You keep saying, “I’ll get started tomorrow”, or “I’ll get started on Monday”. Tomorrow passes, then so does Monday. And the following Monday. And the Monday after that. Soon enough, years have passed and you still haven’t gotten disciplined to work out.

Why are you procrastinating? There is a solid reason and a simple trick you can do to achieve your goal of creating a regular routine. I used this trick and so can you. There is certainly a possibility to overcome by force of will, and that is how I usually create disciplines. However, this is very hard and can take a long time before you get a strong enough will to overcome the procrastination – if ever. With this trick, you can do it without waiting and it is foolproof – anyone can do it.

If you are intelligent, you are most likely to procrastinate. Procrastination happens because your mind starts spinning about all the feelings and things regarding working out that eventually overwhelm you. You think about the long workout, subconsciously remember how strenuous it was, and don’t remember how good it felt after the workout. The smarter you are, the more you will procrastinate, because the more you keep thinking about the work involved, and then think you simply don’t have the energy.

Since you are smart, your brain comes up with the most creative ideas and excuses as to why you can’t go workout today. You’ll come up with excuses like, I feel great now, but let me eat some carbs and then I will have more energy. So you grab some carbs and commit to an hour later to go to the gym. Then 2 hours later you remembered you forgot to go to the gym. Oh well, the carbs or pre-workout supplement is worn off now so I guess I have to wait till tomorrow. Or you will tell yourself, well I will definitely go as soon as I get this other thing done. Then, 3 hours later you think, oh well, now I don’t have enough energy.

The more you think about it, the harder it is to go to the gym. Before you know it, the day is passed, so you turn on the TV cause you don’t feel like working out late at night, and then another day passes without having worked out.

The problem is that you are thinking too much, making yourself feel like it’s too much, and your mental energy is too low. This is especially true if you are beginning a workout. It is way harder when you are out of shape than if you were already in shape, because when you are out of shape you have the lowest energy, discipline, and mental energy of all.

Here is a simple trick, which was taught to me by Brian Tracy. Actually Brian Tracy applied it to procrastination in general, but I applied this principle to working out. The trick is that to overcome procrastination, you need to take it one step at a time.

I mean that literally. One step.

Now let me explain.

Literally, stop thinking about this major “going to the gym, which will take an hour, and I need so much energy”, etc etc. Just stop thinking about it. Instead, just think about putting your foot out the door. Like I said, literally, one step.

As Brian Tracy says, it is true – when you take one action, it creates momentum. It may be overwhelming to think about going for an intense workout when you came home from a long day at work. But how about putting on some gym clothes? Surely you have enough energy to get your butt off the recliner and put on some gym clothes. After that, tell yourself all you have to do is put your hand on the doorknob and open the door. Then tell yourself, all you have to do now, is to take and stick your foot out the door. Then, just walk over casually to your car. By this point, you’re now out of the house and you have built mental momentum. You broke the lazy habit! Great job! Now, it will probably be quite automatic, to get in the car, drive to the gym, and get your workout.

It all began with the first step. Just focus on getting your foot out the door, not the workout itself. After that, everything will fall into place.

So instead of overwhelming yourself with all this info about your workout and giving all kinds of excuses, just focus on placing one foot in front of the other and getting your foot out the door. Once you put your foot out the door, you now have momentum and you will get your workout! Hope it helps!