Choices and Excuses – Motivation and Willpower

by James Collinge | July 17, 2025

I've had a shit week: running my own business, trying to fit 12 hours of work into 5-hour days, my household has had three sickness bugs in 2 weeks, two kids to take care of, one of those is disabled and attends a special school for his condition. Training was not enjoyable, my sleep was awful, and to top it off, the weather was terrible. I talked with my coach, and we adjusted my training, but we did not stop.

I still got into the gym 4 times that week, lifted heavy, and set a 15lb deadlift PR. If I had used all the above as an excuse, none of that productive training would have happened. I accept that there are rare times when training is impossible (war zones and famine spring to mind), but not a shit week. A shit week will not stop me!

This brings me to the subject of motivation and willpower. Fashionable phrases and articles like to include these words to describe how people can achieve greatness. Although not completely incorrect, they are not hard-hitting enough. Let's be honest – motivation is fleeting. Out of the thousands of times I've been to the gym, mowed the yard, or washed my truck, I could count on my fingers the total that has been because of motivation. It will get you through the first few weeks, but it will rarely achieve anything long-lasting.

Then there's willpower, which can be a little more helpful. It shows us that we must endure monotony, boredom, unpleasantness – you essentially “man up” and get the job done. But I think that although willpower sounds good, it's never a feeling; you don't experience willpower, it's just a consequence of numerous decisions that demonstrate willpower. It's the result of your actions.

Back to basics: we achieve things by choice. We make choices all the time, the cookie or the ice cream, the steak or the sea bass, training or sitting on your ass. Every time there is a choice, you have a chance to improve your situation, even to compound the improvement. We don't brush our teeth because of motivation or willpower, it's a choice – we choose not to have breath that could melt a steel-reinforced door; we choose that we like our teeth to be pain-free. It's the same with getting enough sleep. Lots of us want to finish the movie or have another drink, but we act like an adult and get ourselves to bed. That's not motivation or willpower, it's a choice. Nobody looks at you going to bed on time and thinks, “Wow, what willpower! What motivation!” They just realize that you're competent enough to decide correctly.

Every time we choose something that doesn't improve our life it includes an excuse: I'm tired, sick, cold, cozy, full, hungry, pissed off, busy etc. Think about it: the last time you chose to skip training, there was an excuse, a time crunch, an appointment, you were sad, lonely or had a party to go to. An excuse! You must be brutally honest with yourself to achieve something that feels out of reach. If your mobile screen time is more than 30 minutes per day, then you have time to train – you just choose to stare at your phone instead. You could have put 5 more pounds on the bar, but you didn't.

Training consistently is a choice; it's you who makes that choice. You don't need motivation or willpower, you just choose to put one foot in front of the other until you are wearing your lifting shoes, while standing under a barbell. The 5th rep of the last set may take some motivation, anger, or be a result of your will power, but you're already four reps in, and the reason you got to that stage is by choosing to do so.

Free yourself of the modern idea that life is willpower and motivation. It isn't. It's choices and excuses. Instagram does not add weight to your set of 5, you do! This is a level of personal responsibility many are unhappy to abide by, but we all do it anyway without realizing. The next time you have to mow the grass, or do your fives, make it easier. It's a choice – your choice, and it doesn't need a quote or a feeling. Choose wisely.