I'm guessing that I'm not the only one out there who fights a little battle in my mind when it comes to getting off my butt and working out (I guess a lot because I don't like making assumptions about other people based on myself). It usually goes a little something like this: Me: I should really workout. Evil fitness self: Nah, you're tired. Good fitness self (who knows swimsuit season is upon us): C'mon - you really should. It will feel good. EFS: Nah, I'm too busy/tired/lazy. GFS: Please! Just do it! You won't regret it! EFS: I'm parked. I dare you to move me.
It's not always clear who wins, but the battles are always the same. I've also found that I have to fight significantly more battles if I try to workout at the end of the day rather than at the start. Here's a quick comparison:
End-of-Day Battles: Tired, Busy, Work to Do, Dinner with Friends, Tempted by TV, Hungry, Other social events Start-of-Day Battles: Waking up.
As you can see, there is only ONE battle I fight when I schedule my workouts in the morning. My alarm buzzes at 5:30 a.m. It's painful, but isn't waking up on work days always painful? I also found that I'm twice as likely to get up if I set-out my gym and work clothes the night before. This is referred to as a vital behavior from the book Influencer. "The key insight is that big problems can be solved by changing just a few behaviors. If you put all your effort on those two or three vital behaviors, you’ll be rewarded with dramatic improvements."
With that, I'll leave you with three questions: 1) What are the workout battles that you fight? 2) What are the vital behaviors that can help you fight those battles? 3) How will you reward yourself when you win? As I always like to say, celebrate early and often!