"Mood Follows Action" is an iconic phrase from Rich Roll - a man who recovered from a life of severe alcoholism in his late 30's, went on to run Ultra Endurance marathons in his 40s, and was named one of the “25 Fittest Men in the World” by Men’s Fitness.

We have a lot to learn from someone like that, but we can start with those three words.

Why we can't rely on mood to create change

There are few times you will ever be ‘in the mood’ to make a behavioral change.

We are inertial creatures, and we require significant force to change our behavior and break out of deeply paved patterns.

If we only took action to create change when we felt like it, it would never become a sustained behavior.

What these words really mean is to "Just Do It"

You will not be in the mood most days (especially in the beginning).

However, I think we can all remember an experience where we mustered up the strength, pushed through, and took that first step (shipping a piece of writing, doing a workout, even cooking a meal). And after it was done, it felt like a weight was been lifted.

The feelings that flow in afterwards (even if you feel your results were mediocre) are those of satisfaction, pride, and maybe even euphoria.

How "Mood Follows Action" compounds over time

That first small accomplishment awards us with a little bit of dopamine.

But, the next day, we will feel the resistance again. And again we have to just do it. Again and again and again.

Each time we ignore our moods and take action, we activate the reward circuit in our brain. We wear down the resistance little by little, by continuing the pave new pathways in our brains.

Then before we know it, the behavior becomes part of us, and we are driven to do it all on our own. That is the power of habit.