I’m in Denver today, staying with a friend. She got up at 5 something in the morning and took an exercise class. All before I was even stirring. I was equally impressed and horrified that she’d found the inner drive to get herself up that early.
I, however, am sitting here writing this article and it’s 9.15am. While I’m fully kitted out in my workout gear, I have yet to make it out the door yet.
Why not?
Well, I need coffee first. Obviously.
Oh, and then the weather turned bad, I can’t go out in that.
And now my iPod needs to charge because I can’t go out and just run; I must have a beat.
Oh, and I really should check my Facebook page one more time because someone may have commented, liked or posted in the last 30 seconds.
And …
I could go on like this for hours. Ironically, in writing this article, I’m delaying getting out there and getting it done.
It’s ridiculous though, isn’t it? I know that about 10 minutes into my run, I’ll be feeling better. The fog of morning will have lifted. About 20 mins more and the brain will have received whatever it needs to get the synapses firing. This then triggers the “what if you did this?” part of my thinking and flooding my soul with interesting ideas. When I walk back in the door at the end, I’ll know that I’ve accomplished something and that motivation will fuel me for the rest of the day to achieve more.
That sounds like MORE than enough motivation to get me out the door. And yet, if I don’t get this article done in the next 9 minutes I won’t have time to get out there and do something before my next meeting.
Does any of this sound familiar?
You should know you’re not alone. And if you want more fuel for this conversation, I also recommend checking out the book “Eat That Frog.” An amusing (albeit a little gross) discussion about procrastination and motivation. The high-level explanation is that if your life depends on eating a live frog each morning, then the best thing to do is eat it first thing. Delay the task and you’ll end up delaying everything else.
Every step of this journey I’m on is about making choices. Choices I sometimes don’t want to make. My “eating the frog” is going for a run or saying no to the glass of wine at dinner. I want to just procrastinate and take the easier path. But there’s the secret I’m learning: The more hard choices I make, the more “frogs” I eat, the easier the choices become. Funny how that works.
So do you have “frogs” you don’t want to eat? You’re not alone.
I’m going to sign off and head out into the hills of Colorado. I’ve got 2 minutes to hit the door before it’s too late.
Until next time,
LILA
L.I.L.A. - the Late in Life Athlete 