Just show up - I started this last year going to the gym - if I didn't feel like going to work out, I just went to the gym and messed around, did whatever I felt like, even for 15 or 20 minutes and then left. The discipline has translated into other projects - a camper reno, a game engine, etc. Just showing up is more than half the battle, even if you don't accomplish much on one given day.
I started this two months ago, too. My motto is "Showing up is the victory."
Once I'm in there, I give it my best. Some days my best sucks. I don't worry about that. I got my ass into the gym. It's the habit that matters.
It's about consistently showing up.
For context, I'm 34 and clinically considered morbidly obese. My relationship with exercise, like virtually all obese people, is one of yo-yo diets and countless failed attempts at getting fit. I never before lasted more than a few weeks.
A big part of the problem, I came to realize, was being too results-oriented. I'd be highly motivated those first couple weeks when the pounds seem to drop so quickly, then lose all motivation when the weight loss slowed down to a healthier rate. Then I'd get depressed, quit, and binge eat until I reached a new low of physical fitness and self-esteem, and start over.
This time around, I just get my ass to the gym. That's it. I don't care what the scale says. I do try to eat better, but I don't beat myself up about it when I fail -- because beating myself up just causes me to binge some more. I just pick myself back up and hit the gym the next morning.
Here are some results so far:
1) I've discovered I actually LIKE lifting weights. So I do mostly that. I look forward to the feeling of my limbs being like jelly. It feels like accomplishment. To be clear, I've never, ever liked any form of exercise before. By changing my focus to "just show up", I've freed myself to find something I like, rather than trying to keep up with anyone else.
2) I've been tracking my weight, and after an initial loss of 25 pounds I've put back on another 10. But, my waist line has gone down 3 belt notches, so I try not to take the number on the scale too seriously. Sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down.
3) My focus at work is through the roof. I just feel better. Less sluggish. Able to concentrate more, which is mega important as a programmer (preaching to the choir, I'm sure).
4) I sleep better and wake up on time without much of a hitch most of the time. I'm still not super chipper first thing in the morning, but I don't hit snooze either.
5) I have more energy to give to the people I love, i.e. my kids and my partner. I'm still not superman, but I'm not sitting on the couch begging to be left alone either. I play. I do stuff.
Sounds like you're on a great path, and I have a couple comments. First, results oriented is great, but health and fitness is a life long thing like breathing. The journey is what's important here.
Second, don't beat yourself up when you fail. We all fail at times. What you can't do is let a simple failure snowball. Recognized you failed and get back on track. A trick I use is not to wait until tomorrow to go to the gym, go right then even if you've already been today. And when I say right then, I literally mean right then if you can.
Finally, don't focus on the scale. Focus on doing the right things every minute of every day and the scale will follow. Again, it's the process and finding how you can live your entire life as healthy as you can.
Scott Adams does this too. He goes to the gym everyday and laces up his shoes. Once that's done, it's considered a "successful day at the gym". Of course 99% of the time he stays for a workout... but yeah, the odd time he just goes home after lacing up his shoes.
I love this. It sounds bad, but lowering the bar for expectations and just thinking that showing up and doing something is a win is fantastic for building habits and discipline. I have so many friends who haven't done much with their lives for fear of screwing up, but it turns out that inaction is screwing up.
I just went to the gym and messed around, did whatever I felt like, even for 15 or 20 minutes and then left.
A super key part of encouraging a good habit, IMO. Showing up is the hard part, and if you give yourself permission to just tool around or leave early if you're not feeling it, at least you're still cultivating the habit.
I did the same while at my old job, since it was literally across the street from a gym. I went to the gym during lunch every day, where "going to the gym" just meant turning up and getting changed.
Going during my lunch hour worked better than trying to go in the morning or evening, since I was already constrained to be nearby at the start and end of that hour (plus I don't drive), whereas outside work it was easier to sabotage myself by thinking that I could be doing something "more productive".
There are always plenty of excuses in the moment too, so I adopted a mindset where going to the gym was a given, and anything that encroached on that was an inconvenience; e.g. if I had some errand to run I would instinctively plan to do it before or after work rather than at lunch. As someone who tries to be helpful and humble, it really took effort to prioritise my own wellbeing sometimes!
Another trick I did was to mark every (week)day that I turned up at the gym with a big X on a physical calendar, which gamified it by trying to avoid breaking the current "streak".
Probably worth saying that it worked too! I focused on strengthening my arms (e.g. if I was only there 10 minutes then that's all I'd do) and they went from mostly fat to noticably muscular after about 3 months.
Unfortunately I moved a few years ago and never managed to get back into a good routine :(
Showing up is huge. I've added a couple more recently that are related.
1) Get up at 6am every morning even on the weekends and go right to the gym. It sucks for a little while, but it has really raised my life productivity to a new level. My sleep has gotten much better. My head hits the pillow and I'm out. I naturally stopped looking at my phone after 9-10pm because I was just ready to sleep.
2) Anytime I think about something I don't want to do, I stop whatever is I'm doing and do that thing instantly. It has really flipped around my mindset, and made me realize many of these things I put off only take a few minutes anyway. So much is done, that I end up with tons of free time at the end of the day to work on other things. Freeing my mind of nagging procrastination also does wonders.
When I started going to the gym, I had to deal with a lot of internal resistance. Feeling embarrassed about being old and fat and obviously totally ignorant about what I was doing.
A few months with a personal trainer got me past my fear of the gym. That was huge.
100% this. Just going by as frequently and consistently as you can is so important. Even if it’s just to walk 10 minutes on a treadmill, you’ll get more comfortable with doing it every day.
