I've started over more times than I can count — gym memberships in Frisco, running routes through DFW, home workout setups that collected dust. New programme, fresh motivation, two weeks of consistency, then something interrupts — travel, work, illness — and the habit evaporates. I spent years cycling through this pattern before I finally understood what I was getting wrong.
The answer wasn't a better programme. It wasn't a new gym or a smarter app. It was embarrassingly simple, and once I understood it, everything changed for Fawaz Sheikh.
The problem with motivation
Most people build their training around motivation. They train when they feel like it. They set ambitious goals, ride the initial enthusiasm, and then when the feeling fades — as it always does — the habit disappears with it.
Motivation is not a reliable foundation for a habit. It's variable, emotional, and dependent on circumstances you can't control. If your training depends on feeling motivated, you've already lost.
"I stopped waiting to feel like training. I started training whether I felt like it or not. That single change was the whole answer." — Fawaz Sheikh
What actually works
Two years later
I've now trained consistently for over two years. I've travelled extensively during that time, worked through stressful periods, gotten ill, had bad weeks. The habit held through all of it — not because I was disciplined or motivated, but because I built a system that didn't depend on either.
For more from Fawaz Sheikh on health and lifestyle, read eating well while travelling or explore the hiking essentials guide.