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Where Are You On The Motivation Ladder?
Posted by: Adam on Feb 25, 2009 - 12:50 AM
1576 Reads
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  Sometimes it doesn't take much to nudge someone into action who is already leaning in the right
direction. A colleague of mine likes to put it in terms of pushing and pulling. He does not mind pushing his clients, but will not pull them. In other words, if they are out in front and just need a shove from time to time, he is their man, but if they are unmotivated and he feels like he is there as a watchdog to drag them in for training every time he is not interested.
But if someone is really ready you don't even have to push, you just need to give them a little nudge. It all depends on where the person is mentally in their process of deciding what is right for them. There is an interesting and well recognized scale of mental readiness for exercise developed by Marcus et al.
- Precontemplation describes the stage of readiness to exercise of a person who is not exercising and has no intention of exercising in the near future.
- Contemplation describes the stage of a person who is not currently exercising but is thinking about exercising in the near future. <span style="font-weight: bold;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Preparation is defined as the stage when a person is not only thinking about exercising, but also is starting to participate in physical activity on a limited basis.
The Action stage describes the stage of someone who has recently become physically active on a regular basis.
Maintenance describes the stage of someone who has been physically active on a regular basis for at least 6 months.
<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: 9px; font-family: Courier;">Marcus et al.(from <span style="font-size: 9px; font-family: Courier;">Brenda L. Rooney, PhD, MPH)
Someone in Precontemplation could not even be pulled into a training regimen. Wellness and exercise are not even on the radar. You could probably pull someone in Contemplation into the gym and hopefully move them along the spectrum through action. But as we move into Preparation, especially if you've been there for a while, sometimes it just takes a little nudge to make a meaningful difference.
The day before yesterday I sent a message out to my Momentum Training News subscribers. It talked about the importance of taking action to achieve goals. And it provided free access to the FlowFit program in order to start taking action immediately towards their wellness goals. At any rate, I was very gratified to receive the following message as a result.
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">HI Adam,
Thank you so much for this email. I had been an athlete at pretty high levels during my first thirty years. I have fallen very out of shape which is not unusual and have been trying to build momentum to get my butt moving over the last year. For whatever reason (usual, time, limited space home etc.) I had not been able to. Now there really is no excuse with the suggestion you make to begin with flowfit! I’m psyched, not cause it’s such a revolution but because it finally gets me going and I know where it’s gonna lead. I am going to be by doing!
Many many thanks,
All this guy needed was a gentle nudge. He was ready! I left his name out because I don't know if he would want it floated out into cyber space, but I'm hoping he'll drop a few lines into the comments on this post.
So, what stage are you in? Does it vary throughout the year? Can you actively affect what stage you are in, or is it a completely organic process? I'd love to have your thoughts.
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