When You Don't Want to Do Something, Make It Easier Until You Do

I recently stopped going to the gym. Again.

When I thought about going, I felt dread.

Dread about getting ready, driving to the gym, doing a full workout, changing, driving back and showering. Dread of investing well over 1 hour to do all this. Dread of doing this again in a couple of days.

I soon realized that the reason I felt this dread was that my workout typically takes 45-50 minutes.

I rarely felt energized enough to workout for that long.

The solution was simple: Cut down the time it takes to workout.

Together with my trainer, I divided my 50-minute workout into 3 smaller workouts. One that has only the 3 most essential exercises. One that has 3 more and one that has all the rest.

This allows me to exercise for anywhere between 10 and 60 minutes, depending on how I feel. If I really don't want to go, I do my 3 exercises and return home. If I feel like I can do more after those 3, I can do 3 more. They just add 10 more minutes. And when I feel like I really want to get after it, I can workout for the whole 60 minutes.

While this might seem like a small change, it had a huge impact.

The dread vanished.

If I want to go to the gym, I can go for 10 minutes. That's more than fine with me on most days. It's also all I need to do to get a workout in. That's small and achievable.

The bigger lesson I've learned from this is that when I don't want to do something, I should make it easier until I do.

A 45-minute workout filled me with dread, so I avoided it.

A 10-minute workout feels easy and good, so I do it.

Of course, this change isn't limited to doing something for a shorter duration.

It can mean to do it with less expectations, with less money, or less intensity.

The key point is to make what you dread about it easier until you want to do it.

So, the next time you don't want to do something, make it easier until you do.