Think Your Way Out The Door

Waiting around for motivation to kick in can be a losing battle. But that’s not the best strategy anyway! Good news: finding time for a sweat sesh (even when you’re not feeling it) is easier than you think

- Cassie Shortsleeve

Everyone has those days: despite having the best intentions to slip into some Lycra, for some reason you just can’t do it.

We’ve routinely been told that all you need in those moments is a little internal reboot: think positive thoughts (you’ve got this!), visualise yourself finishing a boot-camp class (it works, it’s science!) or even bribe yourself if you have to (post-workout coffee!). Simply find the right tool and watch your desire to exercise rise.

It’s well-intentioned advice (and you’ll certainly find some of those get-in-the-mood strategies here in these pages), but it has also conditioned us to feel as if exercise is something we should feel like doing. All the time. No matter what. And that’s just not the case. In fact, that kind of thinking may be our biggest roadblock to creating a long-term, consistent habit.

Ask your fittest friend or any elite athlete: even for women who absolutely, all-caps LOVE working out, there are days when it feels like, well, work. That’s not only okay, it’s totally normal. After all, do you get super stoked just thinking about brushing your teeth? Probably not, but you still do it. You don’t have to feel like getting something done to actually get something done.

A NEW WAY OF THINKING

Just like energy and attention, motivation is not an unlimited resource. It comes and goes. “The biggest mistake we make is allowing our feelings to drive our behaviour when what we need is to let our behaviour drive our feelings,” says peak mental performance coach Brian Cain. “If you wait until you feel like working out, that urge may never come.”