Just Do It!

Just Do It!

No, this week’s blog isn’t an ad for NIKE, but instead a thought for you to consider to change your mindset around the motivation to get physically active.  A common question I am asked in the fitness field is how to find the time to fit in exercise.  Many people express that they find this a struggle.  Often, to strategize around this, we would look at one’s weekly/daily schedule, finding times which can be dedicated to exercise, and then scheduling in workouts accordingly.  Important also is to create some back up plans in case one day’s workout doesn’t happen if work runs late, or someone gets sick for example.  Those things do happen and a key to success while working on any goal is planning for the obstacles that will naturally arise in life.  This approach of creating appointments for exercise in your calendar is a helpful strategy. 

Now, let’s consider a different point of view.  All of this organizing and analyzing……ask yourself this: “all this time I have spent reviewing my ‘to do’ list and my schedule……..could I have just thrown on my running shoes and completed my work out?”   And consider the amount of time you spend talking to yourself about working out.  “Well, I should go, but its cold out” or “Well I did work out three times last week so maybe I don’t have to go today” or “I am too tired today” and on and on. STOP NEGOTIATING WITH YOURSELF! All that time and energy having these debates.  Stop talking and just go do it!  You’ll be surprised how quickly it gets done!

Once you begin to see your patterns with this internal dialogue, you will now be able to gain power over it.  I plan my week on Sundays and review each day’s plan early in the morning.  Once upon a time, I use to become overwhelmed and that lead me to removing things from my day, making decisions about an evening activity at 6am.  That’s ridiculous!  So, I create my (realistic) plans for the day and adopt a “wait and see” approach, just “putting on my shoes and attacking the day”.  And if at 7pm, I realize I am feeling completing drained and need to shift around my evening, that’s when I make a decision.  And what is most interesting, usually the thing I considered taking away from my day during my 6am analysis got done without a problem. 

So, stop negotiating with yourself and talking yourself out of things before you’ve even really begun.  Keep the promises you make to yourself.  If you don’t, who else will?

Have a fabulous Wednesday-I know you can crush your Wednesday goals!

Deanna