Set Out Your Workout Clothes

There’s a common theme for a lot of us in our lives. When we are thinking about what we want to do, we have the best of intentions and set ambitious goals or schedules.  A funny thing happens though, the next morning when it is time to actually execute on that plan, we just don’t seem quite as motivated, and our intentions now feel like unreasonable hurdles we are placed in our own path. Why is it so easy to make plans for yourself at night, and so hard to actually put them into action the next morning? That is the golden question that I’d love to learn the answer to, but for now, I can only provide a makeshift solution.

Set your workout clothes out. As you’re going to bed, you set an earlier alarm than normal so that you can get a workout in, but when that alarm goes off the next morning your workout is the last thing you want to do?  It’s not just you, it’s everybody.

So, if you set out your clothes, a few things happen. First is seeing your clothes laid out on the floor reminds you of your intentions from the previous night, and might help you tap into that motivation you had. If that doesn’t work, then now you are left with two options. Either you leave your clothes where they were and step over them to go about your day, or you hang them back up. In either case, each time you interact with your clothes, you are reminded of your failure, and that feeling will provide extra motivation for the next time so you can get it done.

So, I’d suggest setting your clothes in front of the door to your room, or anywhere that you know is going to be the first place you walk to, because the sooner in your day you feel that disappointment, the more likely you are to change your mind and go workout.