As much as we’d like to feel motivated for every workout, there will always be days when staying in bed sounds more appealing. The key is making it easier to get started when that motivation doesn’t show up.
According to former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink, the answer is to avoid turning that first step into a debate with yourself. In an Instagram Reel, the 55-year-old shares, ‘The alarm clock goes off and you get up and get out of bed. Doesn’t matter what you were thinking, doesn’t matter that you wanted to sleep in, like “Oh this sucks”. None of that matters.’
You don’t have to adopt his uncompromising approach completely to put that advice into practice without submitting to the ‘no pain, no gain’ cliché. Decide when you’re training and what you’ll do beforehand, lay out your gym kit and have your bag packed and ready. That gives you fewer decisions to make when you’re tired and the snooze button is within reach.
Instead of thinking about the workout ahead, focus on getting dressed and starting your warm-up. You can assess how you feel once you’re moving, rather than deciding the fate of the entire session before you’ve even got out of bed.
Willink’s second suggestion is to look beyond the effort ahead and picture how you’ll feel afterwards.
‘When you wake up in the morning and it’s early and you’re tired, think about how you feel when you’re done and you did what you’re supposed to do,’ he says.
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Also, have a shorter version of your session ready for days when the full workout feels unmanageable. That could mean a few familiar exercises or an easy, short run.
Willink also talks about the guilt of skipping a session, but that doesn’t need to be your only incentive. Give yourself a practical next step and permission to adjust the plan.
On the days when you simply don’t fancy it, start with the first step and take it from there.
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