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Your Checkup: Patient Education Health Podcast
Ever leave the doctor’s office more confused than when you walked in? Your Checkup: Health Conversations for Motivated Patients is your health ally in a world full of fast appointments and even faster Google searches. Each week, a board certified family medicine physician and a pediatric nurse sit down to answer the questions your doctor didn’t have time to.
From understanding diabetes and depression to navigating obesity, high blood pressure, and everyday wellness—we make complex health topics simple, human, and actually useful. Whether you’re managing a condition, supporting a loved one, or just curious about your body, this podcast helps you get smart about your health without needing a medical degree.
Because better understanding leads to better care—and you deserve both.
Your Checkup: Patient Education Health Podcast
95: The Motivation Checkup: Episode 4: How to Continue When Motivation Fades
In this episode, we talk about what really happens when motivation fades — and why it’s not a sign that you’ve failed. Life stress, poor sleep, illness, and emotional overload all pull on the same limited energy system in your brain, making even good intentions feel hard to act on. You’ll learn why pushing harder usually backfires, how to use “minimum viable habits” to protect your progress on low-energy days, and how self-compassion and flexibility are the real keys to consistency. This episode will help you stop blaming yourself and start showing up in a way that actually lasts.
Send us a message with this link, we would love to hear from you. Standard message rates may apply.
Production and Content: Edward Delesky, MD, DABOM & Nicole Aruffo, RN
Artwork Rebrand and Avatars:
Vantage Design Works (Vanessa Jones)
Website: https://www.vantagedesignworks.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vantagedesignworks?igsh=aHRuOW93dmxuOG9m&utm_source=qr
Original Artwork Concept: Olivia Pawlowski
Hi, welcome to your checkup. We are the patient education podcast where we bring conversations from the doctor's office to your ears. On this podcast, we try to bring medicine closer to its patients. I'm Ed Delesky, a family medicine doctor in the Philadelphia area.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm Nicola Ruffel. I'm a nurse.
SPEAKER_01:And we are so excited you were able to join us here again today. There's a blizzard outside.
SPEAKER_00:There's a blizzard outside. It's taller than Ollie. It is. We just had a hard time outside with him. But one of our neighbors kindly shoveled our little sidewalk, so that was nice.
SPEAKER_01:I'm a bad neighbor. I am. But what's even better is that one of the side streets, there's like a nice linear.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, someone shoveled a whole line down the middle of that street. So that's also nice. Thank you to our neighbors for doing the Lord's work while we stayed inside and watched Traders.
SPEAKER_01:We did. We also watched a little bit of that Burt Chrysler.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah. I had no idea that was he was doing that. It's pretty funny.
SPEAKER_01:It is pretty funny. I'm a little sleepy from the festivities, but it was funny. You know, I it it brings to mind that there are certain types of people. Um, you know, the world could be divided by. There are people who wait for the storm to be finished before going out to shovel. And then there are people who shovel in the middle of the storm. As I'm listening to a guy shovel right now.
SPEAKER_00:Someone has been outside shoveling for like at least two hours. Um it's probably different people, but like I guess I don't know. I could see both sides. Then what did my dad text us? He was like, I just wiped off the cars for the third time or something. We're like, why?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, part of me wonders why. I don't know. Part of me wants like gravity to take.
SPEAKER_00:Well, maybe they have to, maybe the person out there has a dog that they have to walk, and maybe they'll shovel more of our sidewalk. So maybe we should just keep our traps shut because we are not um what's it called? Particip contributing. We really are I couldn't think of the word. We are not contributing to our community right now by not helping to shovel.
SPEAKER_01:Really not. Um lots to be said about that. But we do a lot of good for other people in different ways.
SPEAKER_00:But there was a lot, like even on our front step, there was like three inches of snow when I opened the door. And it was like, oh my god, we're snowed in. We are, we are snowed in. I love being snowed in. It's so fun. And my friend texted me earlier and was like, she's also married with a dog, so she's just like hanging out at home with her husband and her dog. And she texted me and was like, being snowed in with your husband is so fun. And I agreed. It is. It is. Do you want to talk about your fest? Oh, what were you gonna say?
SPEAKER_01:Oh no, I was no my festivities were your festivities was amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Your birthday was yesterday.
SPEAKER_01:Well, your birthday was last week. I don't know if we ever actually like officially did we talk about it. We did. Yeah, we talked about Vettery. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00:And the um what are they called?
SPEAKER_01:My facial the massage.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay. So we did. Well, yeah, yesterday was well, two days ago when this comes out was my birthday. And um, you know, big 3-0. And I this happened in exactly the way I would have liked it too. I we woke up, we went to the gym, we do that because we like it, and we had a little cute little gym date. I think it's cute if you look at it like that.
SPEAKER_00:It is cute. And when we like work out together, it's cute.
SPEAKER_01:It's cute, and I feel better about it. And I'm like, oh, I feel great about today. And then, you know, a couple weeks ago, we had just had texted people and said, like, hey, if like if anyone can come make it, um, we would like have them come by. So the rest of the morning, we we hung out. We you made cinnamon rolls. Oh my god. I mean, look, I I can't go into like every explicit detail of how you made this like the most special birthday.
SPEAKER_00:Why not? And I did a lot of work. You did do a lot of work.
SPEAKER_01:Well, no, like I mean, you you did 30 gifts for 30 days before my 30th birthday.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that was fun.
SPEAKER_01:I'm glad you thought so because it was like the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. And you just look at that superlative, and and you had this cooked up, and I walked into this the day after Christmas. So, like, there was all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, and you came out, and these were like gift gifts. You were extremely generous and clever with shopping.
SPEAKER_00:I think I was too, with well, being clever. Well, also, I was like really took advantage of all of like the Black Friday sales, because you know it's like a whole week long now. Like, I went to work. Uh yeah, no kidding, and like cleaned up. Honestly, like one of his gifts the coat. Oh you're proud of the coat, I'm so proud of it, and how I was so fiscally responsible. I got him this really nice, like, long wool coat from Banana Republic. Originally was like over$300. I got it for$89.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And they be I so like I basically made money basically by buying you that jacket.
SPEAKER_01:And it was just like stuff like that. Like there were a couple like fun little like practical gifts, but by and large, like you completely blew me away. So good. Thank you so much. The um, and then you made what was your favorite one?
SPEAKER_00:I'm curious. Do you have one?
SPEAKER_01:Hmm. I really do love the coat.
SPEAKER_00:That's a good one. I think we should um take it to a tailor and get the buttons moved.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, we can do that. Well, I like how how it in Oh no, wait. Then there's the photo of Ollie. See, there are so many of them.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah. So are the two of us the ones behind you to take to work when you have your new office?
SPEAKER_01:Right. I love the photos.
SPEAKER_00:The one with Ollie was pretty funny. I was really excited. So we have this joke. We've probably said it on here before, that our whole like shtick when the two of us are leaving the house is that Ollie's at home by himself and we're like, what is he doing all day? So we've concocted this whole idea that he's actually a scientist and he's at home doing experiments. And so like when we leave, we're like, bye Ollie, like have fun doing your experiments today. Like it's the whole bit. So for one of I almost said for one of Ollie's presents, for one of Eddie's gifts, I got him. It's pretty big. I think it's an eight by ten photo that I got on Etsy of Ollie's head. I sent this girl like a handful of pictures of Ollie's face. So it's Ollie's head on the body of like a scientist in a lab. He has like a white lab coat. He has an Erlenmeyer flask, like a yeah, and some sort of like textbook or something, and like gloves on.
SPEAKER_01:He's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:It's so funny. It's it's a and my whole thought of it was we don't have this kind of area in this house, but like whenever we move and we have some sort of like office slash like computer area or whatever, and our like degrees will be on the wall, and then we'll have like this like scientist picture volley in there.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god, it's gonna be great. That was amazing. I think like the whole concept just overwhelmed me. I got more cozy. Um, this these like unic uh monochrome sets from Abercrombie, this chain that I wear all the time now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you do like the chain. You've been wanting one of them for a while.
SPEAKER_01:Um, you got me shoes. I mean, at the risk of sounding like spoiled, like I don't want to list everything.
SPEAKER_00:Oh some of them have like I really took advantage, like if you added it added it all up, it probably is a lot, but I don't think I paid full price for one singular item. They were all actually heavily discounted. Amazing. Like, if you if your birthday was like in May or something, I don't know if you would have gotten all these nice kids.
SPEAKER_01:So there's the golf swing.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, you gotta look into that.
SPEAKER_01:I just like picked up a golf club a few years ago and like decided I used my dad's clubs from the 80s, and like he's a touch shorter than I am.
SPEAKER_00:And everyone's a touch shorter than you are. You're like 6'3, and the entire general population is a touch shorter than you.
SPEAKER_01:And I just picked it up and like I just started swinging it, and I was like, this is fun, and then never really learned officially how to do it, but like had played several rounds of golf. So then I met like Chris and um our other friend Anthony out for like um a like a set, oh my god, what is it called? A round of golf in the summertime, and they were giving me some pointers, which ended up feeling much more comfortable than anything else I was doing. But then it turned out that I don't have any idea what I'm doing on the golf course, except for driving the cart.
SPEAKER_00:Same.
SPEAKER_01:So you yeah, we're I don't think I still don't think we've made it through a full 18 in brigantine.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god, no, I always have to pay. There's a lot of the house is like half, I forget what hole the house is close by, but at one of the holes I can like hop off. I can just like run to the house, go to the bathroom, and come back.
SPEAKER_01:It's funny. It is, but then you have people behind you, and then they're like, come on, like what are you doing? And like, we're not good. We're there for the atmosphere.
SPEAKER_00:We're here to hang out and dilly dally.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So I don't know. Don't pressure us.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like I could be good if I really You're athletic.
SPEAKER_01:I think you could too.
SPEAKER_00:Put the effort into it. Maybe I'll like get myself a little golf stick. That is my size.
SPEAKER_01:Did you keep your list of the gifts? Or did you delete them as you went along?
SPEAKER_00:No, I was del I thought about this like probably when there were like 10 left, because I would like delete them as you opened them. Oh. Because first I numbered them. I had them in a note and I numbered them. I wonder, can I like go back and like undo? I wonder. I don't know if I can. Um, I went back, or first I numbered them as I was like buying them to make sure that I had 30. And then as I wrapped them, I would put a little check, the little like check mark emoji, and then what number that it was. And then yeah, then I was like deleting them as you open them. But then I was like, oh, now I kind of like forget what all these were. I wish I didn't, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_01:Well, some of them have like just seamlessly integrated themselves into my life already, like the pants that I go to work or the scrubs that you got, like the figs scrubs with the like engraved the logo of where I work and like my name. Like that's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:I think now that logo, like if you wanted something else from Figs with your like work logo on it. I think once you like do something with a logo and like upload it and like have it approved and everything, it's just like in my account now, I think. Oh, really? So it'll be like easier if you like wanted to do something else. Oh, or like another top or something. I feel like not that it was hard, but it did take a little bit, and then they like send you the proof and like oh wow, everything like that. It was so thoughtful. Actually, that I did pay full price for that was like the only thing though. Wow. If you cared.
SPEAKER_01:I do care. Um, lots of uh it was just amazing. Um, and then you made me a cake. You made me a cake, which was delicious.
SPEAKER_00:I always make you a cake.
SPEAKER_01:I know, but I'm just like even it still surprises me, even to this day. And then the homemade cinnamon rolls in the morning. Oh my god. I thought it was like a Christmas exclusive, which I think will be a tradition for our family. Sorry. Yeah. That like you're gonna be making cinnamon rolls on Christmas now.
SPEAKER_00:Like they were really good.
SPEAKER_01:They're so good. And they like you make an abundant amount.
SPEAKER_00:So there's always I was kind of between like that and the chocolate chip pancakes, because we for probably like the entirety of our relationship, like big days, we did chocolate chip pancakes. But then we were like, oh wait, no, these cinnamon rolls are delicious.
SPEAKER_01:No, I do love your buttermilk chocolate chip pancakes occasionally with like some banana in there. They're so good. And um, let me see. I don't want to forget anything, but I'm also eager to talk about Do you want to talk about the scale?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, or do you want to talk about that when we talk about like I don't know?
SPEAKER_01:No, we can talk about it. I'm not gonna, I don't think I'll put the name in quite yet because I want them to sponsor us.
SPEAKER_00:Do you want to wait?
SPEAKER_01:No, I can I'm just excited that we have a scale that does body composition now, and I would love for them to sponsor us just because I think it's like really practical for people to have, like just from the obesity medicine standpoint. Yeah, like and I'm so excited about it. Turns out I burn calories like a 23-year-old man.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god, yeah, we know. So annoying.
SPEAKER_01:It gives you like your body fat percentage, it gives you muscle mass. So it just like gives more of a I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Do your visceral fat.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Give a grading of visceral fat, of which I'm average, which is nice, but I would love to be a little bit better than average if I can get there. But you know, I did all this after a big night, including like a big night of unlimited Brazilian steak, which was delicious. So no, I think that's so cool. We'll talk about it more, um, pending how any of these conversations go. That's such a cool toy. And then I was just like overwhelmed with love when people came by. We like, you know, the setup we had was like if you were free, one of our friends, if you were free and you could come, you just come by this place where we'll be and have a beverage. And lots of people came, and I feel very lucky and blessed. And I mean, like people getting to know each other again and see each other after the wedding, and like hearing funny stories, like you know, usual characters, like Mike and of course Chris Nicholson and several other came out of his basement to join us. He did live in person. I mean, there's so many people.
SPEAKER_00:Are there any sentient stories that I'm forgetting, or um, none that you're forgetting, and none that we can probably talk about here.
SPEAKER_01:That's a good point. That too. Been accused of other things. You're right. So that was that was great too. And then dinner was amazing this time. I just wanted volume meat. That's what I wanted. Your dinner was like so great in the way that it was like delicious, and each bite was so well planned out and thoughtful. This time, like those guys just walk around in the steakhouse with those the meat on skewers, and they say, Do you want blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? And it's always too fast, and I don't know what they're saying. And I say yes. And then I always forget when you have one of those green things up or red thing down, a red thing up, green thing up. I always forget.
SPEAKER_00:And then I know, and then they come by and you're like, Whoa.
SPEAKER_01:Why are there why is there so much meat being thrown at me right now? And then you're like, flip it. You flip it over for me. And my parents came down earlier in the week and I got to hang out with them, which was great. We went to Victory Brewing, that was lovely. And gosh, that steak was that hit the spot too at that point in the day. It really did. Look, and that's what we got so far. I am I forgetting anything?
SPEAKER_00:I don't think so. It's a pretty good recap of our weekend.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, this um I I just need to like I need the people to know how starting a new puzzle and how lucky I am that you did all of this for me and how how much I appreciate it. Like I Yeah. I I won't get too gushy over a podcast that's meant for everyone to hear. Um Yeah, you got a new puzzle you're working on?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, this is the one I got for my birthday. It's a swimming, or like it's like a scuba diving corgi, except he doesn't have scuba gear on, he only has goggles. But he's very cute and he has a tail.
SPEAKER_01:You're cr this last puzzle, you crushed.
SPEAKER_00:I know, I really did.
SPEAKER_01:You did it in like a week.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I like worked on it a lot. The other one, the pooping dogs, I like I feel like there was like a whole work week I didn't touch it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I feel like we were on like four episodes three or four episodes here and you were like working on it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, I was telling um it's so funny because you like hate puzzles and get stressed out about them. And then I was talking with Justin, Chloe, and Dan about my newly re refreshed puzzle hobby. And Chloe was like saying how like she likes puzzles and like it's like so satisfying when you like find a piece or like find a couple pieces or whatever. And then Dan and Justin were all like stressed out about it, and they were like, I can't do puzzles. I hate that it makes a lot of sense. Must be a doctor thing. Doctors don't like puzzles.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I guess so. Maybe we think too much at work already. I don't know. Well, you do too though. So I don't know. I just don't like them. Oh. My um how is it taboo to mention that I was asked to be a groomsman?
SPEAKER_00:No, I don't think so. No, oh wait, yeah, we gotta talk about this.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so like, you know, my oldest friend AJ like swoops in with um my other like very old friend, now they just happen to be together, Lindsay, and they're getting married, and I was lucky enough that he asked me to be a groomsman. And he comes out with like a very nice bottle, but then in the bot like in the bag, he comes out with this card, and then I'm like looking at it more, and people are explaining it to me. It's a basketball card, it's a basketball card, and there's a mint condition LeBron James card. And I like one didn't know that these things would be possible to be circulating, and now he gifted me a mint condition, LeBron James card, and I couldn't be more honored and happy to celebrate both of them because this is such an exciting time, but like holy crap.
SPEAKER_00:Holy crap.
SPEAKER_01:Well, he's like my favorite player ever, so that's why this is important for the people to know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. If anyone didn't know how much Eddie loves LeBron.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Do you have more to say about that?
SPEAKER_01:No.
SPEAKER_00:Or should I tell them the crazy thing that happened before we start talking about what we need to talk about?
SPEAKER_01:Tell them the crazy thing that happened.
SPEAKER_00:So we had there were like a bunch of us there. We had a table, kind of. And we like had a table, but really the table eventually was just really being used for like our coats and stuff. And everyone was just kind of like walking, standing, mingling, whatever. Yeah. So we had all of our coats at this one table, and this bag, this gift bag that um AJ and Lindsay gave your thing in that was just sitting on the table, and you were really keeping eyes on it. I had the card in my purse because, like, you know, don't want that getting anywhere, but there were like other things in the bag. And um at one point, at the toward the end of the night, there were only a couple of us left there. We look over at the table and the bag is gone. Mm-hmm. So we're like, hmm, where'd it go? Did someone really take it? Like you had been really looking at it a lot. So these bozos at the table right next to us, it was a bunch of people, but then I was like, One guy and two girls, they had the bag and they're like rooting through it, like looking to see what's in there. Mind you, it was at an obviously occupied table. So I see it obviously walk right over there.
SPEAKER_01:You do.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm and they're like still, they're like going through this bag, like what's in it? Like as if they just came across they just came across like a buried treasure. So I said, Hi, this is ours, and just like reach my hand in and like take it out of the one girl's hand. And the one guy was the two girls, first of all, are looking at me like I have two heads. Like I'm the crazy one here.
SPEAKER_01:I know.
SPEAKER_00:Like I just did something crazy. And then the guy that's with them is like, Oh, I'm so sorry. Like it's like it's my birthday.
SPEAKER_01:Entitles you to a random game.
SPEAKER_00:I'm like, this is crazy.
SPEAKER_01:That's crazy, baby.
SPEAKER_00:That was a weird thing. Nobody gave you this to you. No. First of all, second of all, it's not yours. Third of all, it's my Eddie's birthday. And this is his, even though it's not technically a birthday gift, but you know.
SPEAKER_01:He did walk in there, and I said no gifts. And then he's like, This isn't a birthday gift, don't you worry. And I was like, all right, fine, I'll accept it. That was crazy behavior. I can't believe it actually happened. I was like, oh my god, it's gone. And then I thought it left. I was like, oh, that's what I get. But no. And then you got it back.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I did.
SPEAKER_01:I think that went over well because you are who you are. And like you just took it and repossessed the gift.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I simply just took it out of their hands.
SPEAKER_01:No, I know.
SPEAKER_00:If if it was you, you would have been like, because you're like way too nice. You'd have been like, hi, um, I'm so sorry. Like you would have been like apologizing to them, even though like they took they like stole your lunch money. I know. Like, hi, I'm so I'm so sorry. Would it be possible if I had my gift back?
SPEAKER_01:My gift back. I think you mistakenly took it.
SPEAKER_00:I just go over. This is ours. No room for conversation.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you just need to get it back because what if they were like, no, this isn't prove it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So no.
SPEAKER_00:I'm glad that I would have added some excitement to our night if that happened. That's for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Definitely. Might not have made it to dinner. No, I don't know. Oh, yeah. All right. What do you think?
SPEAKER_00:All right. This is probably long. This was like hopefully no one complains about how long it is.
SPEAKER_01:That definitely did happen, and I did not ask. All right. So what are we going to talk about today, Nick?
SPEAKER_00:Today we're talking about is this our final motivation episode?
SPEAKER_01:I think we have maybe two more.
SPEAKER_00:Well, today we're talking about motivation again and what happens when you lose it.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. So last week we talked about how you get started making changes and we talked about thinking really small. So we want to take it the next step and say, like, how do you continue to make these healthy behavior changes? And I want to start with something I really want you to hear. If your motivation disappears at some point, that doesn't mean the plan failed. It means the plan was designed by a human. And motivation doesn't fade because you stopped caring. It fades because life happens. Stress, illness, travel, family stuff, being overworked at work, emotional strain. All of that pulls on the same limited energy system in your brain. And so today we're going to talk about what to do when motivation disappears without shame and without panic and without quitting on yourself. So I think the first reframe to do here is that motivation isn't a promise, if you think of it like that. We often treat motivation like a contract. And like once we feel motivated, it should stay. And that just is what it is. But if we could reframe it and say maybe motivation is more like weather, and it changes sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once. And planning for no for low motivation days is not pessimistic. It might be wise to do so. People who succeed long term don't rely on motivation, but they get ready for when it's not there. So when motivation drops, let's name a couple of common reasons that motivation fades. High stress, poor sleep, or maybe you're not seeing results fast enough. And none of these things mean that you're weak. It means that it's taking a toll and that your goals are being challenged by these things. When your brain is stressed, it shifts into a protection mode. It prioritizes short-term comfort, energy conservation, and familiar patterns. And that's not laziness, that's just biology. The mistake most people make is when these things usually go sideways. They usually think when motivation drops, sometimes people go, Well, I just need to push harder. And if I don't do this perfectly, I've failed. I think we feel this sometimes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's like we didn't do a workout well enough. And that leads to guilt. That may lead to all or nothing thinking. And eventually you may just quit. But what actually works may be the opposite, which may be doing less on purpose and being consistent. So we're going to introduce a term here called the minimum viable habit. We think this is one of the most useful tools for low motivation seasons, is the minimum viable habit. This is literally the smallest version of a behavior that keeps the habit alive, protects that identity that we're trying to build, the identity that you are someone who takes care of yourself and requires very little energy. The idea is that it's not supposed to be impressive. It is not intense. It's just something that you're able to do. Something of a minimum viable habit could be a five-minute walk, stretching while your coffee brews. One intentional food choice. We've talked about some of these before. On high energy days, days where you feel good, you can do more. But on low energy days, you don't just stop completely. When you maintain a tiny version of a habit, you protect things that we've talked about before. You protect your sense of competence, that sense of I can do this. You avoid the shame spiral of woe is me. I stink, I didn't do this, I broke my habit, I'm not taking care of myself. And you make restarting things easier. Stopping entirely creates some sort of a mental wall. So doing something small keeps that door open so you can easily walk right through it. And that is how we build real consistency in how we take care of ourselves. Sometimes what can be helpful when motivation is low is reconnecting with your why. It's sort of an invitation to ask Is this goal still meaningful to me? Is my plan too rigid right now? Or am I asking too much in this season of life? Sometimes the behavior isn't wrong, but we have to reframe it and say that the expectation of yourself is. And adjusting a plan that you've made for yourself isn't quitting. It's just being dynamic. It's adapting. When you're not feeling motivated, you feel like you can't keep going, a few things that aren't good are self-criticism, or waiting until you feel like it. Or huge one, comparing yourself to other people, or trying to make up for lost time. I think we would argue here that motivation doesn't respond to punishment, but it rather it responds to safety, support, and small sustainable wins that build that identity of you being someone who takes care of yourself. Does that sound about right?
SPEAKER_00:I think so.
SPEAKER_01:Do you have any thoughts? So here's a little exercise. If your motivation feels low right now, try this. Ask yourself, what's the smallest thing I could do today that aligns with my health? And what would showing up look like? Even if it wasn't perfect, but it was just something. And then stop there. That's enough. That is your minimum viable habit. That is the thing you will fall back on when nothing else is going right. And this is when systems matter, because this connects to our earlier episodes. When motivation drops, it's those things that you've already built. It's the system that carries you. It's the fact that you have your clothes set out the next morning. You have the healthy food in the refrigerator, you have the vegetables cut up. The systems carry you, the habits protect you. And the self-compassion, being kind to yourself, sustains you. That motivation that drove you to make that first change to start taking care of yourself will come back. But only if you don't burn yourself out waiting for it. So on hard days, success may look different. It's not intensity, it's continuity. It's just getting out there and doing something. So if you keep even a thread of that behavior alive, you're still in there. You're still doing it because motivation comes and goes, but consistency is built with kindness to yourself and being flexible and dynamic. All right, so next week we are going to have a conversation, parsing out the details about the differences between motivation, habits, and discipline, and what actually creates change between the three of them at different times. But most importantly, thank you for coming back to another episode of your checkup. Hopefully, you were able to learn something for yourself, a loved one, or an unmotivated neighbor. You can find us on Instagram, you can follow us on threads, you can send us an email. But most importantly, stay healthy, my friends. Until next time, I'm Ed Deleski. I'm Nicole Arufo. Thank you and goodbye.
SPEAKER_00:Bye.
SPEAKER_01:This information may provide a brief overview of diagnosis, treatment, and medications. It's not exhaustive and is a tool to help you understand potential options about your health. It doesn't cover all details about conditions, treatments, or medications for a specific person. This is not medical advice or an attempt to substitute medical advice. You should contact a healthcare provider for personalized guidance based on your unique circumstances. We explicitly disclaim any liability relating to the information given or its use. This content doesn't endorse any treatments or medications for a specific patient. Always talk to your healthcare provider for a complete information tailored to you. In short, I'm not your doctor. I am not your nurse. And make sure you go get your own checkup with your own personal doctor.
