Yea to Kathy Smith and her motivational tips! I hope you find these useful. I like them. See my italicized comments below.
Melissa
Shift Your Mind-Set
I remember once picking up an old photo album from the coffee table and thumbing through the pictures of my childhood. This time, the captioned dates and locations caught my attention. In 1951, I was in Arizona; 1952, Oklahoma; 1953, San Diego; 1956, Brazil; 1959, Alabama; 1963, Hawaii; 1966, Illinois. Change had been a way of life back then. Every time I made friends, got attached to a house or my bedroom in it, or bonded with a teacher, my dad would announce that it was time to pack up and move. Such was the life of an air force family. I accepted it as the way things were. I would walk into each new school wondering which of those faces belonged to my new best friend. Though I was young and just doing what came naturally, I think now that I'd somehow made a conscious decision to be optimistic and to make the best of the situation.
Being flexible, being open, shifting your mind-set, is a powerful choice. And because it doesn't always look like a choice, people often miss it. (Some people would call this 'choosing your attitude'. We always have the choice to be miserable or happy. Some of us just take longer to figure out how to be happy. If you force yourself to smile when you're down, you'll start the upward smile to choosing a better attitude).
Successful people adopt the proper attitude to react to ever-changing circumstances. They know that how and what they picture in their mind will create the mood they're in and the kind of behaviors that follow. Successful people have shown that the quality of life is determined not by what happens to them, but rather by what they do about what happens. (With all the budget and economic woes right now, are you going to choose to stress out over something that hasn't happened, yet or that might happen, or will you take it all in stride?)
For instance, being able to work out effectively at the end of the day will depend on what sort of mood you're in and how you picture that workout in your mind. If for hours ahead of time you've been dreading going to the gym because, say, you don't like the clothes you brought to work out in, or you can't bear to see that gorgeous blonde who always wears a skimpy leotard so that all the men will stare at her, you'll produce a certain state of mind that, frankly, isn't exactly conducive to going to work out. On the other hand, if you're looking forward to meeting your girlfriend there and finding out all about her new job, or you can't wait to take your favorite instructor's aerobics class, you'll produce a totally different state of mind, thus, behaviors. Obviously, you behave differently when you're angry or anxious than you do when you're excited. So you're less likely to have a good workout when negative feelings intrude. (And if that hot blonde is too hot for you to handle, then maybe you could get to know her. Maybe she's really nice. Don't be self-conscious at the gym).
It's an endless cycle. Because when you do have a great workout, and begin to feel physically vibrant, you perceive the world differently more life and enthusiasm. And that, of course, creates a mind-set to take care of yourself.
The key to getting to the gym, or to wherever you work out, consistently is to present things to yourself in such a way that you're going to want to take positive action. In short, you have to be in charge of filtering your thoughts throughout the day.
Sometimes, though, that's difficult. For me, it happens when I'm tired. I experience such a dramatic change in my thought patterns compared to when I've had a good night's sleep that things begin looking sour to me. Instead of looking forward to new challenges, I start dreading every commitment on my calendar. Each question I'm asked can no longer be answered simply, because I read more sinister, ulterior meanings into the words.
So, knowing this about myself, I've learned that if I don't get enough sleep, I can't keep my mind shifted into the positive direction that serves me best. If I stay up too late, I'm less likely to get up at 6 a.m., full of life and ready to work out.
My attitude is that I'm in charge of what I think and how I interpret events, so I pay attention to the chatter in mind, and when it starts bad-mouthing the world, I respond accordingly. I shift my mind-set to keep me on track, especially when my health and fitness are concerned.
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2009
Motivational Tip #4
Let's call this Kathy Smith week. I really like her advice on motivation, which is why I'm sharing it with you. See below for my comments in italics.
Melissa
Make it a Priority
Working with clients who wanted to lose weight or get in shape, I've noticed over the years that certain people can take the information and make it work for them, while others have huge stumbling blocks and excuses. I've heard them all: no time, lack of energy, sore back or knee, don't know what to do, confused, etc. (No excuses. This is your health, your life. If you aren't healthy, then you are not making your life a priority).
What's your excuse? Why don't you take better care of your health?
My experience has been that some people are able to make up their minds to lose weight and exercise. (I know a few people who are great role models in this category). They just do it. And some people can't. I don't think it's a lack of willpower. It's just that some people either fail to see the importance of getting healthy or they feel that life has conspired against them.
The truth, though, is that people who've succeeded don't have more time or fewer problems. It's just that they've chosen to make good health a high enough priority. They've discovered ways of adjusting their schedules and lives in order to exercise and eat right.
There are plenty of days when I don't feel like putting in time on the treadmill or working out. But when I experience these thoughts, I immediately say "STOP" or "LET IT GO!" - meaning stop the thought or let that thought go. Then, I think about how I'll feel after exercising. Next, I'll think about something a little different I could do that day to add variety to the workout, like putting on an old CD, say, Elton John or U2, which helps to shift my mind-set. Then I go into the ritual of putting on my shoes and workout clothes. Often, this is enough to stop the chatter in my mind. Instead of listening to "Oh, I'm tired, I don't feel like doing this," I shift to "I'm going to feel so great after this workout." I wonder if the weather will be nice tomorrow so we can go for a long hike." Or, "I wonder what I can do with the kids this weekend." Once you set your body in motion, you've won more than half the battle. (Sometimes I feel too tired to go to my Tae Kwon Do class, but I'm never tired once I get there. You just have to motivate yourself to go. That's the biggest challenge).
What also helps is to review all your reasons for wanting and needing to work out in the first place. When people come to me personally for weight-loss help, I insist that they set some goals. For example: "I need to lose fifty pounds."
Why? I ask.
Usually a woman's first answer is, "well, I want to look better." But there are surface goals and inner-personal goals. The first is usually about wishes, the other about priorities. Surface goals tend to stand isolated from the bigger picture of life, so they're not as powerful when it comes to keeping you motivated. The woman who answers, "I want to look better" won't be as motivated - and therefore stands a lesser chance of success.
On the other hand, the inner personal goals reflect real priorities. If you can get to the reasons behind wanting to look better, then there is a much greater chance of success. For instance, "Okay, I admit it. Every day when my kids come home I snap at them, because I'm so tired and short-tempered. My husband and I don't make love anymore because I don't feel good about myself. I look in the mirror every day and don't like the way my eyes look; they're saggy and make me look older than I am. I don't seem to have the confidence I used to have."
These words often carry the weight of a commandment. Your goal now isn't just thinner thighs or flatter abs. It's improving your entire life, and the way you feel about yourself.
If you really want something, and your reasons for it are strong enough, they will motivate you to make it a priority. They will be stronger than your inertia or your laziness.
Melissa
Make it a Priority
Working with clients who wanted to lose weight or get in shape, I've noticed over the years that certain people can take the information and make it work for them, while others have huge stumbling blocks and excuses. I've heard them all: no time, lack of energy, sore back or knee, don't know what to do, confused, etc. (No excuses. This is your health, your life. If you aren't healthy, then you are not making your life a priority).
What's your excuse? Why don't you take better care of your health?
My experience has been that some people are able to make up their minds to lose weight and exercise. (I know a few people who are great role models in this category). They just do it. And some people can't. I don't think it's a lack of willpower. It's just that some people either fail to see the importance of getting healthy or they feel that life has conspired against them.
The truth, though, is that people who've succeeded don't have more time or fewer problems. It's just that they've chosen to make good health a high enough priority. They've discovered ways of adjusting their schedules and lives in order to exercise and eat right.
There are plenty of days when I don't feel like putting in time on the treadmill or working out. But when I experience these thoughts, I immediately say "STOP" or "LET IT GO!" - meaning stop the thought or let that thought go. Then, I think about how I'll feel after exercising. Next, I'll think about something a little different I could do that day to add variety to the workout, like putting on an old CD, say, Elton John or U2, which helps to shift my mind-set. Then I go into the ritual of putting on my shoes and workout clothes. Often, this is enough to stop the chatter in my mind. Instead of listening to "Oh, I'm tired, I don't feel like doing this," I shift to "I'm going to feel so great after this workout." I wonder if the weather will be nice tomorrow so we can go for a long hike." Or, "I wonder what I can do with the kids this weekend." Once you set your body in motion, you've won more than half the battle. (Sometimes I feel too tired to go to my Tae Kwon Do class, but I'm never tired once I get there. You just have to motivate yourself to go. That's the biggest challenge).
What also helps is to review all your reasons for wanting and needing to work out in the first place. When people come to me personally for weight-loss help, I insist that they set some goals. For example: "I need to lose fifty pounds."
Why? I ask.
Usually a woman's first answer is, "well, I want to look better." But there are surface goals and inner-personal goals. The first is usually about wishes, the other about priorities. Surface goals tend to stand isolated from the bigger picture of life, so they're not as powerful when it comes to keeping you motivated. The woman who answers, "I want to look better" won't be as motivated - and therefore stands a lesser chance of success.
On the other hand, the inner personal goals reflect real priorities. If you can get to the reasons behind wanting to look better, then there is a much greater chance of success. For instance, "Okay, I admit it. Every day when my kids come home I snap at them, because I'm so tired and short-tempered. My husband and I don't make love anymore because I don't feel good about myself. I look in the mirror every day and don't like the way my eyes look; they're saggy and make me look older than I am. I don't seem to have the confidence I used to have."
These words often carry the weight of a commandment. Your goal now isn't just thinner thighs or flatter abs. It's improving your entire life, and the way you feel about yourself.
If you really want something, and your reasons for it are strong enough, they will motivate you to make it a priority. They will be stronger than your inertia or your laziness.
Motivational Tip #3
Once again, I'm sharing from Kathy Smith's website. Since she already said what I'd say, why recreate it? Once again, note my bolded notes and italicized comments below.
Melissa
Find a Passion
Why is it that when we fall in love or are excited about an opportunity, we seem to enjoy boundless energy and can go for days with very little sleep?
The reason is passion. (Going to the gym isn't for everyone; nor is running, swimming or martial arts. However, find what you love and balance it with strength training, cardio and healthy eating.)
A few years ago when I was watching a PBS series hosted by Bill Moyers, it caught my attention when the great mythologist Joseph Campbell urged us to follow our "bliss." (or as Susan Ruth says, "do what feels good.") That's what I've done in my life. I follow my bliss, which I interpret to mean passion, and I encourage you to find and follow your own.
I once read a fascinating report on longevity that discussed a study of 100 people who were then in their nineties or older. The study's author said that he could find only two traits common to all 100 people. The first, that they'd eaten a consistent diet their entire lives, meaning that they'd had no extreme weight losses or gains. But it was the second trait that most captured my attention: All the old people were extremely interested in something outside themselves, whether it was religion, a hobby, or volunteering, etc. In other words, they'd found a passion.
In the early 1980s I began putting together everything I'd ever learned about exercise, fitness and health into teaching an aerobics class in Los Angeles. Though my pay was only about ten dollars per class, I considered myself incredibly rich and successful. Why? Because every day some woman, age thirty to fifty, would come up to me and admit, with tears in her eyes, that since reaching adulthood she hadn't moved her body the way she was doing in my class; she thought she'd forgotten how. But now, after sticking with it for several months, she'd begun to feel her entire life change. "I've decided I'm going to go out and get a job," was a common statement of joy. Others bragged that sex with their husbands had picked up again after a long layoff.
I could see that I was impacting these women, that their self-confidence had been raised and their well being improved. The first step had been moving their bodies, the next - well, who knows. (It's true that exercise boosts your self-confidence. If you've ever seen Vicki Virk teach bhangra (http://dholrhythms.blogspot.com/2008/06/classes.html), her passion and confidence emanate to all within her vicinity. It's contagious. Imagine your passion and how it would affect your daily life).
Later, I became the co-host of a USA Cable show called Alive & Well, on which I led a daily mini-class of exercise. Suddenly, I began receiving thousands of letters that echoed the sentiments of these women who'd come up to me in class. Heartfelt letters, describing the enormously positive changes they were experiencing. Eventually, with message boards and emails, the XX kept coming in.
To tell you the truth, the reason I continue to do what I do in my professional life is that I'm committed to helping, and inspiring the best in all people. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to hear that, for whatever reason, I've inspired someone to consider today the first day of the rest of her life.
I remember an appearance at a store in Minneapolis's Mall of America. A man and his nineteen-year-old daughter waited in line for an hour to tell me their story. It seems that, two years before, the daughter had decided to drop out of high school because of depression, feeling that her life was worthless. Distraught over his daughter's decision, about which he could do nothing legally since she was past sixteen, the father tried every form of persuasion, even bribery. Nothing worked. Then one day he happened to see a poster of mine that read, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. He bought it, along with one of my exercise videos, and brought them home to her. Resistant at first, she tried the video, and then hung the poster. Within weeks, she'd exercised out the depression and taken the slogan to heart. She stayed in school, graduated, and was, when I met her, enjoying her freshman year of college. Both father and daughter had tears in their eyes, and so did I.
Handing me both the poster and the video, the daughter said, "You made me believe I could do it, that I could do something with my life."
As we hugged and exchanged tissues, I understood the emotional connection between us: We both shared a passion for exercise, and she, like me, now understood that it had expanded her options by allowing her to notice more opportunities, and to take better advantage of them, which is exactly what it has done for me.
If she'd asked me to explain to her the cause and effect of exercise and its results, I would have said that, as scientific research has demonstrated, exercise has a healthy effect on the human mind and spirit, as well as the body.
Now, does exercise automatically lead to major life changes for everyone? No, probably not. (Certainly it does for most, but perhaps your passion is in model trains, blogging or cooking. Be passionate about something. Too many people let work rule their lives. Have a life outside of work and family. It's so important for you).
Personally, I've found that my thinking is often at its most creative when I'm working out - whether running, walking, lifting weights, spinning or hiking in the hills. It's a conscious choice, to use the time productively. I'm fully aware that a lot of people abandon their exercise programs because they get bored. They lose their passion.
"Don't you?" they ask.
Lose my passion? Never. First of all, I don't let myself get to that point, I cross-train, moving from one activity to another nearly every day. Second, I don't get bored because there's so much to think about when I'm exercising. Sure, the activity itself can be repetitive, but that very repetition frees the mind to go elsewhere.
Exercise initiates physiological reactions that also lead to subtle changes in thought processes. In the calm of an exercise-induced alpha state, I trust my mind to be more agile, so I tend to follow where it wants to lead me. During exercise, my mental state reflects the best of me from the deepest recesses of my soul.
Even when I don't need to solve a particular problem, I often use the time to take stock of my life. Am I being a good listener? Am I using my time wisely? Am I pursuing the things I want?
Other times, I spend my workout enjoying some detailed daydreaming such as getting lost in nature - enjoying the sights, smells, and sounds. And finally, I also brainstorm solutions to problems at home or work during my workout. Often this brainstorming will lead to some creative solutions.
Now all these years later, I still revel in my passion for exercise. Being connected passionately to one thing leads to other areas of passion, including one for life in general. You then naturally want to experience more, be more involved in life. You develop a healthier lifestyle, and that means not having to focus so single-mindedly on food, your weight, your body image, your finances, or whatever.
I encourage you to nurture a passion for fitness, and let that passion connect you to other dreams and other passions. From art to cooking to gardening to travel, let exercise be your guide.
Whatever your dreams, follow their trail. Go where they lead. Listen to your heart. Chase your passions.
Melissa
Find a Passion
Why is it that when we fall in love or are excited about an opportunity, we seem to enjoy boundless energy and can go for days with very little sleep?
The reason is passion. (Going to the gym isn't for everyone; nor is running, swimming or martial arts. However, find what you love and balance it with strength training, cardio and healthy eating.)
A few years ago when I was watching a PBS series hosted by Bill Moyers, it caught my attention when the great mythologist Joseph Campbell urged us to follow our "bliss." (or as Susan Ruth says, "do what feels good.") That's what I've done in my life. I follow my bliss, which I interpret to mean passion, and I encourage you to find and follow your own.
I once read a fascinating report on longevity that discussed a study of 100 people who were then in their nineties or older. The study's author said that he could find only two traits common to all 100 people. The first, that they'd eaten a consistent diet their entire lives, meaning that they'd had no extreme weight losses or gains. But it was the second trait that most captured my attention: All the old people were extremely interested in something outside themselves, whether it was religion, a hobby, or volunteering, etc. In other words, they'd found a passion.
In the early 1980s I began putting together everything I'd ever learned about exercise, fitness and health into teaching an aerobics class in Los Angeles. Though my pay was only about ten dollars per class, I considered myself incredibly rich and successful. Why? Because every day some woman, age thirty to fifty, would come up to me and admit, with tears in her eyes, that since reaching adulthood she hadn't moved her body the way she was doing in my class; she thought she'd forgotten how. But now, after sticking with it for several months, she'd begun to feel her entire life change. "I've decided I'm going to go out and get a job," was a common statement of joy. Others bragged that sex with their husbands had picked up again after a long layoff.
I could see that I was impacting these women, that their self-confidence had been raised and their well being improved. The first step had been moving their bodies, the next - well, who knows. (It's true that exercise boosts your self-confidence. If you've ever seen Vicki Virk teach bhangra (http://dholrhythms.blogspot.com/2008/06/classes.html), her passion and confidence emanate to all within her vicinity. It's contagious. Imagine your passion and how it would affect your daily life).
Later, I became the co-host of a USA Cable show called Alive & Well, on which I led a daily mini-class of exercise. Suddenly, I began receiving thousands of letters that echoed the sentiments of these women who'd come up to me in class. Heartfelt letters, describing the enormously positive changes they were experiencing. Eventually, with message boards and emails, the XX kept coming in.
To tell you the truth, the reason I continue to do what I do in my professional life is that I'm committed to helping, and inspiring the best in all people. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to hear that, for whatever reason, I've inspired someone to consider today the first day of the rest of her life.
I remember an appearance at a store in Minneapolis's Mall of America. A man and his nineteen-year-old daughter waited in line for an hour to tell me their story. It seems that, two years before, the daughter had decided to drop out of high school because of depression, feeling that her life was worthless. Distraught over his daughter's decision, about which he could do nothing legally since she was past sixteen, the father tried every form of persuasion, even bribery. Nothing worked. Then one day he happened to see a poster of mine that read, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. He bought it, along with one of my exercise videos, and brought them home to her. Resistant at first, she tried the video, and then hung the poster. Within weeks, she'd exercised out the depression and taken the slogan to heart. She stayed in school, graduated, and was, when I met her, enjoying her freshman year of college. Both father and daughter had tears in their eyes, and so did I.
Handing me both the poster and the video, the daughter said, "You made me believe I could do it, that I could do something with my life."
As we hugged and exchanged tissues, I understood the emotional connection between us: We both shared a passion for exercise, and she, like me, now understood that it had expanded her options by allowing her to notice more opportunities, and to take better advantage of them, which is exactly what it has done for me.
If she'd asked me to explain to her the cause and effect of exercise and its results, I would have said that, as scientific research has demonstrated, exercise has a healthy effect on the human mind and spirit, as well as the body.
Now, does exercise automatically lead to major life changes for everyone? No, probably not. (Certainly it does for most, but perhaps your passion is in model trains, blogging or cooking. Be passionate about something. Too many people let work rule their lives. Have a life outside of work and family. It's so important for you).
Personally, I've found that my thinking is often at its most creative when I'm working out - whether running, walking, lifting weights, spinning or hiking in the hills. It's a conscious choice, to use the time productively. I'm fully aware that a lot of people abandon their exercise programs because they get bored. They lose their passion.
"Don't you?" they ask.
Lose my passion? Never. First of all, I don't let myself get to that point, I cross-train, moving from one activity to another nearly every day. Second, I don't get bored because there's so much to think about when I'm exercising. Sure, the activity itself can be repetitive, but that very repetition frees the mind to go elsewhere.
Exercise initiates physiological reactions that also lead to subtle changes in thought processes. In the calm of an exercise-induced alpha state, I trust my mind to be more agile, so I tend to follow where it wants to lead me. During exercise, my mental state reflects the best of me from the deepest recesses of my soul.
Even when I don't need to solve a particular problem, I often use the time to take stock of my life. Am I being a good listener? Am I using my time wisely? Am I pursuing the things I want?
Other times, I spend my workout enjoying some detailed daydreaming such as getting lost in nature - enjoying the sights, smells, and sounds. And finally, I also brainstorm solutions to problems at home or work during my workout. Often this brainstorming will lead to some creative solutions.
Now all these years later, I still revel in my passion for exercise. Being connected passionately to one thing leads to other areas of passion, including one for life in general. You then naturally want to experience more, be more involved in life. You develop a healthier lifestyle, and that means not having to focus so single-mindedly on food, your weight, your body image, your finances, or whatever.
I encourage you to nurture a passion for fitness, and let that passion connect you to other dreams and other passions. From art to cooking to gardening to travel, let exercise be your guide.
Whatever your dreams, follow their trail. Go where they lead. Listen to your heart. Chase your passions.
Motivational Tip
I've been reading Kathy Smith's book called "Lift Weights to Lose Weight." It's a good book with a lot of images and ready-to-use tips. I wanted to share what I learned from her, and I found her website, so I'm sharing what she says about motivation (it's easier to copy & paste). I am also inserting my own italicized comments along the way, as well as bolding key ideas. Please feel free to share other helpful ideas for keeping people motivated with fitness & health.
Melissa
Be Consistent
What's the secret to health and fitness success? That's the question I'm asked far more than any other.
The answer: Be consistent. Be consistent. Be consistent.
For more than twenty years, I've exercised every day (I'm only at 11, but I'm younger than Kathy Smith). Now, does that mean a full, hour-long workout? No. Some days, in fact, I only have time for ten minutes; other days, only thirty; still others, a strenuous, two-hour hike. There are periods when I'm traveling for a week or so and only able to get in a few minutes of exercise between meetings (yea, vacations are tough for exercise, unless you stay at a hotel with a gym). But whether it's ten minutes, thirty, or a long sixty, I make sure I work up as much of a sweat as possible. Not only because I'm trying to burn off last night's dinner or because I think it'll improve my cardiovascular capacity, but because I don't want to fall out of practice. That's what I mean by consistency - if you fall out of the habit, get right back on track. I agree - don't stop exercising. It's better to half-way do it than not at all. Partial exercise helps you maintain the momentum.
Often when I talk to people who aren't exercising on a consistent basis, I get the feeling that they have the best intentions, but allow one excuse after the next to interfere with their workouts (No excuses! I even exercised when I was crippled. A lot of people exercise when they are pregnant. Make exercise a priority, and you'll soon be addicted). Then, they lose momentum. "I was exercising and then all of a sudden I just stopped," is a common lament. "I don't know what happened; I just sort of quit. I haven't really done it for six months, but I plan on starting again right after my birthday." (You can maintain a level of consistency for anything, be it a foreign language, paying your bills on time, or spending time with loved ones).
But exercise and self-care is not an on-and-off proposition. It's a daily one. If you don't have time to do your regular workout in its entirety you don't abandon the whole thing. That's not the way to approach exercise.
Try thinking of it this way. You have a goal - an ideal, if you will. The ideal is to work out five times a week for at least thirty minutes. But if you can't get in all thirty, then you take what you can. That's the way life works. Just because you fall short of an ideal doesn't mean that you abandon its pursuit. Telling a single lie wouldn't compel you to give up honesty as an ideal any more than accidentally running a red light causes you to break every other rule of the road.
The hardest aspect of exercise is starting again after not doing it for a while. That's why I try not to lose my momentum - so I don't have to start all over again.
Just accept that you'll devote at least ten minutes a day to exercising, the same as you accept that you're going to have to eat, bathe, and dress. Now, those ten minutes may not necessarily be at the gym or on the track. They may be that walk you take by parking a little father away from the office. Or those stairs you climb instead of pushing the elevator buttons. (When you only have a few moments to exercise, find a handful of ones that you can do on the go or at home).
Once you choose to make exercise a daily part of your life, you start to see opportunities for it where before you saw only barriers. That viewpoint begins to create lifestyle changes, and produces a healthier attitude toward life in general.
Melissa
Be Consistent
What's the secret to health and fitness success? That's the question I'm asked far more than any other.
The answer: Be consistent. Be consistent. Be consistent.
For more than twenty years, I've exercised every day (I'm only at 11, but I'm younger than Kathy Smith). Now, does that mean a full, hour-long workout? No. Some days, in fact, I only have time for ten minutes; other days, only thirty; still others, a strenuous, two-hour hike. There are periods when I'm traveling for a week or so and only able to get in a few minutes of exercise between meetings (yea, vacations are tough for exercise, unless you stay at a hotel with a gym). But whether it's ten minutes, thirty, or a long sixty, I make sure I work up as much of a sweat as possible. Not only because I'm trying to burn off last night's dinner or because I think it'll improve my cardiovascular capacity, but because I don't want to fall out of practice. That's what I mean by consistency - if you fall out of the habit, get right back on track. I agree - don't stop exercising. It's better to half-way do it than not at all. Partial exercise helps you maintain the momentum.
Often when I talk to people who aren't exercising on a consistent basis, I get the feeling that they have the best intentions, but allow one excuse after the next to interfere with their workouts (No excuses! I even exercised when I was crippled. A lot of people exercise when they are pregnant. Make exercise a priority, and you'll soon be addicted). Then, they lose momentum. "I was exercising and then all of a sudden I just stopped," is a common lament. "I don't know what happened; I just sort of quit. I haven't really done it for six months, but I plan on starting again right after my birthday." (You can maintain a level of consistency for anything, be it a foreign language, paying your bills on time, or spending time with loved ones).
But exercise and self-care is not an on-and-off proposition. It's a daily one. If you don't have time to do your regular workout in its entirety you don't abandon the whole thing. That's not the way to approach exercise.
Try thinking of it this way. You have a goal - an ideal, if you will. The ideal is to work out five times a week for at least thirty minutes. But if you can't get in all thirty, then you take what you can. That's the way life works. Just because you fall short of an ideal doesn't mean that you abandon its pursuit. Telling a single lie wouldn't compel you to give up honesty as an ideal any more than accidentally running a red light causes you to break every other rule of the road.
The hardest aspect of exercise is starting again after not doing it for a while. That's why I try not to lose my momentum - so I don't have to start all over again.
Just accept that you'll devote at least ten minutes a day to exercising, the same as you accept that you're going to have to eat, bathe, and dress. Now, those ten minutes may not necessarily be at the gym or on the track. They may be that walk you take by parking a little father away from the office. Or those stairs you climb instead of pushing the elevator buttons. (When you only have a few moments to exercise, find a handful of ones that you can do on the go or at home).
Once you choose to make exercise a daily part of your life, you start to see opportunities for it where before you saw only barriers. That viewpoint begins to create lifestyle changes, and produces a healthier attitude toward life in general.
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