No buffer, no excuses

There are lots of ways for us to start good habits but quite often we end up sabotaging our own good work or attempts to instill change.  One habit specifically that I keep coming across that people have an issue with is the desire to get out of bed early to get some exercise into their day.  Now for a whole number of reasons, exercising in the morning is a great time to do it.  For me, I find that my energy levels and mood are much higher for the whole day, I generally exercise in a fasted state (i.e. no breakfast beforehand) which research has shown will burn more fat in high intensity workouts and I’m also less likely to reneg on my commitment to myself to get it done.  But how to get out of bed and get out the door..?

1. Don’t give yourself a buffer with your alarm – if you allow yourself the option to hit the snooze because you gave yourself extra wake up time, you’re also giving yourself the opportunity to talk yourself out of it.
2. Be prepared – before you go to bed put your gear out.  I put my gym gear in our bathroom so I don’t wake Eliot or the kids up rifling through my drawers at 5am.
3. Set one and only one alarm – be the person that wants to get up on one alarm, don’t have your alarm bully you into getting up.  Don’t leave any room for you to negotiate with yourself.
4. Tell yourself you can back out – but only once you are at the gym/studio/pool/out the door – chances are that if you your shoes on and you are already out, you will do your planned exercise.  If you don’t, you probably should just go get a coffee in peace.
5. Don’t check the weather – rain, temperature and wind are all excuses not to exercise and most likely, the only thing you really need to do is adapt your layers or location.  You’re not the wicked witch of the west, you aren’t going to melt in the rain, just wear a rain jacket.  It’s actually quite invigorating to run in the rain, remember doing that as a kid?  And seriously, if you’re going to the gym or yoga studio, why are you even checking the weather?