Just Do It! 3 Tips for Overcoming “Starting Friction”

Is there something in your life that you’d like to change, but you just can’t get started?

We’re talking about exercise this month, so let’s take a look at what happens when you can’t get started on a regular exercise routine.

Maybe you’ve “tried and failed” before – gone through motivated phases and then got bored, or maybe life got in the way and you simply got out of the habit. Maybe you don’t really enjoy the exercise that you’ve tried before, so it doesn’t really seem appealing (and we’ll cover that in the following weeks). Maybe you loved your exercise routine in the past, but injury stopped you and you don’t know what else you can do to get the same enjoyment. So you’re not doing much at all…

Well, however you got to this place – to feeling that you just can’t get started – these tips will help you start and then keep it going.

What is “Starting Friction”?

Imagine you’ve got a big heavy box at one end of a hallway. You need to get it to the other end. At first, you put a lot of effort into getting it moving.

That’s starting friction.

But once it’s going? It’s pretty easy to just keep moving.

It’s the same when we need to change something – it often involves many small changes, several decisions and some alterations to our routine.

An established habit or routine is when the box is sliding down the hallway. Starting friction is what happens when we need to make a change, but haven’t put everything in place yet.

So, this week we bring you three inter-connected tips to overcome your starting friction and enjoy the feeling of moving!

1. Find your “why”

Why do you want a regular exercise routine?

There are two parts to this, and they’re both important…

a) Your short-term “why” – helps you get going now

This is what you’re aiming to achieve in the next few weeks or months.

• For many people, it’s weight loss. So choose a reasonable goal – not your desired end result – just a small step that’s achievable in the next little while. Maybe losing 2kg, or 2cm from your waist circumference, or fitting into those jeans that have become slightly too tight.
• Maybe you’re looking to feel more vibrant and energetic. In this case, also see our other articles this month. All these tips will get you to your destination much more efficiently.

Maybe you’ve got a different short-term “why” – brainstorm some ideas about what you’d like to achieve quite soon by starting or altering your exercise routine.

b) Your long-term “why” – keeping you going.

Now have a think about why you’d like to be regularly exercising for the foreseeable future, even for the rest of your life.

What will that bring you? What will you gain?

• You might have read articles about how regular exercise slows the ageing process (or how prolonged sitting encourages chronic disease).
• Maybe it’s more about a feeling that you’re after – you’d like to feel strong and healthy as you get older, or you’d like to feel youthful and energetic, or feel in control of your health.
• It could be about taking your exercise to the next level – you may want to be able to enter marathons or play in high-level team sports.

Whatever your long-term vision is, take some time to get really clear about it. This will keep you going through tough times (or getting up on cold winter mornings!).

Your long-term “why” encourages you to get back into your routine if life circumstances get in the way.

So, whereas your short-term “why” may keep changing as you reach your targets, your long-term “why” is what sustains you. Your long-term “why” motivates you to deal with whatever arises so that you start to embody your desired future.

2. Remove blocks and make it easy

Now let’s get super practical. This is where you look at your daily life and figure out what has been getting in the way of your desired exercise routine, and then what you can do to make your success as easy as possible.

a) What are your blocks and obstacles?

According to Chinese medicine, the best time of day to exercise is in the morning (stay tuned for our last article in March to find out why).

Figure out what is getting in the way of exercising in the morning. If you start work at 5am, then maybe it’s not feasible. Otherwise, maybe there are some things that could change.

• If you have kids, you could take them with you for some movement before breakfast – walking or jogging with a pram, or playing ball games in the park with older kids. If mornings are hard but you can exercise during the day, see if you can meet up with a friend with kids and take turns going for a walk or run while the other parent minds the kids.
• If you commute and there’s a gym near your work, you could leave home earlier and head straight for the gym. Travelling earlier can shorten your travel time too. Bring breakfast with you and find a nice spot to eat before you start work.
• If you simply can’t get out of a comfy bed, especially as the weather turns colder, then position your alarm (or even two alarms!) far from your bed so you need to actually get out of bed to turn it off. See the next section too on how to make this tip even more successful!

Do you have other blocks or obstacles? See if you can shuffle things around to remove or reduce them as much as possible.

If your blocks are mental, come back to your “whys” and renew your commitment to start enjoying those rewards. See what your creative mind can come up with!

b) How can it be easier?

What can you do to make it easier?

• The big picture might be to look at your weekly schedule and see where the gaps fall – commit those times to focus on exercise. Is there something you can do differently, for example grocery shopping online during your commute time so that you’re available to exercise instead of pushing a shopping trolley?
• Can you simplify what you’re trying to fit into each day or each week? What can you simply let go of?
• And now for the details – the classic tip is to pack your gym bag the night before and place it by the door. And put your alarm on top of your gym bag, so when you rustle yourself out of bed to shut off the alarm, there’s a little reminder to stay up and not press snooze!
• If you’re aiming to exercise in the morning, make sure to go to bed nice and early. 10pm at the latest, 9:30pm is great. Your brain and body need to refresh, cleanse and rebuild during those dark, quiet hours. Give yourself that beautiful opportunity to stay young and vibrant with plenty of beauty sleep! (also see The 6 Foundations of Feeling Great).
• Is your gym or personal trainer open and available at the times that you’re free? Is the parking easy? Do you pay by direct debit? How can you make things as streamlined and accessible as possible?
• If you’re exercising outdoors, have you got a wet-weather backup plan?
• Would you stick to your plan if people were cheering you on? You could ask for support from your friends via social media or meet up with friends for accountability, company and fun.

What can you do for yourself to make this as easy as possible?

3. Focus on the positive

Do you feel great after you’ve exercised? Maybe you’ve made your personal best, achieved a movement that you couldn’t do before, or simply feel fantastic.

• First of all, take the time to enjoy that! It’s a trick called “amplifying” – when you make a conscious effort to experience the positive feelings then your subconscious will start rearranging your thoughts, feelings and habits to get you to those positive experiences again and again.
• You may want to send yourself an email to remind yourself how you feel, post something to your network on social media, jot down in a journal or write yourself an affirmation card to keep in your wallet.
• If you’ve written down your positive thoughts, feelings or achievements then place them somewhere that you’ll see them often. On the bathroom mirror, by your bed or placed on your gym bag the night before.
• If there are blocks that are holding you back, for example staying up on your iPad too late, then put your positive notes there too! Stick something to the TV remote!

Use your positive experiences to melt away your obstacles and reinforce the enjoyment and accomplishment of your new routine.

Getting some support

Are you feeling sluggish, do you have old injuries or are you simply needing some support to start or change your exercise routine?

Then please come and see us. Acupuncture helps to promote mental clarity, remove energy blocks and resolve injuries. We’ll also cheer you on and celebrate every victory with you!

You can feel better – starting today!