HOW TO NEVER MISS A GYM SESSION, EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL MOTIVATED TO ATTEND.

I have said it again and over in my previous blog, that if you want to become the kind of person who never misses their work outs, creating systems is the answer.

We have that parent with kids, the manager with job overload, the doctor, the lawyer, the nurse, the teacher. Let’s see how everyone can really make it to the gym at the end or beginning of a day despite every possible challenge.

In my Situation, how am I going to get to the gym?

That’s where systems come into play. Some days you just really, really don’t feel like it and systems make it simple, repeatable and essentially a no-brainer.

Your very successful system does this by taking all the decision-making OUT of the result.

E.g going to the gym 3x a week in the morning.

To achieve that, you really have to remove all the little decisions in the way of your goal.

Like if you plan to work out in the morning, take 10 minutes the night before to

Set your alarm for morning

Put a water bottle beside your alarm clock

Pack your gym clothes in a bag and put them by the bed

Put your gym shoes by the door

Put your car keys by the front door

Getting up becomes the hardest part, but you can always beat that by setting your alarm to snooze at 10 minutes interval.

So you are sure as long as you take 10 minutes to set up your system the night before, it’s highly probable that you will get into the gym the next morning.

Avoid being motivated

We all agree motivation is good.

But it’s dangerous to solely depend on motivation to attend workouts.

Motivation is like a flaky old friend that loves to drop in unannounced.

It can visit when you look in the mirror at the end of a work out, or get to the last hole on your belt.

But, as usual, it’s conveniently gone when you come home after a long day at work and need that extra push to get to the gym. Until next time.

So motivation is really unreliable.

When we plan our fitness goals, we think motivation will inspire us to get ready when the time comes. Wrong.

There is a simpler way to make your plans more powerful, and make it more likely that you will get to the gym when you say you will.

Obstacles.

There are those days that unexpected wrench gets thrown in the middle. Your kids may have an emergency, stay late for work, or get sick.

Sometimes when you perfect your system, it becomes easier to overcome the expected obstacles. Like a lack of motivation, feeling tired or simply being unprepared.

But for the unexpected obstacles, they get you down. You start worrying about the goals you set and how you won’t achieve them. I once said that in order to achieve your goals, set up extremely short term objectives and fit them in a system. Then completely forget about your goals and focus on your objectives.

You finally achieve.

When the big set-backs set in, you will overcome them within a short period of time.
Try that.

In short, build your own system by asking yourself these 4 questions.

1.       What is the result I want to accomplish?

2.       What are all the things I need to be able to do that thing?

3.       How can I prepare all those things ahead of time?

4.       What obstacles might I face-and how can I overcome them?

Then test it!