That’s the old saying by Henry Ford. It came back to mind as I was on my morning run yesterday. The weather was a little cool at 5.30am, (Gold Coast 15C, cool...not cold).

The sky was dark and I was already procrastinating on my 8klm run.   I kicked my self into gear, got moving eventually and headed across the road to the beach.

Funny how the mind can try to trick you. From the moment I began to run the thoughts kept coming....you can turn back and exercise at home.....your ankle is sore....it doesn’t matter if you skip a day....and so on....  

It would have been easy to turn around and go home.....and it was also easy to keep going. The only thing required was to reframe the meaning of the morning run.   The same is true for any endeavour in life. We can choose to give in or we can choose to persevere.     

So how did I reframe the run? I thought about the reasons for running...like... Small things each day make big things happen....ie you dont get fit in a day, its repetition and consistency in training...the right training in whatever it is you want to achieve.  

The other helpful tool from an NLP angle is to change your perception...what I mean is I moved myself to imagine looking at the run from its completion and look back on the run. This way I could focus on the rewards I gained from doing the run. Such as, that feeling of accomplishment from having run 8klm...and knowing I did something positive for myself at the beginning of the day....having more energy and being pumped....  

Looking at the run from the end gave me a new perspective on the run and it became easier to do...in fact while going through these things i found I was already half way through the run and it was time to turn back and make the run home.  

What do you think you could do if you changed your perspective and made things happen because you persevered?

I’d love to hear your feedback.  

Wayne Donnelly