I really mean it.
Don't try to get motivated to exercise. Don't try to psyche yourself up, guilt yourself in, or bribe yourself toward. Waste of time. Doesn't work.
But you know that. What you also know is exercise is good for you. If you exercise regularly you are less likely to die of a heart attack, more likely to handle stress well, less likely to get Alzheimer's and more likely to say you're happy
Exercise is one of the best anti-depressants ever invented. Regular exercise helps you sleep better, weigh less, live longer, manage anxiety and who knows what else? Survive the transplantation of the species to Mars. Predict the vagaries of the stock market. You name it.
Unfortunately, research suggests about half of the population thrives on exercise (once they get going) and about half the population hates it.
I'm in the "hate" group. And rehearsing mortality statistics for couch potatoes does absolutely nothing toward getting me on my treadmill. What's a woman to do?
Some years ago I was in a doctor's waiting room and really bored. In desperation I picked up the single available piece of reading material: a runner's magazine.
You must understand this is the only imaginable scenario under which I would ever pick up a runner's magazine. Flipping through the pages, I happened on an article by a man who said he hated to exercise.
I hate to exercise!
He thought he had some sort of energy-conserving mechanism in his brain that tried to protect him at all costs from expending energy unnecessarily.
I have one of those in my brain!
He found when he thought about exercise the energy-conserver kicked in and convinced him this was going to be too exhausting, a waste of precious energy.
My energy-conserver tells me that!
So this is what he did. He TRICKED the energy-conservers in his brain. Now I know it sounds pretty lame to try to trick your own brain, but honestly, this works.
This is what he did: When he got home from work, his time to go running, he changed into his running clothes, not because he was going running, but because they were comfortable
Then he went and looked out the front door, not because he was going running, but just to see what the weather was like. Then he went for a little walk down the street, not because he was going running, but to see if the neighbor was in his yard. Once he was in his exercise clothes, out the door, and in motion down the street the rest was (relatively) easy.
Believe it or not, I have pulled this off. It is a terrific example of a principle touted by psychologist David Burns: motivation follows action. If we wait to get motivated to start a project, nothing happens.
If we tell ourselves "just do 20 minutes and then you can stop" (or 10, or in my case with exercise, two) then we get past the energy-conservers.
"Just walk outside and see if the neighbor is home."
"Just go get the mail."
Once we are in motion, chances are pretty good we will feel motivated to do just a little bit more while we're at it. Most of the time.
So go put on your exercise clothes. Just because they're comfortable.
Wendy Ulrich, PhD, psychologist and founder of Sixteen Stones Center for Growth, most recently co-authored the New York Times best-seller "The Why of Work."