I was talking to a friend and she mentioned how she had been meaning to start the routine of taking a walk after her breakfast each morning but she couldn't find headphones that worked.
This had stopped her from going out for literally three weeks in a row. She felt a little bit embarrassed about this, like she was using some sort of excuse to be lazy.
And to be honest, I have heard something like this from many of my clients.
Of course it is not always headphones. Maybe it is because your workout shorts are too small or you’ve yet to fix that broken zipper on your jacket. Sometimes there can be one small thing that gets in the way of you getting out the door. By the time you solve that problem, you might not have time left to do a workout.
This is an important topic to me because everyone I've talked to about these little barriers says that they are embarrassed that that's what stopped them.
It’s very common that these little things get in the way of us working out. And if this happens to you, then there's a very simple, two step solution.
STEP ONE
The first thing is to realize that you are not lazy, dumb or trying to skirt around your workouts because you've been stopped by something small. It happens to a lot of people!
STEP TWO
The second thing to do is do what I call a Barrier Buster Workout.
And it has nothing to do with working out.
What it means is putting an actual time in your calendar where you will address that barrier to you working out.
If you're like me, sometimes I encounter a problem and then I forget about dealing with it until I've encountered it again.
By setting aside actual real time to bust through this barrier, you are setting yourself up for long-term success.
In the meantime, you've got two options:
You can do your workout with that missing piece, recognizing that it might be suboptimal because you don't have the shoes you need or you don't have your earbuds.
The second option is you can choose from one of the free mobility videos I've got below that require no equipment, no special clothes and nothing but the space you are standing in. They are 6 minutes each.
And they are going to get you one step closer to your goals:
The truth is, we're all human. We all encounter barriers to the life we want to live.
By taking a small step and scheduling a time to take care of that barrier, you are doing a favor for your future self.
I hope you have a WILDR week!