With the New Year upon us, I’ve found myself reading a lot of articles about how to get motivated (and stay motivated) as they pop up on social media. Which is awesome, because that means my newsfeed is also slammed with people making major moves in their lives and kicking butt while they’re at it. You also know me well enough to know by now when I see someone posting selfies at the gym or making a healthy and delicious meal, I’m sitting here going, “Bahhh!!! You’re so amazing!!! I’m so proud of you!!!” Because I am. I’m pretty much your virtual cheerleader.

But after reading one article recently filled with the some fairly typical and stagnant tips for getting motivated (telling me I should bring a friend to the gym, visualize achieving my goals, etc.) I found myself getting frustrated by what was not being said in the first place. And that is this: you will not always be motivated. Asking yourself to get motivated and stay there just isn’t really a thing. It’s not realistic. And we are doing a disservice to ourselves by tap dancing around it all – acting as if we can trick our way into getting motivated. When all is said and done, if we truly want to get honest with ourselves, we should be asking just one question:

Do I really want it?

If you really want it, you will make it happen. No excuses, no whining (okay, maybe only a little whining).

But if you don’t really want it, you will surely find other priorities jumping ahead. You’ll find yourself making excuses about not having the time, or it being too hard. No amount of gym buddies will help you when your pillow is calling and you don’t really, really want to make that tough commitment.

If you really want it… it will be your priority. It will happen over time, no matter how long it takes. You will get better day by day, closer and closer to your goal. Simply taking action is what truly matters. Putting one foot in front of the other (even if some days that step is a little shorter than another).

Think about all of the things you have already achieved: you have made them happen with late nights, early mornings, lots of sweat (and probably a few tears).

Because I’m not saying that now that you really want it, it will suddenly be easy. Or that you won’t need a few tricks up your sleeve every once in a while just to tough it through. Honestly, it’s probably more likely that when you decide you really want it, shit will really hit the fan.

So go ahead and put your precautions in place now. Lay out the groundwork for your success. You know yourself better than anyone. If you know you need some external motivation to wake up early, then make sure you surround yourself with plenty of it. Or do the work at night and forgo your dinner date. Just be realistic and make sure you take that next step to achieve your goal.

And when the time comes, know this:

Your goals, if you really want them, are there for the taking. But you’re going to have to fight for them. And your inability to wake up early and your busy schedule, no matter how real, won’t be to blame for not making them happen. You will.

. . .

“The distance between dreams and reality is called action.” – Unknown