I am about to share with you a little mind trick that I use when having one of those bad days. One of those mornings when you are sleepy and tired, when you really don’t find any motivation to go out there and finish your scheduled tempo run. This simple trick is based on the following affirmation.

The most important run is the one that you feel like doing the least.

anonymous runner

Why is it true?

Simply because if you overcome that moment of absolute laziness when you have a million excuses for skipping your run today, you alter the way your brain works. Your brain realizes that no matter what tricks he tries on you, he will not succeed to change your plans and you will get out there and finish the workout anyway. If you are a tough piece, you will add some extra miles on top to make him pay. 🙂

Repeat this regularly and you will change forever. You will build self-discipline and the mental toughness necessary to get you very far in life. Not that it will be easy though.

How does the mind trick actually work?

If you really wake up feeling bad, you need to tell yourself that this is the most important run of all you have made so far. Knowing that your brain is playing tricks on you, you will suddenly gain extra motivation. You will take it as a challenge that will excite you enough to wake up a bit more. As you gain more clarity of what was about to happen and how you got almost set up, you smile and go to get dressed.