What's something you say you want to do but don't actually do?
Why do we fail to follow through on many things that we should be doing; one that many will bring up revolves around becoming more active.
I want to run 3x a week
I would recommend starting with once a week.
Once a week?! thats not going to do anything!
Therein lies the problem many fall prey to into thinking it's an all or nothing proposition. We'd rather dream about running three times per week instead of actually following through on once per week.
If I get my mind right, then I'll be able to do it
We have it backwards: First change your behavior and the attitude will follow.
We want to wake up early and hit the gym or get out for a morning run. Change the focus from "I need to wake up to go to the gym" to "how can I create an environment for success". It can be as simple as laying out your clothes the night before and pre-making your breakfast shake. For others it might be getting to bed at a reasonable time. Those are three examples of behaviors you can adopt that will facilitate change.
What do you consider success?
We want to go 0 to 60 overnight. We want those 6 pack abs and shapely glutes fast, but fail to acknowledge that one month ago you didn't go to the gym period and now you hit the weights three per week and perform cardio twice a week as well. Results take time and consistency.
A simple system is to shrink the change:
The 5 Minute Rule
Example: If you've been putting off cleaning a room forever, set a timer for 5 minutes and pick ONE spot in the room to tidy up. Once the timer goes off, if you still don't feel like cleaning, you're done. I'm going to take a shot in the dark that once you get going you're just going to keep going.
In psychology this is known as "Attribution Theory" which is our way making sense of our choices and behaviors. This "explains" to yourself that you are choosing to clean this room of your own free will and thus you wind up cleaning the whole room. You ignore the fact that you set up a timer to give you an out at 5 minutes. This can apply to every facet of your life.
We Never Question the Stories We Tell Ourselves
"I can't lose weight because of my metabolism"
"I'm not a morning person"
Are these statements actually true? Ask yourself is this really who I am?
If you tell yourself these stories enough, soon they become a self fulfilling prophecy. You won't be a morning person. You won't ever lose the weight. We can live our lives for years and never question these invisible scripts.
Take control of your life, DECIDE that you want to be a morning person. DECIDE that you will no longer lean on your supposed slow metabolism as a crutch for the inability to lose that weight. You will not be the kind of person who allows these self imposed limitations to hold them back any longer.