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It can be a challenge to get up and stay motivated to work out at 5:00 a.m. every day, but there are plenty of people who do it. They get up for themselves. They get up because they want to feel good. They get up because they know that if they don’t, they will feel guilty and that terrible feeling of self-loathing and regret will haunt them all day long.

When my alarm goes off, I think of that extra hour or two of sleep, but then I remind myself that I am so grateful for how I feel when I am done. The excitement of being ready to take on the world and do anything is the conversation you want to have with yourself every time you want to bail. Say, “Stop! I want to feel good and this makes me feel good, so get up and just do it.”

Stop making excuses and blaming the job, the kids, or the schedule. Stop saying “Tomorrow”, “I wish I could”, or “If only I had the time” because guess what? You can and you do have the time. Show up for yourself.

How do we get to this point?
– Set small, realistic goals
– Be honest with yourself and set realistic expectations
– Reward yourself when you hit your goals
– Find a buddy to keep you accountable
– Take it one day at a time and allow it to become a part of your routine

Once an action becomes a part of your routine, it’s hard to break away from it. It takes time, but don’t give up on yourself.

A few years ago, I bought a Groupon to a hot yoga studio and it took months for me to redeem it. I finally got myself there at 5:30 a.m. because my husband remarked “Oh, you are not going to get up.”

“Don’t tell me I am not going to do something – I’ll show you,” were the thoughts that went through my mind as I got ready for bed that night.

When I got up in the morning and got ready, he rolled over and said, “You’re welcome.” Now clearly, he knew how to motivate me to get up in the morning, but that was all it took for me to get started. Before the pandemic, I got up every Tuesday and Thursday morning to take a hot yoga class. I relied on my teacher at the time to become a part of my accountability. Her knowing that I committed to being there twice a week made me not want to disappoint her. Whether she cared or not didn’t matter. I committed and I stay true to my commitments.

Unfortunately, things changed once everything locked down for the pandemic and I could not get to class. I found that my energy and body did not feel the same. Thankfully, I connected with a friend (funny enough her name is also Sara) who told me about a Zoom yoga class taught by a local teacher, Jessica. In the past, I wouldn’t have stepped foot in Jessica’s class because she was too intense, but I was desperate to get back to it, so I reached out to her and signed up for the first class.

Sara and I decided to do a 7-day challenge. Could we do yoga for 7 straight days? It seemed like a bit much, but we gave it a try and accomplished our first goal. Our goals kept growing until we decided to do 30 days of yoga. That’s right, I said 30 days of yoga! We kept a calendar going and marked the days so we could reflect on our success. The excitement of marking another day done was so rewarding. 30 days turned into 60 days, and before we knew it, we did 90 days of straight yoga. I had multiple sources of accountability at this point – my husband because of his remarks (ha!), Sara because she was doing it with me, Jessica because she knew we made this commitment, and our little virtual yoga family because we all expected each other to be there in the morning.

Realistically, we could not keep doing yoga 7 days a week, so Sara and I reassessed our goals and decided to take the weekends off and commit to Monday to Friday for yoga at 5:30 a.m. Now it’s been almost 1 year since we started. This morning, I was able to get up without my alarm because my body is just used to it. It has become a habit and part of my routine that my body and mind yearn for daily. You have to give things time to become a habit and don’t give up when it seems too hard. Just keep reminding yourself that you will feel better when you are done and no matter the length of time you do it for. Whether it’s for 15 minutes or 1 hour, your will be grateful that you did. You just have to do it.