You’ve been thinking about starting a workout program for some time now. You recently went to the doctor and she told your blood pressure is too high. You know there's no better time and it’s what you should do. Tomorrow’s the day you’re going to get up early, before work, and begin your day with some exercise.
Tomorrow rolls around and the alarm clock shocks you awake. Your first thoughts are: “it’s way too early for this!”; “man, it feels really good in this bed!”; and “I’ll just do it after work!”
The after-work time comes and goes, but you have a million other things you need to do. No time for the workout today and you promise yourself …again, “I’ll do it tomorrow for sure!”
Making the promise is the first big step to getting the results you want. The next step, which is even bigger, is being accountable to one’s self to follow through with the promise. You may think there’s no problem here. It’s just you not keeping a promise to…YOU! There are always consequences to not keeping promises and for the lack of follow-through. Whether it’s not getting a task done at work or breaking a promise to a friend, you know you have to deal with the results of your actions sooner or later. Just imagine you promised a friend to meet them somewhere and you don’t show up. You have to contend with their hard feelings and whether they’ll trust you again with such a promise. The problem with not keeping the promise you made to yourself is that you're not only the offender, you're also the one offended. When you make a promise to yourself and don’t keep it, it becomes harder for you to really commit to yourself on future occasions. Next time you make the promise, your subconscious stands up and says aloud, “YEAH RIGHT!”
So what's the best way to make this exercise promise to yourself and to be accountable to it? Develop a plan that keeps you accountable by making you accountable to others.
Now you may be thinking, “how is being accountable to others making me accountable to me?” By you developing a plan or a system that gives you checks, balances, and support for the exercise program, thus ensuring a guaranteed result, puts the accountability fully in your own hands.
The plan can be anything that drives you to follow through with your exercise routine and has some type of feedback, both positive and negative. Feedback can be in the form of conversation, phones calls, emails, or actual progress reports. The feedback can be a positive comment coming from your workout buddy about how you're doing based on some objective criteria, such as a report that has the number of times you worked out in a given month. Here are some suggestions that may help you:
Be creative and know there are always others, much like yourself, looking for this same benefit. Even if you've been exercising for some time, this is a great way to increase your motivation and to recommit yourself to your exercise goals. No matter what your situation, by applying this strategy, you are one step closer towards fulfilling your exercise promise and making it a reality. |
