| Hey Friend,
I'm sure at some time or another everyone has fallen into the trap of thinking that;
"I don't have time to workout, I'm too busy, I'll do it later when the time is right, or I'm just not motivated to workout..."
I certainly have and it can be a slippery slope that can quickly spiral out of control if you're not careful...
The truth is people who workout regularly and have achieved an impressive physique transformation are not less busy, more disciplined, or super human - they have simply learned how to manipulate their environment, habits, and lifestyle to make fitness and nutrition a regular part of their day to day routine.
Motivation is over rated - and never lasts long term...
If you're relying on motivation to get yourself to exercise - you're setting yourself up to fail from the start. Motivation comes and goes, but habits and routines last.
To give you a prime example of this; just think of getting up to go to work in the morning - I bet there are some days when you don't feel motivated to go to work - but you do it anyway... Why?
How do you manage to get yourself out the door and show up to your job when you don't really feeling like going ?
1️⃣ # Priorities:
If you show up to work each day - whether your feel like it or not - it's because you've made going to work and earning money a priority in your life.
It's become a habit, a routine, and part of your identity of who you are and what you do. You've set standards for yourself that make earning a living a priority and you're going to do it - even on those days when you're not motivated.
Your health and fitness has to take on a similar level of importance in your life in order to become a routine habit. And it should be - after all you could have all the money in the world - but if you're in poor health, money is not going to mean much if you're not physically able to enjoy it.
2️⃣ # Plan In Advance:
Just like you plan your day for your job and adjust things around your schedule. You need to be able to do the same thing with your workouts.
Unfortunately, most people have built the habit of looking for excuses to justify why they can't workout, rather than looking for ways to make time so they can workout.
3️⃣ # Be Flexible:
The key to long term consistency is being flexible in your approach. While it's nice to have a structured routine that you can rely on day after day - there will be times when that will get turned upside down and you'll need to improvise.
That may mean getting up extra early to hit the gym before the sun comes up. It may mean going later in the day after the sun goes down. Or squeezing in a short workout mid-day on your lunch break.
The time that you workout isn't as important as simply showing up to workout consistently - regardless if it's morning, noon, or night.
4️⃣ # Avoid the ALL or NOTHING trap:
A big mistake a lot of guys make is striving for perfection. Thinking that if I can't follow the perfect program or eat the perfect diet - then what's the point of doing anything. This is referred to as the ALL or NOTHING trap.
While it may sound cool to say you're ALL IN... that's not realistic or sustainable long term. The problem with ALL or NOTHING is you rarely get it all and usually end up with nothing.
There will be times when you need to scale back and other times when you need to push harder. Its ok to give yourself permission to do shorter workouts when you're extra busy and pressed for time. It's always better to do something rather than nothing.
Even a mini 10 minute workout is better than no workout at all. You don't need to be perfect - no body is - you just need to be better than you were before in order to make progress.
Let go of the ALL or NOTHING thinking and focus on just being "Good Enough, But Good Enough Consistently" over the long term.
5️⃣ # Compound Habits:
You probably have some time wasting habits - scrolling through social media, playing games on your phone, binge watching Netflix, YouTube, etc...
Please note, I'm not pointing fingers here - because I'm guilty of all these things myself 🤥
While you could try and avoid these things through depravation and will power. That's not a fun approach and usually back fires before long.
Another option is to compound these "time wasting" habits with more productive habits.
For example, if there's a show on Netflix that you can't stop watching... Set up an exercise bike, treadmill, or stepper in front of the TV and watch your show while doing cardio. Or you can go to the gym and watch your show on your phone or tablet with ear buds while doing cardio there.
Listening to podcasts and audiobooks while you workout is another good option. This can make the time go by faster and make your workouts more enjoyable.
By stacking good habits on top of "time wasting habits" you can satisfy your guilty pleasures while getting in some good exercise at the same time.
These are just a few things that I've personally do to help get my butt in gear when I don't feel like to working out. I hope you found them helpful.
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