I know what I need to do, I just can't bring myself to do it

We have all experienced this at some point. There are many things we know we should be doing, but we... simply don't.

Instead of getting frustrated at yourself and carrying a whole lot of guilt, I believe it's more useful to understand how you work.

From there, you can start working with yourself, which is so much more pleasant than trying to force yourself to be something you're not.

So let me talk to you about self-determination theory.

Self-determination theory tells us that to be motivated, we need three things:

We need to feel like we can do it.

That we are competent enough. Nobody likes to fail, so if it feels like too much, you won’t want to do it.

This is why I always make sure we are setting realistic self-care goals, taking into account the fact that life gets in the way.

For example, we might set range targets:

"If everything goes according to plan this week, I'll do 5 workouts and go to bed at 22:30 every night. But I would consider 3 workouts and going to bed at 23:00 good enough."

This way, if you fall short of your 5 workouts because life, you won't give up entirely. Your motivation will hold.

We need autonomy.

We need to feel like we’re doing this for ourselves, that we have a say in it.

We’re not doing it to please our partner, or society or because our coach told us this is what we should do.

That’s why I always like to get your input when I plan our classes together as well as the routines you do away from me. It’s teamwork, it’s not me telling you things.

And we need relatedness.

To feel supported, to have fun, to feel like we’re not alone in the process.

When we work together, you can count on me for support and to build you routines that give you just the right amount of challenge.

My aim is always to make you fall in love with taking care of yourself and to build up your confidence.

So ask yourself:

What's keeping you from doing what you know you need to do? What kinds of thoughts pop up when it’s time to do it?

Is it that you're afraid of failing at it? That you're following someone else's vision? Or that you're not really enjoying it?

I talked about this more on my latest podcast episode.

I hope it gave you some ideas of things to work with, and if you need my help, I will be opening some spots for the summer.

Reply to this email with "I'm interested" and we'll talk about your situation. I'll let you know if I can help and how <3

Om, peace 🧡

Clem