I wanted to pass along an excellent idea from Scott Adams. But thought I may as well turn into a thread in case others have useful tips...
1) In his recent book - Scott Adams describes an excellent system he uses to encourage himself to work out more often. He noticed that if he wasn't in the mood for working out - often the simple act of getting changed and putting on his sports shoes would flip his mind into work-out mode.
So - building on that - he often finds that the difficult thing about working out at the gym. Is not the work-out itself, but motivating himself enough to actually drive to the gym.
With that in mind - he makes a point of going to the gym each day. But - if for some reason he cannot be bothered with the gym that day - he allows himself the freedom to turn around and go home.
Just knowing you have a 'get out of jail free' card in the back of your mind is enough to get him to overcome any resistance he has to going to the gym.
Which is great since he finds that once he is at the gym - 95% of the time he feels like working out anyway.
The difficult thing is getting there in the first place. So to speak.
Still - every so often (4-5 times a year?) he will decide he is not in the mood for a work-out and just turn around and go home. He doesn't even feel bad when that happens since it a part of the 'system' he uses to motivate himself. So - it is just the system doing its job.
I am not a member of a gym. But if I do join one - I am going to adopt this system.
1) In his recent book - Scott Adams describes an excellent system he uses to encourage himself to work out more often. He noticed that if he wasn't in the mood for working out - often the simple act of getting changed and putting on his sports shoes would flip his mind into work-out mode.
So - building on that - he often finds that the difficult thing about working out at the gym. Is not the work-out itself, but motivating himself enough to actually drive to the gym.
With that in mind - he makes a point of going to the gym each day. But - if for some reason he cannot be bothered with the gym that day - he allows himself the freedom to turn around and go home.
Just knowing you have a 'get out of jail free' card in the back of your mind is enough to get him to overcome any resistance he has to going to the gym.
Which is great since he finds that once he is at the gym - 95% of the time he feels like working out anyway.
The difficult thing is getting there in the first place. So to speak.
Still - every so often (4-5 times a year?) he will decide he is not in the mood for a work-out and just turn around and go home. He doesn't even feel bad when that happens since it a part of the 'system' he uses to motivate himself. So - it is just the system doing its job.
I am not a member of a gym. But if I do join one - I am going to adopt this system.