Motivation & Excuses - Your One Reason

It doesn't take Charlie Epps to figure out that my 90 Days on P90x have come and gone. In reality, though, I never made it past about day 5 in sequence. I did about 3 days a week of P90x at the high point of my activity, but then I came down with a nasty flu for a few days, discovered that I am gluten and lactose intolerant, yada yada yada. Essentially, Life Happened.

What is disappointing is that I really wanted to stay on P90x, but for a while there it was literally not possible for me to do the exercises due to health concerns. That being said, that hasn't been the case in quite a while, and yet I haven't restarted the program. At some point this summer, the nice electronic bathroom scale in our home suddenly stopped functioning. Batteries were replaced, sacrifices made to the dark gods of the bathroom scale, all to no avail. In addition, I took a full time course load this summer while working full time, and due to the shortened term, my courses were quite difficult.

So there you have it - my list of excuses. Of course, as I used to tell my soccer players, there will always be excuses why you can't do something. The key to success in life is finding your One Reason why you can accomplish your goals. What's amazing about this process is that no matter how stacked the odds are against you, just one 'excuse' to succeed is enough. Let's say you want to start running everyday before work. The list of reasons why it won't work out is huge.

1. It's too early.
2. I'm too tired.
3. My feet hurt.
4. I'm sore.
5. It's too cold.
6. It's raining.
7. I ate too much last night.
8. I am too tired today, but I'll run twice as long tomorrow. (yeah, right)
9. etc, etc, etc...

As you can see, not running seems to be a more feasible goal than running is. But now, let's come up with that One Reason and excuse for actually accomplishing the goal. First, you start with a premise.

• Being healthy is important to me.

Now, let's make that an even stronger statement. I like to remind myself why my premise is what it is - in this case, why being healthy is important to me. Keep it short, though! One to three sentences works best for me.

• I am a healthy person. I take care of my body because I know it's the only one I get, and I want to be a good example to my kids.

Bam! Just like that, all those other excuses and demotivators lose all their power.

So yeah, here I am, about to start my P90x program all over again (Monday the 6th). In case you were wondering, the above statement is MY one reason for exercising. I have other, lesser reasons for staying healthy, but at the end of the day, it all comes back to this one.

I've used this technique for motivating myself in many areas of my life, from school and work to fitness and family life. Do you have One Reason for staying fit? What about for other goals?