There are an abundance of ‘hacks’ to make building habits easier. I hear them in the same conversation I have with myself every morning.
Half of me says get up and go for that run, make breakfast, get in the shower. The other tells me that the bed is warm and the air outside is cold. It tells me that I need more rest, that the day can wait one snooze longer. It says that running two days in a row could lead to injury anyway.
In one sense the lazy side of my brain is right. It would be better to take a day off.
However, until I have built a habit, optimizing that habit is counterproductive.
Rest days are for people who know they will put in the work the day after, not for people like me, who are still building the habit.
The beginning phases of building any habit are going to be plagued with a constant mental battle. Every time you lose that battle, solidifying the habit becomes harder.
Allow the early days of habit forming to be rigid and unoptimized. Do not worry about getting the perfect pair of running shoes, or yoga mat, or breakfast food. Build the habit first. Once it is totally ingrained, then go back and optimize.
Letting yourself use unideal circumstances to avoid doing a hard thing ruins the point. It will be hard. You will not want to do it. Doing it regardless is what chains your brain into believing it has to be done.
Thus, a healthy habit is built.
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