Breaking Barriers and Jumping Hurdles

by Kris Pitcher

The clock read 5:00 AM, but it was a holiday for me and the negotiations began. And this is what the chatter in my head sounded like: I'll just sleep until 6:00. I need to get up and walk on the treadmill. I could do it later. I'm not going to want to do it later. I'm not really sleeping in. What if I took a day off from cardio. It's Thursday, Thursday's not an off day. I should just do it now. I'll feel better if I do it. It's only half an hour. It will be over before I know it.

If you're a parent, you've been deep in negotiation. If you manage people, you're a negotiator, if you have ever landed a job, gotten a raise, sold anything, bought a car...you name it - you can negotiate. And negotiating your way around barriers and over hurdles is what will carry your good intentions past February as you embark on your New Year's good habits.

I did feel better after I did my cardio. And, bonus - I got to shovel the couple of inches of snow that had fallen over night off the driveway! It felt good to be outside in the cold air, the sky was clear and the horses across the way were bellowing tufts to air from their nostrils that looked like smoke.

What exactly is a barrier? A barrier is a perceived roadblock keeping you from your exercise. I don't have time. It costs too much. I need someone to go with me. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm too tired. I have injuries. I have disease. I can do it later. etc. etc. etc.

Negotiating your way through those barriers is your key to overcoming them. And thinking about it ahead of time is the key. It's like teenagers - you want them to think about their choices before they are in a situation which is about to forever change their life.

Time is the number one barrier. We all have the same 24 hours in the day. With good time management we can fit our exercise in our day. Finding a gym on the way to or from work, or close to home makes it convenient. Figuring out when it fits well in your day is important too. Can you do this on your lunch hour? Do you sweat buckets and need to do it after work? Does this work best for you before work when you have the most control over your schedule? Find time and make time for your priorities.

We can talk through any barrier you can throw out there. A great exercise is to write down all the excuses you can come up with, and use your negotiation skills to counter those with solutions. You will see how easy it is to break barriers and jump over those hurdles.