Winter Woes of Running |

It’s about that time of year….

Because of this,

and/or this,

You find yourself not wanting to leave here…

to come here.

So what can you do to find the motivation???

Here’s a little pointer to help you get started on your new healthy lifestyle.

Activation Energy

This idea has a foundation in chemistry and comes from a Harvard psychologist named Shawn Achor in his book The Happiness Advantage. Shawn discusses how we have limited energy throughout the day so we need to be wise in how we use/conserve it. When it comes to forming a new habit (like running or eating healthy) the hardest part is often just getting started. This is called the activation energy or the energy required to get over that initial hump.

There’s a simple trick you can do to help overcome this activation rule that Achor calls “The 20 second Rule.” Basically, if your running shoes are 20 seconds or more away, then you are much less likely to actually go and find them and start your run. But if they’re very close or already on your feet, then you are much more likely to make it out the door.

So, if you want to start a habit of running every morning, then you can lower the activation energy by applying the 20 second rule. You can sleep in your running clothes (including socks) and put your running shoes right next to your bed. When you wake up in the morning it will almost be hard for you to not put those shoes on and get moving. This rule can also be utilized if you are trying to stop a bad habit. For example, you can put the ice cream in the very back of the freezer which makes it more of a chore to get out. You can keep the remote control in the farthest bedroom from the flatscreen, and so on. This technique actually increases the activation energy and helps you overcome your bad habit.

I pumped out 30 miles on the treadmill this week, not my favorite way to get in my mileage. But, you can be sure that I was dreaming of this.