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Find your reason. Find your why. Everybody has one. What's yours? Do you want to be sexy (or healthy) as hell? Do you want to see your grandkids through their 20s? Do you want to fit into those jeans you wore 5 years ago? Do you have a crush on that babe at work? What is it? Isolate it. Focus on it.
- You know how it goes -- "out of sight, out of mind." So if you keep this reason on the forefront of your conscious (that is, you're thinking about it all the time) you won't be able to ignore the logicd at doing what they want -- so lining these two things behind working out. It'll be the simplest solution to getting what you want. Humans are pretty gooup (the motivation and the action) will become easy as pie.
- 2Talk yourself into it. You're probably telling yourself something like "I should exercise right now. If I don't work out, I'm never going to get fit." This statement has many hidden obstacles. For one thing, feeling like you should do something makes it seem like work, or an obligation. That's no fun! You're also thinking about what will happen if youdon't exercise -- in other words, you're threatening yourself with punishment (the image of being unfit). Subconsciously, you're flooding your mind with negativity. Instead of thinking about how you'll look if you don't work out, think about how great you'd look if you did!
- It's very important to think in the positive. Instead of, "God, I feel terrible for not working out," think "I'd feel better if I worked out -- so tomorrow I will." If you think in "nots" and "nevers" and "didn'ts," you're just bogging yourself down, making it even harder to get motivated!
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- Set a goal for yourself. This can be at any point -- it doesn't have to be your end goal! If you want to work out twice a week, have a goal of two times a week -- simple. Then you can reward yourself after! If you want to run 10 miles a week, have that be your goal. Smaller goals (rather than losing 50 pounds, say) bring the light at the end of the tunnel a bit nearer, making it more achievable.
- Sign up for a charity walk or run that will encourage you to train. Once you have a set date to work towards, you'll have a goal in mind while you're working out. The feeling of accomplishment after you're done will encourage you to sign up for another or to just continue being fit.
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- Set up rewards. What's the point in having goals if nothing is going to come from it? You gotta reward yourself! And again -- the rewards don't have to be dangled in front of you until the very end (that's just cruel); give yourself teeny rewards from time to time for sticking with it.
- Make a reward for every session, every week, every pound, or every task you do/exercise/lose/complete -- whichever speaks to you. This is all about training your brain. When you see the good stuff behind all the work, it'll give you the strength to keep going and to stick with it.
- The other side of the coin is to make the alternatives worse. Tell yourself if you don't work out, you have to organize the attic, donate $50 to the KKK, or call that cousin you haven't spoken to since that awkward family reunion. Now that's one threatening motivation.