I Don’t Wanna Do It…How To Stick With Goals Anyway

Maybe you have one too. I think a lot of us do.
How do I work around her?
Every morning I ask myself, “What’s my non-negotiable today?”
While it sometimes changes by the needs of the day, most days it means working out and spending some time in the kitchen. I’ve blocked off the time for these in my calendar, 2 hours 8–10 am, are dedicated to exercise and some kitchen work.
So how do you stick with the things you don’t always want to do?
While my goal may be an hour workout, the non-negotiable is doing the warm-up.
All I have to do is some standing stretches and then roll out the yoga mat for some more stretching. After that I can stop if I want to. But by the time I’m down on the mat and warmed up, I’m usually ready to keep going.
Why set non-negotiables?
That part about getting started is one reason. Often the thing that holds us back is inertia. If we can get going, we’ll often keep going.
Also, with so much calling for our attention and our time, establishing non-negotiables can be an effective way to define what is most important and make sure we claim time for it.
And when you claim it as a non-negotiable, you’ve made a decision ahead of time, not when the time comes and you don’t really feel like it.
How to Set Your Non-Negotiables
Let’s get you going with some non-negotiables with these 7 tips.
Start where you are
Maybe getting out of bed in the morning and putting one foot in front of the other is your non-negotiable. That’s ok. I’ve been in that place so many times myself. No grand plans are necessary.
Limit your non-negotiable to one or two things per day
Lots of things in our lives are important. The point of defining your non-negotiables is to make a few very important things stand out. And to get them done.
Define the non-negotiable clearly, and make sure it’s reasonable and doable
Meditating for an hour might be a good thing in your life, but even if you’ve blocked out the time for it, make 15 minutes you’re non-negotiable.
Eating a healthy diet is my goal and my schedule has an hour every morning of kitchen work built into it, but every day I choose only one thing as my non-negotiable. It could be making hummus or batch cooking sweet potatoes. It could be a trip to the farmers’ market, or cleaning a head of lettuce. Most of the time I end up doing more.
Promise yourself you’ll follow through even when you don’t feel like doing it and other things seem to be pressing on your time
Don’t feel like it? It could be that pesky Inner Rebel who wants her own way and wants to break rules as soon as they’re made. A benefit of having a non-negotiable is overriding that Inner Rebel. Acknowledge you don’t feel like it, and do it anyway.
Too busy? Ask yourself, “What’s important?” I’ve set diet and exercise as my priorities and my warm up and prep time as non-negotiables. But I want to get this blog ready for you and it’s also important. BUT…it’s time to close the laptop and go do my exercise. I’ll come back to writing later.
Remind yourself of the consequences of not doing it good and bad
When my Inner Junkie wants to put my favorite frozen pizza into my grocery cart. I whisper to myself, high blood pressure, knee replacements, diabetes. It works every time.
Conventional wisdom says that reminding yourself of the positives in cases like this is more effective – like good health and walking without pain. But at least for me, a reminder of the negatives is what works. Try both and see what works for you.
Don’t bark at yourself like a drill sergeant if you’re not getting it done
Have some compassion for yourself. Look at what’s getting in the way. Can you change it to make it more doable? Remember that getting started is often a sticking point. Would a smaller non-negotiable get you going (so that you are more likely to keep going)?
Then remind yourself why you chose your particular non-negotiable. What’s at stake if you don’t do it? Do you need to remind yourself of your why when you feel yourself wanting to skip it?
I’m curious, do you have a non-negotiable? Did you decide to choose one? What was it? How do you stick with it when you don’t feel like it? Share it in the comments section below!