A Quick Tip For Motivation
I really enjoy working out in the mornings but there is one small problem. I am NOT a morning person. I love sleeping and I love being in my nice, comfy bed and sometimes I wish I could stay in it all day! There are days that I wake up with close to zero willpower and the voice inside my head is all too willing to find excuses not to exercise and says to me "put it off until later in the day because you'll feel more awake then" which undoubtedly turns into "oh you're a bit too busy/tired now" or "it's a bit too late in the day now so do it tomorrow morning". This of course results in me waking up the next day and making the exact same set of excuses all over again and never getting it done! I get sick to death of hearing this voice in my head and for the unhappy feelings I have when I let myself down.
"One really fun and easy way to keep your promise to yourself to exercise is to enlist a friend to join you and to help keep you accountable."
Some of you may know that I sometimes like to run marathons. We’ll here’s some interesting information for you, I actually really don’t like running all that much! Some days I totally hate it, other days I think it’s ok and when I actually run in the marathon I switch between thinking, “I totally love this” and “my god woman you are insane!". Training for a marathon takes time and to help me make sure I get my runs in I love to get friends to join me. If I make the commitment to get up at 6am and meet my friend then I will do it. I don’t want to let them down and I don’t want to call them at 5.55am and say, “oh I’m a bit too tired, I’m not coming. Enjoy running on your own”. Not going to happen!
Most recently I have enlisted the help of my husband. He is a morning person who naturally wakes up around 5.30am and never sets an alarm! I have asked him to wake me up every morning and make sure I got out of bed and dressed for the gym. So he does it and won’t let me make any excuses. He takes his job very seriously and he keeps me accountable. We have had to work on his technique for waking me up though, as yanking the bedcovers off me and screaming “GET UP KATE!” or sticking his fingers up my nose was not the best way for me to start my day! ☺
So try asking a friend, your husband/wife, neighbour or anyone you know that is also looking for some motivation to exercise and make the commitment to each other to meet and get it done. Most importantly choose someone who will hold you accountable and won't let you make excuses.
Set yourselves some goals so that each week you are working towards something new. For example, if you and your friend meet to walk in the evenings start by walking for 10 minutes or around 5 blocks and then each week add 5 minutes or 2 more blocks. Exercise doesn’t have to be complicated and all out. Even just getting outside and moving once a day is really beneficial to your health.