How Raina Dragged Herself Into The Gym

I wanted to share a quick story to celebrate my friend Raina. Last week she did what we all wish to do - She dragged herself into the gym when she didn’t feel like it. Here’s how:

For starters, Raina was aware of what she wanted. Sitting around and taking it easy for a night sounded really appealing after a long day. She even noticed that she was trying to talk herself out of going. But ultimately she knew that her highest self would wish she went. And she knew this decision is something she’d have to confront in her nightly performance tracking routine where she’s being held accountable to honestly reporting her performance. Plus, she’s been listening to subconscious priming recently that reinforces how important it is that you don’t break the promises you make to yourself. 

Everything I described are fixtures of the 21 Day Challenge I lead, which Raina is a part of. And to take it one step further: At the beginning of the Challenge she made a commitment to be all in and show up at her best. All of this helped pull her into the gym!

This is the power of environment. Clarity + Daily Reporting + Accountability +  Subconscious Priming + Commitment all contributed to Raina finding the will-power to do what she didn’t feel like doing. It was the stack of all those factors that got her overcoming her activation threshold and into action. 

When she and I were talking about her choice to workout, and how happy she was about it, she told me another thing that’s meaningful to her: That if she makes a commitment to friends, she could never let them down.

So I suggested something else she could do to increase her follow through next time - She could sent a text to her friends and tell them she’s going to the gym. Instead of using her small amount of motivation and will-power do the work to get up, get dressed, drive the car, walk in the gym, and get started with a workout… A single text message makes a commitment to her friends that naturally shifts her motivation. The second she hits send, letting her friends down becomes psychologically more painful than putting in the effort to complete a workout, and she gets into action.

If you feel like a challenge like this is going to help you get consistent with all the things you know you need to do this year, I’d love to support you with it.

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