How often have you planned to get up in the morning to run, but you didn’t do it? Common, but unhelpful. Either be honest with yourself: you need the sleep (probably more important to your health than your run if you are not sleeping 7-9 hours each night), you are not currently interested in running regularly, whatever the case may be, take an honest assessment and admit it to yourself. Or: do it. Set your alarm, get straight out of bed, do whatever you need to do before getting out the door, and then get out and run. Make the run the priority. If time is short, then go for a shorter run, but get yourself out the door to do it.

Whatever your assessment, whether you decide to run or not, you will feel better because you followed through and didn’t break your promise to yourself one more time.

In her Ted Talk titled “How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over,” Mel Robbins talks about the feeling when you set your alarm, have an intention to get out for a run, and the alarm goes off…. Particularly if it is a new habit, your body may be saying “no, let’s stay in this warm bed and not get up.” We are wired to resist change and discomfort, and we are really good at getting in our own way. When we recognize the pain and effort it will take to create a new habit, to follow through with our challenging promises to ourselves, we can plan for it and do it anyway. As we continually do the thing, we reduce the resistance to change…in one area, one habit, at a time.