Starting an Indefinite Exercise Plan jordanmarsh6, May 12, 2021April 5, 2023 Something kind of interesting has been going on in my head for the past couple weeks. I have been preaching the long game on this blog. We need to set goals over the long term, and realize we’ll probably only be about 70-80% successful actually working towards that goal in our day-to-day lives (that’s a generous number). It’s a nice idea, but I am running into a roadblock. I recently bought a book on Amazon that I thought illustrated this principle well. It’s called “The Simple Six: The Easy Way to Get in Shape and Stay in Shape for the Rest of Your Life”. It certainly is simple. I sat down for about 30 minutes and skimmed through the book and basically got the gist. Six simple exercises. All done without crazy expensive equipment. Five days a week with a low rep count. The idea? Be consistent with exercise over long term and it will be better than killing yourself in the short term for quick results. This book totally lines up with my philosophy. Here’s my problem though: still having a hard time getting motivated even to start. By starting it, I am definitely having to commit for the long haul. I’m also committing to not really seeing results for a long time, if at all. What kind of results can I really expect? Literally the program calls for ten pushups a day for four days a week, and one day of the week where you do fifty pushups. That’s nice and all, but I don’t think I am going to be a bodybuilder any time soon handling that muscle-busting regimen. It’s something of a double-edge sword: focusing on the short term gets us excited but often leads to burn out; however, focusing on the long term might not get jazzed enough in the first place to even start. Furthermore, even if we do start by focusing on consistency and long-term goals, it will be tough to do things day in and day out while not seeing a noticeable difference. As with all things in life, we must strike a balance. It goes back to a post from a while ago about boomerang inspiration. We must try and identify the things that we really want. I think a fairly good indicator of our real desires are what strokes of inspiration come back over and over again, rather than coming and going just once. I can’t tell you how many times I have been excited about a new business idea of mine only to find myself forgetting I even had the idea a week later. To be consistent over the long term about something, there has to be a pretty clear motivation behind our actions. It seems like I am still deciding how crucial a six-pack is in my long term life plans, but I am starting to identify other things that consistently float my boat. One of those is definitely being a writer. Even though I certainly lose motivation for it from time to time, I am keenly aware of a deep desire inside of me to communicate new ideas with others in a meaningful way. I’m really glad I am here; and if you’re here with me, I am really glad you are here too. Self Improvement