Melissa Wood-Tepperberg Shares the Key to Staying Motivated Day After Day

The wellness leader leans into her small daily habits, which help her work toward bigger goals.

Melissa Wood-Tepperberg was photographed by Yu Tsai in Dominica / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

Melissa Wood-Tepperberg knows what it means to work hard toward her goals. As the founder of Melissa Wood Health, a popular health and wellness platform, the host of her own podcast, Move With Heart, and the mother of two kids, she has a packed schedule. But despite that, she still makes time each day to work on her own mental and physical wellness.

In other words, she has no problem staying motivated to achieve her goals. Her secret is simple: She keys in on the positive outcomes and her small, everyday habits. When it comes to finding the “inner strength to do it all over again day after day,” Wood-Tepperberg simply asks herself, “How bad do I want to feel good today,” she said in a recent Instagram post.

She knows that in order to feel good, she has to lean into her daily habits and wellness practices—from simple things like drinking lemon water to more involved activities like working out—even when she doesn’t feel like it. Practicing those very habits “that lift me up when I’m feeling down or not an ounce ... motivated,” she said, “helps me come back to the place I want to live.”

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But in order to appreciate the small habits, you must first uncover your “why,” the very goals that you are working toward. So, according to Wood-Tepperberg, it’s important to “keep digging deep for your daily WHY [and] reminding yourself why you do this work.” Only then will the small habits start to take on a greater importance: getting you ever closer to your goals.