“Do I haaave to?!?!” I whined out loud to myself.
“But I really, really, REALLY don’t want to!”
“Okay, here’s what we’ll do. Just drink your protein shake. If you drink your protein shake, you don’t have to go to the gym.”
So I drank my protein shake.
“Good job! Now just watch a gym motivation YouTube video. If you do that, you don’t have to work out.”
So I watched a video of sweaty athletes picking up heavy objects and setting them back down again.
“Nicely done! Now you know you know you’ll hit the wall at 3:30 if you don’t get out of the office at lunch.
So just go for a walk, but make it a walk to the gym. And take your gym bag. But you don’t have to go in.
Just walk there and walk back. Oh and listen to your workout playlist on the way.”
That was my full intention, but a funny thing happened about 2 blocks from the gym.
You guessed it. After going through each step in my pre-workout ritual, my monkey mind snapped to attention and assumed we were going to the gym.
And as my brain chemistry changed, so did my intention and motivation until the next thing I knew I was under a 185 lb barbell on my 5th set.
TBH I have James Clear to thank for that workout. My morning read was his Atomic Habits book and the chapter was about the importance of rituals.
He says if you want to form good habits, create a ritual around them.
Eventually, the grooves in your mental map get so deep that just the first baby step is enough to send you down a whole road of baby steps that ultimately leads to where you want to be.
So if you’re struggling to focus on your money each week (or any other smart habit), try creating an enjoyable ritual around it.
For me it’s a weekend ritual. I get into the office on Saturday morning. Make a pot of coffee. Sit down with a fresh cup of coffee and read a personal finance book for 30 minutes.
I truly enjoy doing all of those things. It’s something I look forward to every week.
And by the time I’m done with my coffee, I’m genuinely very excited to get my Money MORSE Code reps in.
The important part is to make each step something you already enjoy doing and then on the weeks you “really don’t wanna”, just take the first step and see where it leads.
