Willpower

Driving past Planet Fitness the other morning, I couldn’t believe the amount of cars in the parking lot. Later that day, I drove past another one, packed house. It was then I realized it’s January, and peoples’ motivation is high. 

In just a few weeks, the parking lot will clear about but peoples’ bank accounts will still get hit with a monthly membership and they’ll proclaim to their friends, “I tried doing the gym thing, but just couldn’t stick with it.”

This New Year’s crowd relies solely on motivation. They’re hoping that their will to get to the gym more frequently will carry them to chiseled abs and smaller jean sizes. Now, if you’re reading this, you’re probably already aware that motivation will only take you so far. You cannot rely on your willpower to do something, as Charles Duhigg says in The Power of Habit, willpower is finite, it diminishes as you use it. 

So if you’re playing the long game, which you should be, you know you can’t rely on willpower or motivation to keep you hitting the gym 3 times a week for 3 years. So what does it take? Well, to be blunt, it takes discipline. It takes the ability to tell yourself to shut up and go do it anyway. Sometimes it’s hard, and sometimes it’s easy, but regardless of how long you’ve trained, you’re going to have that battle. 

Build a habit. Go when you don’t want to go and notice how good it feels when you leave the building, sweaty and accomplished.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain