Never miss a Monday. We’ve all been there (probably more often than we would like to admit). The alarm goes off at 5 am on a Monday morning. You curse yesterday’s good intentions and the #neveramissamonday movement and hit the snooze button. You hope that a 7-minute power nap will miraculously give you the energy required to leap out of bed and get your exercise on.

5:07 am is so much later than 5 right?! Mmm, an extra 7 minutes of sleep…

No excuses

In what seems like 30 seconds, the 7 minutes are up. Dang.

Cue every reason to not get up and move:

  • It’s too cold
  • It’s raining
  • I don’t have the energy
  • My doona wants me to stay
  • My dog wants me to stay
  • I can just go tomorrow instead
  • I forgot to charge my phone/headphones

These excuses aren’t just limited to those who exercise in the morning. The night owls have an equally hard time after a big day at work. The gym bag is in the boot of the car but the uggs and Netflix are calling. Hello, new series alert!

The dog made me do it


Feel free to take a moment to reflect on some of the reasons you may have used in the past and have a bit of a laugh. My own personal favourite is the time I put the wellbeing of my dog before my own. It was kind of raining that day…well it had rained about five hours earlier and it was still cloudy, and I felt bad about putting my poor pooch out into the elements (even though he’s a golden retriever and would quite happily sit in a puddle of mud for the rest of his existence)

Regardless of who you are, I think it’s hard for any of us to move our bodies during the colder months. Doonas replace dumbbells and excuses replace exercise. It’s not a time to get judge-y or beat yourself up about it. It’s merely an opportunity to acknowledge it and see if changing your mindset is something that you want to work on.

Find your ONE thing

If there’s one thing that can help keep you motivated, it’s defining your WHY. It’s the core reason (or reasons), why you want to move your body – and it’s different for everyone. Your reason might be more than just the physical. It might be mental, social or even spiritual.

You may have an important sporting event that you’re training for (cue the upcoming fun run season). You may have a specific physical feat you want to conquer – like that first unassisted chin-up or ten push-ups off your toes.

Your WHY might be that one feeling you get that sets you up for the day. Your exercise session might be an active meditation and serve as the perfect outlet to rid you of the stresses and worries that are the daily grind of life. It might help you to unwind for the day after a hectic day at work. You leave your troubles at the front door and “you time” begins.

Your WHY might be for health reasons. You might want to reduce your risk of chronic disease or improve your flexibility or balance. You may even just want to keep your energy levels up.
Your reason might be to connect with others. You lift each other up, conquer those mountains together and laugh along the way. Your workout buddies are your people.  You love spending time with them – even when you are all as red as a beetroot and smell bad ;)

Your WHY may even be the post-workout coffee and chats. This may sound like a silly one but this was my own “why” years ago when I was training for a 5km run as part of my karate black belt preparation. I absolutely hated the running part but I turned up week in and week out because I enjoyed the caffeinated beverages and friendship that followed it.

Own it!

Whatever your reason, your WHY is yours. Own it. Write it down somewhere and come back to it every time you don’t feel like moving your body. Need some external motivation or some solid accountability in your goal setting? Check-in with the team at One by Mingara – the team are always willing to get you on track – or back on track, with your goal setting. Own your WHY and get help to be accountable for your why it could be your saving grace in that split second moment between hitting the snooze button and jumping out of bed.