Can I? Or can't I?

 "Those who say they can, and those who say they can't, are both right." Unknown

I was talking to a friend who said he had difficulty incorporating exercise into his life.

He says he'll make a commitment to take a walk, or ride his bicycle, but is rarely able to fulfill his commitment.  He'll get started okay.  But then before he knows it he's turning around to go back home.  For some reason, he's unable to do what he needs to do to take care of his health in regards to exercise.  And he's been this way over the many years I've known him.

My experience is that doing things that require self-motivation means we need to raise it to a level of importance so we can follow through.  It's kind of like doing anything else that's important to us: going to the doctor, going to a business meeting, going out to dinner with friends, planning for a vacation and so forth.

When things are important enough, we set aside the time to do them.  And the way we set aside the time to do them is to set our alarm for the morning – for example for exercise – and get up and work out.  And it really is that simple. We need to schedule the time to do things for ourselves, just as we would schedule a time to do things for our family and friends.

The only way I get anything done is to set aside time to do it.  I set my alarm for 5:30 every morning and do mindfulness meditation for 30 minutes.  Immediately after that, I hit my home gym for 45 to 60 minutes of exercise. Do I always feel like doing these things?  Hell no.  Sometimes I tell myself that I deserve a day off.  I need to get to the office a little earlier today.  Or I deserve a day off.  But I never give in to those thoughts.  Instead, I complete what I set out to do and my day goes much better because I do that.

We all have the same amount of hours, minutes, and seconds, in our days.  And people who make weak excuses about not having time to take care of themselves or to do good things for themselves are really lying to the most important person in the world – themselves.  Very few of these people will miss their favorite TV show or the opportunity to spend time fooling around on the Internet.  So there is no excuse that we don't have time. Somehow we have to reach down inside of ourselves and find the motivation to take care of ourselves so we can live the best lives we can.

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