 One of my most viewed videos of all time is how to get motivated to work out. And there's no surprise, because if you want to change your life, one of the hardest parts is actually sitting down and doing the things that can change your life. So in this video, I thought I would share three exercises that can really help you find the motivation to change and improve your life. Hey guys, I'm Alex Hein, over at Modern Health Monk, author of the health book, Master of the Day. So before we jump in, I've put together a free download right below the video, which is for a free seven-day self-growth challenge. Every day you're gonna get a little email and a little note on something small you can do to improve yourself and improve your life. So you can check it out right below this video here. Now my first piece for having incredible motivation is understanding internal versus external or intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic. You know, about 10 years ago, I wanted to change my life in a specific way. I wanted to get a raise because I was not making much money on my day job. And specifically, I wanted to move into a new career that was more related to technology and software and that sort of thing. The problem was I hated the job search. So every day I was going through the stupid resume machine, writing up these resumes and these dumb cover letters over and over and over to apply to companies. And in general, I really hated the process. So what happened was six months went by and not a lot happened because it was so draining. You know, I had a full 40-hour work week, so I was trying to do my day job, my side hustle and apply for these new jobs at the same time. So what happened was nothing. Now, in comparison, at the same time, I always had wanted to start writing a book. Now that book later became Master of the Day. And the thing about writing was that I actually felt a little bit of excitement about it. So I didn't start off with the intention to write the book. I was just gonna put together a little pamphlet for some of the personal training clients I was training. And I thought, you know, why don't I just write like a page a day? Why don't I just write the outline? You know, what are the things that I've talked about over and over and over and I wanna stop repeating myself? So all I did was for about a week, I just wrote really what was the outline and the table of contents to this book. And then the second week showed up and I found that, you know what, I was really excited to write just that like first few pages of that chapter. So I wanted to like illustrate what the point of this book was and how it was different. So I sat down in a cafe in the evening and I wrote a couple of pages. Then the next week, you know, I had another idea for a chapter. So I was like, you know what, let me just write a couple of pages just so that I don't forget this idea, right? So when I go back to write the real book, I'm gonna have some more ideas for what's actually in that specific chapter. And on and on and on this went. And about a month later, I realized I'd written 30 pages. And I'm like, I didn't really set out to write the book but I just wrote like a sixth of a book. So why don't I just write for another 30 days or 60 days? Why don't I just write for the rest of this quarter of this season and see where it goes? Well, the rest is history because over the next six months, I wrote over 220,000 words in that book without even basically trying to write a book. And this experience highlighted something really important for me, which is that a lot of your wildest goals are much more easily achieved if you're just naturally doing things that give you energy. So just like applying for jobs and searching for jobs were things that I hated and I didn't like, it didn't happen because every day was a chore. But writing a book, which is a hard goal for the majority of humans was easy because at that moment, that was something that gave me energy. And so if you focus more on doing the things that you naturally are drawn to, you're a lot more likely to achieve those goals versus having to push all day. So find those things. Now the second habit is what I call the snowball effect, which is that when you look at people in the gym in the new year, everyone is trying to do a ton of different things. And especially they're trying to do long workouts. Like these newbies are in there for two hours a day, but are they ever there after three months? Not usually. And the reason is they just burnt themselves out. It's like a basketball player who's training all day. You know, by the time they're 40, if they made enough money, they're like, all right, that was good, but now I'm just shot from just overtraining all the time to be the best. And for so many of us, what the real power question is, it's not what is the maximum I can do to see results quickly, as in two hour workouts. It's what is the smallest thing that I can do every single day, as in the most consistently? The only reason I was able to write multiple books purely was because I just said, I'm gonna write for one hour a day. And whatever I get done is good enough. That's the equivalent in the gym of being like, you know what, I'm just gonna go to the gym 30 minutes, four days a week. If I can do that, that's gonna be a big enough win that I can always increase it from there. But I'm never gonna do a 90 minute or two hour or three hour workout, trying to get fit for the beach, because inevitably I know I'm not gonna be back there in six months. So if there is a goal, whether it is the job search that sucks, or it is writing a book or building a business, what is the most consistent thing you can do that's the smallest? Maybe it just means you're gonna write for an hour a day or you're gonna study that difficult class for one hour a day or 20 minutes a day. Figure out what's the smallest habit that you can do the most consistently. Because inevitably, the person who's here a year from now will be the one who wins. Now the third thing for motivation is, focus on habits that make you have more physical health and energy first, before others. The main thing is that if you have more energy then you're a lot more capable of doing these other things. I mean, I'm sitting here and shooting videos at three hours straight. You think that's something that's easy to do? On a day when I'm tired or where I haven't slept, not only do I not wanna do it, I'm exhausted by the time it's over. So if I don't have energy, I can't produce all of these videos. In the same vein, if you're sick and unhealthy, you can't become a sports athlete. You can't study four hours a day to get into medical school. You can't train three hours a day to be a professional soccer player. So physical raw energy is the foundation of high achievement. So focus, first of all, on the habits that give you energy before anything. Scott Adams, the cartoonist, has a whole chapter in his book called The Energy Matrix, where he describes this process of trying to figure out businesses that would succeed or startups that would give him financial freedom. And he found that the ones inevitably that worked were the ones that gave him energy because those were the only ones he was motivated to work on. And he found that cartooning and drawing was one of those things that gave him energy and he could even do it before work like at five in the morning. As a result, that's one of the businesses that blew up and ended up working out. So follow your energy more than anything because that is what will give you the drive to keep going long after you've lost interest. So those are three motivational hacks I use on a daily basis to really stay focused on achieving my goals and to always be making my future bigger and bigger and bigger than the past. All right guys, that's what I have for you today. Before you go, check out the free seven-day self-growth challenge right below this video and I'll see you soon.