Motivating Oneself – Get That Bikini

A client asked me today besides me motivating and pushing her during workout sessions, what other ways could she use to motivate herself to lose weight? 

I shared what I thought was the best extrinsic motivator. What she could do was to buy a skimpy outfit, say a bikini and hang it in her wardrobe. Each day when she opened her wardrobe, she would look at that bikini and tell herself ‘one day I will fit into it’.

After hearing it, she laughed. Then she agreed, recalling the times in the past when she in fact used what I just shared to mentally condition her mind and succeed in losing weight.

Many times, our mind has a different agenda from that of our body. Our body wants to push boundaries but our mind wants to preserve the status quo. When intrinsic motivators like the feeling good factor fails to converge both mind and body, then some form of extrinsic motivator like that bikini will work miracles. For the guys, try a skimpy swimming trunk that will show your 6 pack abs in its full glory or plunging V-neck T-shirt (popularized by Topman) for some pectoral peek-a-boo!