It's Thanksgiving morning today, and I'm out for my 3-mile morning run!
I am absolutely not looking forward to it, and the temperature is freezing outside right now. The one thing that's keeping me going is that it's just what I do, and I don't really have a choice in the matter. I've found that you can actually train yourself to do things almost unconsciously, even making decisions without thinking about it. Not going on this run would be as weird as jumping off a cliff into a pool of icy water. I don't really enjoy going out in the freezing wind every morning, but it gets better after your body starts to warm up.
Another key reason for running, this morning of all mornings, is to prevent the idea of overeating from getting into my head. If I haven't done anything productive or helpful in the day, I typically don't do anything productive or helpful for the rest of the day. I'll think to myself, "I already messed this day up; what's another bad choice going to do?" and that leads to overeating, poor moods, and poor performance.
Another huge thing I have to fight against is the thought of "it's the holidays, it doesn't matter, I can make an exception just for today" that's great and all, but without pre-defined restrictions leads to self-indulgence and sluggishness. I don't even properly enjoy the foods I want to eat because I have too many of them. Having specific plans for what you do is super important and gives you clear guidelines as to what is too much or little.
Key take ways:
1) Do it anyway; you may not like it right now, or even in a few hours after
2) Having something, anything, that you accomplished sets your day off on the right foot
3) Not doing something good or productive may lead you not to perform as well as you could later.
4) Don't let holidays be an excuse to pause good habits