Why is so hard to make myself do the right thing?  Eat the right thing?  Make myself exercise?

In our kids taekwondo and cubs (pre school) taekwondo classes we teach the meaning of self-control in a fun way, complete with hand motions.  I will make myself (thumbs pointing to ourselves) do the right thing.  (Finger pointing out pumping, like a mom, saying “do the right thing”)  =) But we all know kids don’t always want to do the right thing, because they would rather talk to their neighbors in class than listen to the teacher or would rather wiggle than sit still.  It’s hard to make yourself do the right thing.  But as adults doing the right thing takes on a different meaning.  We want to sit still and Facebook or read or watch TV or what ever rather than getting up and playing.  Playing takes the self-control rather than the sitting still. 

So what do we do to motivate ourselves?  We need to find that inner rebel that will make us do the right thing!

Here are some ideas to help!

1. Know your starting point so you can see progress.  That means measurements and weight.  If we don’t know where we started we won’t know if we are improving.
2. Put someone else’s before and after picture on your mirror or frig.  If others can do it, so can you!  Or a before picture of our self? (That one’s kind of scary) Other people’s successes motivated me a lot.  Thank you Gina Langley!
3. Make specific attainable goals with your reasons.  For example, I wanted to look like a martial arts school owner and then I listed the weight I wanted to get down to and the waist measurement I wanted.
4. Get someone to constantly remind you of why you want to be healthy.  Probably you don’t want this to be your spouse, or anyone else you live with and might get mad at!  Luckily for me TRMAI started mentioning weight loss at all of their seminars and it got uncomfortable for me to listen to. 

Life is a journey and we won’t always make the right decisions.  But we can remember that we are all in the process of changing our life style and any step taken in the right direction is a good step and then we can make another step and another.

By the way I think our Adult Martial Arts program is a great way to play for adults.  You get to learn new skills in a fun way with built in motivation with the belt system.   Kisado Fitness can be added in (or stand alone) for added fitness.  And you get to know a great group of people on the same journey to health that you are on.

The following blogs by Mark Sisson introduce the discussion of why we have such a hard time making ourselves do the right thing.  Please if you have comments go to our Facebook page to leave them.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/akrasia-or-why-you-act-against-your-own-better-judgment/#axzz1mf1gXnCL

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/8-reasons-why-you-act-against-your-own-better-judgment/#axzz1mf1gXnCL