No More Excuses
I am a master of excuses. If there was an award for lame justifications, I would win (or at least come in second).* Take this week for example:
Me: I should run today. But I don’t know if I’ll have enough time.
S: Well, you have over an hour. You’ll run for, what, 30 minutes?
Me: Yeah, but then I have to shower, get ready and stuff. And by the time I leave I’ll be cutting it close.
S: If you go now, you’ll have plenty of time.
Me: I guess. But it’ll take me a while to get dressed and put on my shoes. Sigh. It is really nice out. I’ll bet tomorrow it will be really gross outside, just to spite me.
S: Actually it’s supposed to be even nicer.
Me: Ohhh, well in that case, maybe I’ll just run Wednesday and Thursday instead of Tuesday and Thursday.
Cut to Wednesday, and you’ll find me preparing the “why I can’t go running today” diatribe in my head:
I don’t have time. I need to get some work done. I should probably pluck my eyebrows. The American Idol results show is on the teevee. Oh man, I love Neil Diamond. I bet Neil Diamond doesn’t have to run. He was just born svelte. …
So in an effort to hit the pause button on this repeating track of excuses, I have a few tried-and-true techniques:
- Remind myself that I probably won’t regret going, but will definitely regret it if I don’t.
- Weigh the activities that stand to replace exercise (or eating well), and evaluate what actually matches my values. In other words, which is more important: a healthy body and balanced mind or getting lost in Jason Castro’s eyes?
- Run my excuses by a trusted friend, and realize how ridiculous I sound when said excuses are vocalized.
- Put my running/yoga clothes on — it’s hard to talk myself out of an activity once I’ve put in the effort to get dressed.
- Bully myself. I’m not condoning a bunch of negative self talk, but sometimes a little cajoling is helpful. C’mon K Slice, cowboy up.**
- Think about my longterm goals instead of giving in to the temporary satisfaction of procrastination.
If you’re interested in more inspiration about how to get your butt from couch to anywhere but the couch, check out these articles. This is the segment of the program that I like to call Motivational Procrastination:
- Ready, Set, Go! (November 2006)
- All Over It: How to Eliminate Goal-Blocking Obstacles for Good (April 2008)
- What’s Stopping You From Getting Started (from Lifehack)
- Can You Sacrifice Temporary Pleasure for Longterm Goals? (from PickTheBrain)
- 31 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Exercise (from Zen Habits)
So what are your sure-fire ways to bust through excuses? I definitely need some help in this department, because even my “tried and true” methods can falter when a Very Important Activity comes up (like the premiere of a particularly terrible reality TV show or the release of a new flavor of Fruit Gushers,*** for example).
*First place is a tie between Zack Morris and everyone in Hollywood.
**Yes, I refer to myself as K Slice.
***Just kidding about the Gushers. Maybe.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am
Now you must regale us with the origin of “K Slice.” Plus, in your spare time, you have to come up with a tag for me to call myself when referring to said self in third-person. J Slab? (that could also compare my usual portion of cake to yours).
And thanks for the motivation I need to go do my yoga dvd, seeing how the printer proof debacle unexpectedly sent me home from the office early today. Putting on my stretchy clothes right now before I lose that bend-y feeling…
May 1st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I”ll give you one of my kids. That will be enough motivation for you to want to get the hell on outta the house and run far, far, far away
May 1st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
K-Slice…I like it. It’s bad-ass! Haha
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 am
you can hardness the positive self talk!
compliment how perky your arse hath been looking lately and how it shall remain so if you run!
for me it’s “girlfriend you werent bleary tired at 8 pm yesterday—you know why? because you worked out and energized yourself. get thee on the stationary bike, oh luscious wonder!”
works everytime.
I also fall back on the studies regarding working out in segments (for example 10 min cardio snippets) being as good as one longer session.
I figure if I only have time for 10 NOW there mightcould be time for 10 more later.
M., who is rereading this, fearing she has rambled, and submitting anyway.