Being more active is just as much a mental exercise as it is physical. Every time you work out you made the decision to do so. Training your brain to make the healthy decision more often leads to better health. There are many methods to behavior change, but ultimately each action is the result of a single decision. Hack into your brainpower and make the healthy decisions a little easier. 

• Enjoy The Difficulty: Things that are difficult for you are easy to avoid. There is no reason to add difficulty to your life, right? Instead of thinking of exercise as a difficult task, try finding something you enjoy doing that is active. The activity can be anything that takes a little physical exertion. Instead of thinking “I need to work out”, you get to do something you like. Maybe it’s a corny, glass-half-full way to approach exercise, but the effect is immediate. 

• Measure Performance: Whether by pen and paper or an activity app on your phone, keeping track of what you are doing is a proven method. This method can ignite your competitive side to do more or stay on track. No matter how you log your activity, when you see it wane, you are more likely to get back in the flow. 

• Think In The Now: Training yourself to talk and think about what you are doing instead of what you are going to do is a great way to trick your brain into wanting and accomplishing more. If you always think about what you plan to do in the future, it will always be out of reach. 

• Let Go Of “How”: Focus on the “what”. You know you want to exercise regularly. Your brain can get overloaded if you consistently ask yourself how. For beginners, this is an immediate deterrent to exercise. Find those that are doing what you want to do. Ask questions, have discussions, and through the process you will find what activities (the how) are best for you. 

• Perform Sprints: This isn’t about running short distances as fast as you can. This involves focusing on one thing and putting all your effort into making it happen. With exercise, of course, this level of focus can’t be sustained as it could lead to burnout, injury, etc. However, it is another way to hack into your brain to make sure something gets accomplished, even if only in the short term. 

• When-Then and If-Then: Implementation intentions are a method coined by Peter Gollwitzer, a psychology professor, in the 1990s. It is basically a way to plan ahead using when-then and if-then statements. Instead of making decisions in the moment, you have pre-planned your decision and don’t deviate from it. No matter how motivated you are, this method improves the likelihood of performing a task. For example….When I get home, then I will go for a 30-minute walk. This is a simple statement, but holding yourself to it guarantees that you get your exercise. An if-then statement allows you to have a built in adaption plan. Sticking to the example…..If it is raining, then I will do sets of pushups, sit-ups, and squats. 

Our brains are programmed for efficiency. Thinking through tasks to perform them in the easiest manner is natural. Unfortunately, exercising for health goes against what our brains are designed to do. Exercise takes consistent commitment to get the optimal benefits. You may need to hack your brain and re-program how it approaches exercise.