to naturally pull energy from that, and that is going to make you take the actions you need to take today that are in alignment with that vision.

And when the discipline wanes, or it's just not that strong yet, and the routines you're in become so familiar and then obstacles appear, remembering your why is what's so vital. It reinvigorates your discipline and makes you take action.

So maybe you're somebody who's like, okay, cool, I know I need to work on my discipline. I know I need to act despite how I feel, not let my emotions get in the way, take extreme ownership, all the things I talked about with discipline. But you're unsure how to reinforce discipline through your why. One way to work on the discipline you know you need to develop is renewing your commitment. Every day, remind yourself of the reasons you embarked on this journey. Then remember the feeling you want to have when you accomplish that goal, which I'm going to talk about in number three. So just renew your commitment to yourself.

Then reflect on your progress so far. Look back at what you've already achieved or accomplished, and look back at what may need to change in order for you to be more disciplined. And to integrate your why into this, think about what you have accomplished so far and how your why has driven those successes. Then daily, think about how to marry this all together.

I'm saying this out loud to you guys while also leaving it up to interpretation for how you need to do this for yourself, rather than telling you exactly what you need to do. Because what I'm battling internally right now, while also saying the words out loud, and I'm just going to be totally transparent with you, is that I'm learning I can't pave 100% of the path forward for you. Because that 100% path forward may not be the way you are meant to go about your journey. I can lay out mile one, mile two, mile three, mile four, but you need to be open to possible turns, and be able to adapt to those things.

So as I'm saying these things, I want to be able to say all the things you should be doing right now, but also leave it up to interpretation for you to figure out. Because if you can figure that out, and you can listen to the voice of your intuition, which is another very hard thing to conceptualize and tap into, and you have a strong sense of that, and it's telling you day to day what you need to be doing, how you can get stronger discipline and how you can understand what your true why is, those are the ways you need to go.

So you can take what I'm saying here and apply discipline strategies and apply why strategies. But at the same time, you need to figure out how you're going to develop your own personal discipline muscle. I think it's better to just talk about my personal experience rather than tell you my own mile one, mile two, mile three.

Personally, I got so good at discipline and built that skill set through the bodybuilding world, and it has carried through to literally every aspect of my life. When it comes to work, when it comes to conversations, when it comes to anything, my discipline taps in. Especially when it comes to sitting down and doing work I don't want to do but know I need to do, because it's going to better the system for not only me but my team.

The way I developed it and got stronger at it, and this is different for everybody, was that every time I fucked up, or messed up, or made a mistake, second to it being an opportunity to learn and reassess, which is how my discipline got better, I would always get frustrated at myself, knowing I could do this way better. If there was a situation where I missed a workout or missed a meal when I was in the bodybuilding world, I took extreme ownership of what was happening. And when I took extreme ownership of why I missed a workout or why I missed a meal, answers came to me for the next situation that could potentially make me miss a meal or a workout. It gave me answers to better handle that next circumstance.

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And then there's just acting despite how I feel. There have been so many moments where I did not want to work out. This is probably the one that will resonate with you guys the most. When you don't want to work out, if you don't work out, you're going to be mad at yourself. If you do work out, that is you seriously working on developing the skill of bettering your discipline, because you will feel how good it feels afterwards to get it done, that you kept the promise to yourself.

At the same time, the second you just go in and do the thing, despite being stressed at work and then having to go work out, you are now not allowing that type of feeling to persist. Essentially, if you ever have that feeling where you don't feel like working out, the more you act on actually working out, the more that feeling of not wanting to work out will lessen, and it won't be as strong. Does that make sense? I think that's the best way I can explain it.

Okay, so bringing it back: marrying your discipline and your why. Some ways you can integrate reminders of your why into your day are making it the background of your phone. Whatever your why is, make it the screensaver. Put a sticky note next to your mirror as you're getting ready so you see it. Or put a little note in the driver's seat of your car, so when you get in your car it's the first thing you see. That way you're reminded. You may not want to work out that day, but you're reminded why you're doing what you're doing and why you want to accomplish that goal. There it is, reminding you, and that will carry you through the rest of the day to make sure you go and get your workout in. When you don't want to work out and you see that in your driver's seat, you're like, this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to go work out. That will help you follow through on the action.

So, discipline and why. Those are two very important concepts to understand and implement that will help you carry out the actions of tracking your macros, getting your workouts done, doing all of the things, following through on a program. Have discipline, and understand why you're doing it.

The last thing. Listen, I want to explore this concept with you, and I promise you it is not woo-woo stuff. It is such a powerful exercise that, if you implement it, can be so freaking transformational. So stick with me. I only know that because when I started on my fitness journey, I did this without consciously understanding that I was doing it. And then when it came to achieving my goal, it all just snapped into place right in front of me.

What I'm trying to say is, the tool you should explore that is so powerful for your journey is visualization. And I know people will be like, oh my god, that's so woo-woo, manifestation, da da da da. That shit is real. Specifically, you connecting the dots between your discipline, your why, and then the vivid picture of your future self. If you can visualize your future self and let that vision inspire your actions today, that is an absolute game changer.

As I mentioned, I was unconsciously competent in this concept when I first started out my journey. Day in, day out, morning and night, I always held it. I'm a very picturesque person in my mind. I see things and concepts in pictures. So when I started out my journey, I didn't have the body that I was seeing in my head, but I had this vision in my head of where I wanted to go and the body I wanted to have.

As I say that, it probably sounds more like daydreaming than success. But it's so much more than that. It's a proven technique, scientifically backed, that athletes and high achievers use to enhance their performance and actualize real-life goals.

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By me vividly imagining where I wanted to be, and you can do the same thing by envisioning where you want to be, you engage the same neural pathways, the same neural networks, as if you were actually performing those actions. So if you implement this process, it not only prepares your brain for the actions necessary to achieve your goals, it also reinforces the discipline needed to get there.

For me personally, I had this visualization, this idea of where I wanted to go with my body. What I'm going to dive into next is the things that can help you paint that picture. But basically, on a day-to-day basis, I envisioned this person: what she was doing, what she was wearing, how she was acting, how she was following through on things. And it prepared my brain for the actions necessary to achieve the goal. At the same time, it also helped me reinforce the discipline around the things I needed to change now that would help me get to that vision.

First of all, you need to reconnect with your why. You need to understand your deep reason for being here and doing these things, and why you embarked on this discipline. The why is the fuel behind your discipline, and that's what pushes you to wake up early for all the workouts, to eat right, to track your macros, to persist even when you feel like giving up. Those are literally the foundation to build a detailed image of your future self.

At the beginning, I was talking about how you can have two. But in order to have all three, the first two have to be working for the third one to work. So in order for this last one, the visualization, to work, you have to understand your deep-seated reason why, and then the why is the fuel behind you developing the skill of discipline. Once you have that foundation, then you build this detailed image of yourself. And I want to help you do that right now.

If you follow these steps to visualizing your future self, you will literally start to create neural pathways that will help you take action today. First, close your eyes and picture your future self, who has already achieved her goals. I'm going to prompt you with some questions. Close your eyes and picture that future self. If you're driving, don't close your eyes. Do this at a different day or time. It's going to be in your brain after you listen to the podcast. Do this when you're falling asleep at night.

What does that person look like? What does she look like? How does she feel? What is her daily routine? Imagine her strength, her confidence, and the health she is radiating. What does she look like? How does she feel? What does her daily routine look like?

Then think about what your future self does every single day. First you have this image of her, and then: what do you think she's doing every day? What habits does she have? How does she handle setbacks? Visualize the discipline she upholds and how every single action is aligned with her ultimate goals.

Then reflect on how your current actions align with those of your future self. What are you doing today that she does every day? How can you improve to align more closely with that vision?

When you make this a practical part of your daily routine, spending minutes each morning or evening identifying this future self, identifying what her actions are, and drawing inspiration from her, you will use this image to motivate your daily choices and actions. Let the success you're envisioning inspire your present-day efforts. Because how that person is operating and moving is completely different from how you are operating and moving right now. You just visualize what she is doing, the habits she has, her daily routine, what she looks like, how she feels, how she handles setbacks and moves through them. If you can clearly see that, or clearly answer those questions, then you can literally improve how you are moving and taking action today.

That's a big thing to conceptualize and understand. But each time you do this, you guys, you're mirroring her actions now. You're seeing it, and then all you need to do, and this is how you bridge the gap from future to now, so you can start seeing more actions and more results now, is mirror her actions and do them now. Because the future you envision today shapes the reality you live in tomorrow. By visualizing your successful future self and then aligning your current actions with her habits, you bridge the gap between now and your goals.

So what habits is she doing? Okay, cool. How can you align your current actions to those habits? How does she feel? Cool. How can you align your current feelings with how she feels? You are bringing the visualization you have in your brain into reality. That's how you bridge the gap between now and your goals. Not just manifestation. Not just thinking about it. Not just visualization. You then have to go take action. You then have to go and do the things.

Which is where a lot of resistance comes from, because it's something completely different from what you're doing now. A lot of things may change. You may be communicating differently than you are right now. But I'm telling you, that's the way you're going to get to where you want to be.

So, to end this podcast, because I just want to leave it at that and have you get off of it thinking, okay, these are the things: like I said at the beginning, these three things are concepts to fully understand that will take you to not only the full-on transformation that you want, but will make working out so much easier. It'll make tracking macros so much easier. It'll make checking in with your coach so much easier. These concepts are so important for you to be successful, and they are the behavior change that will drive the transformation you want to accomplish.

And know that it may feel scary or unsure, like, what am I up against? What am I going to face when I start leaning into how that person feels, or leaning into the habits she's creating? You are fully capable of achieving and crafting the future you want for yourself. It is entirely in your control. It's just how willing are you to make the necessary changes you need to make? How committed are you to your future self?

All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Discipline, why, and visualization. Now go crush it. See you in the next one.

Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.