Stop Forcing Yourself to Exercise — Do This Instead
The Simple Trick to ‘Just Do It’
How many times have you told yourself:
I should exercise.
You feel a pang of guilt, consider it for a second and continue watching Netflix. I know I do.
Nike’s infamous ‘Just Do It’ slogan just never worked for me!
I thought I was too lazy, unmotivated, and unbothered about my health.
Then, I noticed a hack, and I have to give my mom credit. She is a primary school teacher working with special needs children. “I don’t want to!” is a phrase she often hears, usually accompanied by a meltdown.
Instead of saying “I don’t care about your opinion” or punishing them, though, mom uses a simple question:
When Will You Be Ready to Do It?
9 out of 10 times, this gets the kid confused.
All their life, kids with behavior problems hear “You should do this,” and “You should do that.” Rarely do they ever hear, “When do you want to do this?” It baffles them and distracts them from the original “I don’t want to!”
Think of your mind as a frustrated kid. Exercise can be hard; laying on the couch is easy. There’s no use telling yourself, “I should do this” — it’s so easy to ignore that.
Instead, ask yourself, “When will I be ready to work out?”
Formulating it as a question implies:
- You have a choice. It’s a kinder way to think about your lack of motivation. Instead of beating yourself up, you acknowledge you have a choice.
- You’re going to do the thing either way. The choice is about the timing, not about the workout. It’s just a form of distracting your brain. You’re moving attention away from “to exercise or not to exercise” — that choice was already made.
The problem with telling yourself “I should work out,” is you’re giving it as an external order. It’s not true that you should workout. What is true is that exercise feels great, energizes you, and keeps you healthy. This is why you want to workout.
But, beating yourself up only leads to internal defiance. Your response is the same as the one my mom hears — “I don’t want to,” because most people don’t like to be told what to do.
The thing is: you do want to. You just can’t bring yourself to exercise, because you approach it as an unpleasant obligation. Avoiding that is as easy as changing your narrative — you know you want to work out, now ask your brain “When exactly will that be?”
Instead of activating your inner mean guy, try this twist of perspective next time you struggle to “just do it”.
A little self-compassion will take you a long, long way!