Motivation Is a Spark, Not the Engine (And Here’s What Really Drives Progress)

There’s a strange misconception that floats around in the fitness, nutrition, and personal development world that if you’re doing something worthwhile, you’ll feel fired up about it every day.

That people who succeed must somehow live in a constant state of excitement and motivation, ready to leap out of bed at 5am for a workout or prep their meals with a smile.

The reality is… they don’t.

Even the most successful people aren’t constantly motivated and pumped up about what they need to do to make progress. (OK, maybe with the exception of Arnold Schwarzenegger… but he’s a bit of an outlier.)

The reason they succeed, and the way WE can succeed, is by leaning on the small habits we’ve built to carry us forward through the dips and ebbs in motivation.

Motivation Gets You Started, But It Won’t Keep You Going

Motivation is exciting at the start. It’s the buzz that comes with new plans, fresh goals, and the novelty of trying something different. That’s often what gets people moving in the first place.

But motivation is also unpredictable. It comes and goes, often without warning, and it’s usually not there when you need it most.

As James Clear puts it:

“Motivation comes and goes. If you want to do something consistently, then don't pick a level of difficulty that requires great motivation.

Make it easy enough and simple enough that you'll do it even when you don't feel very motivated.”

The problem comes when we confuse starting with continuing. If you rely solely on that early spark, the first low-energy day will knock you off track. And if you’re waiting for motivation to “come back,” you might be waiting a long time.

When to Push Through, and When to Adjust Course

I’m not saying you have to be “always on” all the time.

Sometimes the best move forward is actually a pause, a sidestep, or even a step back. But that’s very different from simply doing nothing because you “don’t feel like it.”

When clients tell me they’ve “lost” their motivation, we look at two things:

Have their big-picture goals changed?
Sometimes people realise they’re working toward something that’s no longer important to them, or that no longer aligns with where they’re at in life. In that case, the path forward needs to change, too.

As Mackenzi Lee wrote in The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy:

“It is not a failure to readjust my sails to fit the waters I find myself in.”

If the waters have changed, it’s smart, NOT weak, to adjust your course.

If the goals are still the same, what’s affecting their motivation right now?
This could be stress at work, family responsibilities, feeling discouraged by slow visual progress, or simply being mentally tired.
Once we understand the factors at play, we can work out strategies to navigate through or around them.

The Role of Habits in the Motivation Gap

Here’s where habits become the secret weapon.

As John Dryden famously said:

“We first make our habits, then our habits make us.”

When you have small, simple habits you’ve built and reinforced day in and day out (the ones that move you toward your goal), they change your baseline of behaviour.

Your worst days can still be just a little bit positive. You might not crush a personal best or nail the perfect day of eating, but you’re still nudging yourself in the right direction.

For me, “executing anyway” on low-motivation days looks like this:

Leaning on one of my simple, healthy breakfasts (like my protein yogurt bowl with berries) even if the rest of my day’s eating is a bit shaky.
Getting out for a walk when the gym or a run feels like too much.
Sitting down for 30 minutes of writing when the big creative energy isn’t there.

Those are my default actions. They’re low-effort enough that I’ll still do them even when I’m tired, stressed, or just not in the mood. And because they’re repeated, they keep my baseline high enough that momentum is never completely lost.

Action First, Feelings Later

A lot of people get this backwards. They think they need to feel motivated in order to act. But often, it’s the other way around.

James Clear puts it perfectly:

“People generally have more control over their actions than their feelings.

But we can influence our feelings by taking action.

Take one small step. Move the body first and the mind will follow.”

That’s why on low-motivation days, the smallest possible action still matters.

Do the thing first, and more often than not, the feeling will follow. Maybe not instantly, but enough to carry you into the next step.

The Trap of Short-Term Rewards

Another piece of this puzzle is how we think about immediate gratification. We often make choices based on how they’ll feel in the moment, not the long-term payoff.

James Clear again:

“We often make choices based on immediate outcomes. What can I do to experience a little joy in the next 30 minutes? What can I accomplish in the next hour?

But if you always expect to get a little bit of reward for a little bit of effort, then you often overlook actions that lead to greater payoffs down the road. The relationship between input and output is rarely linear.

The course of action that could provide greater happiness, meaning, or satisfaction in the long run may not make you happy in the next 30 minutes.”

This is why relying on motivation can be so risky: it’s tied to the here and now, not necessarily to what will matter most to you in the future.

Habits bridge that gap. They make it easier to keep taking the right actions even when today’s “payoff” is invisible.

An image of people supported by safety netting

Building Your Motivation Safety Net

Think of habits, routines, and environment design as your safety net for the days when motivation is nowhere to be found. A few practical ideas:

Have your defaults ready. One or two go-to meals, workouts, or actions you can do without overthinking.
Shrink the goal. If 60 minutes at the gym feels impossible, do 10. If you can’t write a full page, write a paragraph.
Reduce friction. Set up your environment so that starting is easy — workout clothes ready, healthy food prepped, distractions out of sight.
Track the “done,” not the “perfect.” Progress isn’t about flawless days; it’s about showing up.

My friend Daniel crossing the finish line at the 2025 Fat Dog 120 mile race!

Motivation in the Wild: Lessons from the Fat Dog 120

This past weekend, I had the chance to observe motivation (and the lack of it) in a very real-world setting at the Fat Dog 120, a 120-mile trail race that takes runners through some brutally challenging terrain.

I was there in three capacities: as a sweeper, as ad-hoc crew for a friend, and as an observer of the athletes and the event as a whole.

Each role gave me a different vantage point, and together they reinforced something I’ve seen time and again: motivation is fleeting, but the ability to adapt and keep moving is everything.

As a sweeper, my volunteer partner and I followed a 38 km section of the course behind the last runner, pulling the course flagging as we went and making sure they reached the next aid station safely. The course literally disappeared behind us as we moved forward — a striking visual reminder that the path we’ve already taken is gone. You can’t turn back to it. Your only option is to keep going along the route ahead, or find your own way forward.

At the start line, every runner’s goal was the same: reach the finish, ideally in a certain time. But as the race unfolded, goals shifted.

For some, it went from “finish in X hours” to simply “finish.”
For those really struggling, it became “make the next cutoff.”
For a few, that finish line shrank to “get to the next aid station.”
And in some cases, it boiled down to just “take the next step.”

I saw this play out up close with my friend Daniel, a two-time Spartan Death Race finisher who was running the full 120 miles, as my Super-Wifey, Raina and I helped crew him alongside his lovely wife, Melody. By the later aid stations, the physical discomfort and fatigue were written all over him. He had to let go of his original expectations for how fast he’d finish. It wasn’t the smooth race his preparation might have suggested, but he never let “not finishing” become an option.

He kept executing, one foot in front of the other, adjusting his pace, staying level-headed, and teaming up with another runner through some of the hardest stretches before tackling the final big descent alone.

And it wasn’t just Daniel. Across all the distances, I heard and saw similar stories of runners adapting, scaling back goals, and pushing forward despite setbacks. Out of 147 starters in the 120-mile event, 66 didn’t finish. These were all people who clearly had the motivation to sign up and start. But those who finished? They found a way to keep moving despite the challenges, no matter how small the step.

Watching this unfold reinforced what I see in coaching: success isn’t about staying motivated by the same burst of inspiration from start to finish. It’s about adjusting the plan when conditions change, leaning on the habits you’ve built, shrinking your focus to the next step when necessary, and doing the work even when the finish line feels impossibly far away.

The Takeaway

The myth of needing to “feel motivated” keeps too many people from making progress.

Motivation is a spark, not the engine…and sparks aren’t predictable. The real engine is the habits you’ve built, the systems you rely on, and the ability to adjust your sails when the waters change.

You won’t always feel like doing the work. And that’s fine. The goal isn’t to be fired up every day; it’s to have a high enough baseline that even your low-energy days still move you forward.

Because at the end of the day, success isn’t about how often you felt motivated, it’s about how often you acted anyway.