Break the cycle and make exercise sustainable and enjoyable
I'm going to show you how to completely reshape your thinking and attitude towards exercise, making it something you can maintain long term, and that you actually enjoy (yes, really)
In the guide below, I'll take you through the 5 simple steps that will result in massive change, unlock a healthier, sustainable lifestyle
All you need to do, is follow along
What is the cycle? 🔁
It's the endless loop below, are you stuck in it?
Yes? Well, this is probably the reason why you're stuck in that cycle
You’re trying to fix your diet and your exercise at the same time
In your head, one is completely pointless without the other
What's the problem with this mindset?
As soon as you slip up on your diet, it completely derails your exercise routine and visa versa
It results in thoughts like this:
“what’s the point now, I’ve ruined it, I won’t lose weight, even if I do workout”
This is a nasty cycle that does you more harm than you realise
This is the first thing we need to tackle to change your life
I've spent a long time working out the most effective way to help you - and it all starts with fixing this relationship between food and exercise - I promise you
If you're ready to change your life, I need you to set the following goals 🎯
To rewire your brain and stop diet slip-ups from destroying your motivation to exercise
To make exercise a normal part of your life, long term, not something that’s stop-start or temporary
👉 To make exercise just a thing you do, that you don’t need to motivate yourself to do or think too much about
To make exercise something you want to do, not something you have to do, or need to force yourself to do
That would be great right ?
Well, it’s not a pipe dream, you can 100% achieve this
Let's make it a reality 👇
Step 1 - I need you to change the reason why you exercise
It all starts with changing the way you look at exercise
Right now, you’re probably looking at exercise as your way to 👉 lose weight, or look better
Therefore 👉 in order to measure your success, or progress, you’re weighing yourself, or by trying to spot changes in the mirror
The problem is, as soon as you have that food slip up, or treat, you immediately feel like you can no longer make progress
In your head, it renders exercise pointless because you won’t look slimmer in the mirror, and you won’t weigh less now
Ultimately, this is why your exercise routine goes down the pan
It might sound counterintuitive, but this is the answer:
You need to break the link between food, and exercise – for now
Instead you need to focus on just making exercise a consistent part of your life – most importantly, something you enjoy and can easily maintain
This would be a positive action you’ve made towards “future you”
Once you’re doing something positive for “future you” it will become much easier for you to make better food choices – in essence, we can gradually fix your diet later but your focus needs to be on the exercise bit right now
Trust me on this!
I need you to change your thinking, like this 👇
What does this achieve?
It completely stops a diet slip-up, or treat, from killing your motivation to exercise
It creates a mindset whereby – even if you accidentally eat a whole pack of Jamie Dodgers, there’s still a reason to go to the gym etc – as going will still build strength, muscle, resilience, or improve your flexibility
This very simple change in thinking makes it a lot easier to make exercise a normal, consistent thing in your life
The same applies to running, cycling or walking – it’s no longer pointless after a diet slip-up, as doing it will still improve your cardio, and/or your mental health
Once you’re exercising, and doing things for “future you” – things become much easier
I cannot emphasise enough, how important this first step is creating a sustainable, healthy lifestyle
You may not fully appreciate it right now – but this is a game changer, I promise you
The next few steps are where the magic happens 🪄
The next steps will show you:
A) How to break through the exercise barrier – no more sitting and thinking and having to summon the energy to go do it
B) How motivation, discipline and will-power isn’t the answer – I’ll show you why forcing it, is the wrong approach, and I’ll show you step by step how to make it something that you just do without thinking about it
C) How to make exercise enjoyable, yep, really (even if there’s no exercise you enjoy) (I know, because I was this person)
Step 2 - Understand why you have to force yourself to exercise
Let's start by breaking down the reasons why you struggle to get up, get out, and exercise
I get it, I’ve been there, fully dressed in my exercise gear, battling sometimes for hours to get out the door and actually go and do the exercise – sometimes I never actually managed to get out, and sat feeling depressed about how useless I was
It’s like I had to overcome something and force myself every single time
The worst part, is that every time you have to force yourself to go exercise, your brain subconciously links it to hard work, effort and almost creates an anxiety around it
I gave this thing I had to overcome a name
Introducing, my old arch nemesis - "The Barrier"
But what is the barrier made from?
The answer: two things, expectation, and enjoyment
The thing you need to realise 🤯
The exercise barrier is built entirely inside your own head, and you can just as easily smash it down, meaning:
You never have to force yourself to exercise again – you’ll just go do it, without resistance
To fix the problem, we need to tackle both parts with the next three steps 👇
Step 3 - I need you to reset, or adjust your expectations
I have a question for you:
If you think that your workout is going to be "hard work" or "time consuming" or an "effort" - what do you think the result is going to be?
The answer:
You're going to have to summon the motivation and energy to go and get it done - you might even feel that anxious knot in your stomach
Is it any surprise that you have to force yourself to go do it?
Is it any surprise that you have to sit there, search for the energy, and ultimately rely on will-power to go and get it done?
Reality check:
Will-power, stubbornness and discipline might allow you to overcome this feeling on the good days
But what about the days where you feel tired? depressed? fed up?
What about the bad days?
You might do what old Ben used to do, sit there, struggling for hours to go do it, but ultimately failing and feeling like crap about how useless he is
The proper, permanent solution needs to:
🤘Work on the very worst days - on the days where you say "sod it, I can't be bothered"
🤘Make exercise a non-thing, something you barely register in your brain as an effort
🤘Essentially, creates a get out of jail card in your head for those bad days, almost like a bail out action, that still achieves the overall goal, which is to get out and exercise
Scroll down, and let's continue
Let's get this party started
⭐ I need you to remember the aim here - make exercise a non thing, so that going and doing it isn't an ordeal
Just open up your mind, give it a go, and I will address some thoughts and concerns you might have in the section that follows it
This is the change I need you to make to your thinking - here's an example
How does this change in thinking help?
This change in thinking means, that on the most depressive, tired day you can literally say to yourself “sod it, I’m just going to go do 5 push-ups and go straight home, I can’t be bothered and it’s still a massive win”
This almost gives you the get out of jail card that we talked about – but you’ll be shocked how much more you achieve with this thinking.
This is the first massive step in smashing down the exercise barrier
Wait, this sounds a bit basic and silly!
I get it if that's your first reaction - that's probably what I'd have thought, however I need you to fight your old thinking and just put it on the back burner for a bit
I want you to actively fight any thoughts like "what's the point of going to the gym to do 5 push-ups" and push forward with an open mind
This change in thinking removes the big expectation element from your head, which means you no longer have to find the energy to go and exercise - in essence we've made exercise a very little effort thing (a non thing) in your head
I need you NOT to say "I'll do 30 minutes of arms after I've gone to do my 5 push ups" for example - otherwise you defeat the point of this tip.
Sure, you can continue working out after, but don't plan it or create an expectation that you must do it - you really do need to just say "I'm going to go to the gym, do 5 push ups, and if I don't want to do anything else I can go straight back home"
The get out of jail free card bit
The beauty of this change in thinking is that:
On the most depressive, tired day you can literally say to yourself "sod it, I'm just going to go do 5 push-ups and go straight home, I can't be bothered and it's still a massive win"
Yet you still would have achieved the goal of getting out and exercising!
Your bail out plan still achieves your goal
Better still 👉 9 out of 10 times, you'll do the 5 push-ups and decide to do something else too
This is a powerful little trick that makes getting out to do the exercise a lot easier
It's important to remember your aim here:
To make exercise a normal part of your life, a non-thing
To make exercise a non-thing, and as easy to go and do as making a cup of tea - as simple or easy as that
The next two steps are the last things you need to do to completely smash the exercise barrier for good
Step 4 - How to make exercise enjoyable (yes, really)
Right now you might be thinking:
"I don't enjoy exercise, there's literally no exercise or sport that I enjoy and I can't envision that ever changing"
I was this person too - the amazing thing though, is that it doesn't have to be like that
Have you ever heard this saying?
“If you do a job you love, you never work a day in your life” ?
Have you ever actually thought about what that means?
Put simply, if you enjoy the work, it doesn’t feel like work
You therefore don’t need to force yourself out of bed in the morning to go do it, and you’re eager, and you want to go do it
The revelation 👇
This doesn't just apply to work - it applies to everything, including exercise
The truth is, if you enjoy something, you don't have to force yourself to do it
If something is enjoyable, you no longer need motivation to go do it
Which means, even on your most depressed, fed up day, you'd probably still do it
(imagine being in that depressed, fed up state and then someone saying to you "do you want to go do this thing that you love?")
Chances are, you'll probably say "yea, why not" anyway - this is THE KEY to everything
So, how do you MAKE yourself enjoy an exercise?
You do it by attaching a positive mantra or association, to that exercise
First: I need you to think of the exercise you want to apply it to – for example running, tennis, or the gym
Second: I want you to make the exercise you’ve chosen, YOUR THING, by repeating the MANTRA below 5 times, out loud if possible, and really try to say it like you mean it.
Repeat this 5 times
Say it out loud if you can - be passionate, really believe it, and emphasise that this is "MY THING"
Once you've done this 👇
Step 5 - I want you to imagine someone telling you that:
👄 "You are not allowed to do YOUR THING"
👄 "You are not allowed to do THE THING, that YOU do for YOU"
How does that make you feel?
Do you know why it makes you feel like that?
Because that person is trying to stop you, from doing your THING, your self care THING, that you do for YOU
How dare they right?
The cool part that you might not realise yet
The really amazing part is that response you just had to the imaginary person …… you will find that the same response also automatically pops up when you have negative thoughts, such as “ow I can’t be bothered today”
You will find that your brain naturally says “screw you, this is my thing, I want to go do it” – completely overriding the negative thoughts and it will make it easy to get out and do it
I really hope this has been helpful to you
It took me a long time to figure this all out, and even longer to work out how to share it with you
It's the result of an adhd brain and a love of psychology
The brain really is a brilliant thing, and it might just shock you how much you can change just with some reframing of thoughts and a different approach
If you had of told me a few years ago that I'd be talking about mantra's, I really wouldn't have believed you - life is strange like that
I'd love to hear how you found it, or if anything worked, so feel free to drop me a message
Ben Harris - just a guy who's trying to find his place in the world
x
