Hello:

EXERCISE?
EMBRACE THE OBVIOUS!
Remember:  DOING IT RIGHT IS SECONDARY!
DOING IT IS PRIMARY.
It is easier to turn the boat to make course corrections and improvements after the boat is moving.

Dr. J. Mitchell Perry

NEED TO EXERCISE?
BRUSH YOUR TEETH!

Most people think it is important to regularly exercise. Clearly maintaining a habit of ongoing exercise reflects common sense.  And yet, most people exercise very little, they hate it, make excuses, rationalize they have too little time, and procrastinate.

While exercise appears to be important, it remains a low priority for most of us.

This is another brilliant example of the huge difference between what we KNOW and what we DO.

We KNOW it is important to regularly exercise… it’s common sense —
We will live longer, be healthier, reach greater cardiovascular health, lose weight, increase flexibility, strengthen our immune system, have more muscle mass, sleep better, improve metabolism, increase bone density, reduce depression, look better, have an improved libido and sexual function, be more fit, reduce chronic pain, recover faster from disease, and have an improved outlook on life.

However, we generally refuse to DO it.
At the thought of exercising, most of us snatch a rationalization from the jaws of logic at a moment’s notice: “I don’t time.  I’m busy.  I’m tired. It takes too long. I will do it later. I lack the right equipment. I have to get someone to do it with me. I’m too old. I’m too fat.  I’m too stiff. I hate going to the gym.  I will do it after I lose some weight. My father never exercised and he lived to 92 years old. I hurt and I will start when I feel better, blah, blah, blah.”

The obvious result is that we refuse to practice common sense and DO something that would clearly improve our health, longevity, outlook, and quality of life.

INSANITY:  We refuse to DO what we KNOW!

So what is the deal?

If we KNOW exercise is an important habit to have, then how do we actually begin to DO IT? How do we make exercise a lasting habit?

GIVE IT A NEW STATUS!

Here is a wonderful and common senses way in which we can start exercising and make it a habit.

Think about how you start your day. Every morning you wake up, get yourself out of bed and perform your routine to pull yourself together for the day. Typically you likely engage in some form of the same morning regimen: Shower, shampoo, soap, shave, teeth, hair, make-up, clothing, grooming, details, and double checking the result in the mirror.  Oh my!

Now, think about brushing your teeth.

Notice that teeth brushing is clearly a habit. You brush your teeth every day as you have been since you were a kid.

How did that get to be such a non-negotiable habit?

Well, when you were little, your parents likely made you do it, and enough time went by that it became a standard operating procedure. It became unthinkable to avoid brushing your teeth.

Actually since childhood, you have created a non-negotiable ongoing rule for yourself that says:  I EXIST, THEREFORE I BRUSH MY TEETH!

Now, ask yourself a few questions regarding teeth brushing:

  1. Every morning when you wake up, do you ever think: Today I refuse to brush my teeth? NO!
  2. Just before you start brushing your teeth, do you ever start obsessing and catastrophizing with the thought: I wonder if I am brushing my teeth long enough? NO!
  3. In the middle of teeth brushing, do you ever start worrying about how well you are brushing them? NO!
  4. As a matter of fact, is it much more likely that you rarely think about brushing your teeth… instead you simply brush them while you think about something else? YES!
  5. Therefore your daily mission is simply to keep up with the habit of brushing your teeth every day!

I EXIST, THEREFORE I BRUSH MY TEETH!
So, let’s imagine that daily habitual exercise had the SAME STATUS AS BRUSHING YOUR TEETH… that it is decidedly less important about how well or long you exercise… instead it is MORE important to simply make regular exercise a non-negotiable habit!

What are your thoughts about CONNECTING EXERCISE IN THE SAME STATUS AS BRUSHING YOUR TEETH?

That makes common sense and remember that common sense is very uncommon!

Now make a decision that exercise is less about doing it right or doing it long enough. It is instead MORE about doing it at all!

Furthermore, exercise is now less about exercise and now it is MORE about MOVING.

So make a commitment to do something every day that is MOVING.

The daily time window is now to be a minimum of one-minute and a maximum of a couple of hours.

Here are options of what you can DO when it comes to MOVING:

  1. Push-ups, abdominals, pull-ups, calisthenics
  2. Stretches, yoga, weights, rowing, exercise machines while watching TV
  3. Walking, jogging, running, jumping-rope, bicycling, spinning
  4. Baseball, basketball, volleyball, racquetball, tennis, sports
  5. Dancing (put on your favorite song and dance to it naked in the bathroom… oh my!)
  6. Organize the closet, wax the car, walk the dog, clean the garage, mop the floor, mow the lawn
  7. MOVE! Do something that either improves muscle function and/or gets your heart rate up
  8. Now YOU come up with something… JUST MOVE!

Remember, the mission is to make it a habit, regardless of whether you have one minute or 60.

Do something! MOVE every day… for a minimum of 3 to 6 weeks. When you want to talk yourself out of it… do it anyway… just like you do when you brush your teeth.

Once some kind of MOVING becomes a habit you will notice that stopping the habit starts to become unthinkable.

REMEMBER DOING IT RIGHT IS SECONDARY.

DOING IT IS PRIMARY.

You will get good at it after it becomes a regular habit.

Just get going and your emotions will catch up.

(Remember it is easier to turn the boat to make course corrections and improvements after the boat is moving.)

It’s COMMON SENSE, AND COMMON SENSE IS VERY UNCOMMON!

TODAY’S TICKLE

Oxymorons

An Oxymoron is defined as a phrase in which two words of opposite meanings are brought together.

Here are some clever oxymorons for your entertainment:

1. Clearly misunderstood
2. Exact estimate
3. Small crowd
4. Act naturally
5. Found missing
6. Fully empty
7. Pretty ugly
8. Seriously funny
9. Only choice
10. Original copies
11. Military intelligence
12. Tight slacks
13. Instant classic
14. Political science
15. Alone together
16. Awfully good
17. Cautiously optimistic
18. Cheerfully pessimistic
19. Civil war
20. Comfortable misery
21. Cool passion
22. Crash landing
23. Deceptively honest
24. Eloquent silence
25. Ill health
26. Freezer burn
27. Genuine imitation
28. Idiot savant
29. Intense apathy
30. Old news
31. Plastic glasses
32. Random order
33. Resident alien
34. True fiction
35. Unconscious awareness
36. Unbiased opinion
37. Wise fool
38. Terribly appreciative
39. “Thanks most awfully!”

At your service,

Dr. J. Mitchell Perry
JM Perry Learning

P.S.  Let me know how you are doing!

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