At one point in my life I jogged immediately after waking up everyday. I did this for four years straight. A little over a year ago, this stopped completely. I took one day off. Then two days off. Then a week off. Then a month off. Now, I’ve taken a year off of regular exercise. Of course, I’ve worked out and jogged in this past year, but not habitually. I’ve also tried to get back in this habit, but lost focus.
So here I am again. It’s Day 4, and I have still yet to jog first thing in the morning. I’m beginning to believe that the reason I’ve yet to jog is not because it takes too much time, or because I get to bed late; rather it’s something deeper:
My association with jogging’s effects are weak. The positive association I have with jogging barely exists. Put simply, I don’t have a reason why I should jog in the morning. I’m not convinced as to why I should jog before work, or even in general. My reasoning right now is that, compared to jogging, eating healthy food has significantly more impact on what shape you’re in than does jogging.
It’s “the why” that’s the issue. I believe that positive thinking is fine and dandy, but it’s the associations of pain and pleasure (credit to Robbins) that actually make someone want to do something. I’m going to need to associate jogging with being pleasurable.
In order to do gain a better association, I’m going to follow these three action steps:
- Research jogging’s implications and effect on focus
- Observe my results after jogging/exercising
- Most importantly, I’ll be answering the question in writing, “Why is jogging first-thing in the morning important to you?”
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