Follow The 10 Minute Rule

Here's a trick that works every time...

When you don't feel like working out, tell yourself you'll just do 10 minutes.

Or just 5 minutes. Or you can tell yourself you can stop if you end up feeling terrible. Or you can give yourself permission to go easy, or half pace. Or, "just 10 minutes and anything else is icing on the cake".

Anything along those lines will work. Why?

Because a funny thing almost always happens after you start exercising. You nearly always feel better, often immediately.

What happens is that after about 5 or 10 minutes, your body starts to release those feel-good chemicals. You don't feel as bad as you thought. And you feel great about following through.

You've gained momentum, sometimes making it almost harder to stop than to keep going.

You typically end up thinking something like "Hey, I've gone this far... I'll just keep going for awhile longer."

Amazingly, you typically end up doing the whole darn workout!

The first step is always the hardest. After that the rest of the goal seems to fall in line.

Tip: You could search for 10 minute workouts online or in mobile apps. When the workout is over, simply repeat, or select another one.

Other Tricks

Force yourself to just put on your shoes, or your workout clothes. Don't think about what happens next, just do that part. Then of course, at that point you have to do the workout; you'd feel bad or just silly getting dressed for nothing.

Another idea is to simply start stretching — first thing in morning is a great time — because moving your body gives you some momentum that naturally leads into your workout. It's a micro-commitment of sorts that makes the decision to do a full workout seem less of a big deal.

Bonus

This same trick also works for chores around the house or any other unappealing task! Sometimes you have to take life 5 or 10 minutes at a time. You can even set a timer for, say, 15 minutes and commit to doing that much. Just like your workout, you'll almost always end up working longer... often finishing the whole job.