You may have heard me talk about it. The donkey principle. After all, we all have to deal with it.
Let me explain.
A donkey can motivate you to walk in two ways. By a stick and a carrot
Donkey Principle
You use the stick to strike and the carrot to make it move forward. If you hold the carrot too far then it won't go. If you hold it too close it will eat it. If you hold it just far enough it will walk.
The stick seems clear to me.
You are essentially an ass too. Not literally of course (before you start burning me down), but you use the same strategy. If you feel some kind of pain then you move (away from the pain) and if you set an achievable and fun goal for yourself then you move toward it.
You can imagine that both principles work well, but when you use both then you are sure to move.
People who drag themselves to a gym use only one strategy. Away from the pain, at least it doesn't seem that way. It takes them a lot of effort to go there, but as long as they go, the pain of staying home is just a little greater.
Until the pain of going to it is greater than the warm bed....
People who train a lot and enjoy it (like me now) use both principles. The pain of not going is greater than the pain of being in your bed, and you also enjoy going and making progress.
Then you use the "donkey principle" to its fullest and also for your own good. It always starts with a goal, though. The root. If you start from the pain then it works for a while, but at some point the worst pain is gone.
You've lost a few pounds, you already feel a little better, you move a little more smoothly, so ah well, you can stay home for once.
So it doesn't work. Set a motivating goal and go. And provide pain if you don't go. Then you are more likely to succeed than if you use only one way from the donkey principle.
Good luck and put it on!
