Sometimes we all have “one of those days”, when getting out of the door to exercise / train / move about with purpose (call it what you like!) is just the hardest thing in the world. You know that at some point you will feel like this, so what will you do to overcome it?

As you know, I am certainly NOT one of those nauseating “PT” types that’s all motivation this and “you can smash it” that… In fact nothing makes me feel more bilious, but that is a different blog post! But I do think there is something to be said for having your own personal mantra that you can mutter under you breath to yourself when your are just lacking that bit of motivation.

After all, we all know the little voice in our head that tells us we should stop, or not get started, give up, too busy for this, or why bother we aren’t getting anywhere anyway… That inner dialogue is VERY real. So my suggestion is why not give that voice a different script?

It works for me. Will it work for you? Maybe… It probably will if you want it too. And it certainly won’t if you don’t try.

Here are ten suggestions. You only need ONE, the rest can be treated with utter contempt and discarded!

In full disclosure; I don’t use any of these!! If you have ever been coached by me, or exercise with me, you will know that my own personal little mantra is “For f**k sake Ed! You can do anything for 60 seconds…” but that would be far to un-professional to advocate here 😉

1. I don’t have to feel like it now. But I will once I get started.
2. The reason I am doing this is to build my resilience.
3. Commit to finishing your warm-up. The rest is optional.
4. I will feel more confident about my ability when I finish this session.
5. This is a practice for when it gets hard in a race.
6. Moving my body will clear my mind.
7. I might learn something from getting this done when I don’t feel like it.
8. My future will be influenced by what I do now.
9. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to even be good. It just has to be.
10. I trust myself enough to know that if I show up today it will pay off later.