I have been having the hardest time getting myself to run every morning and getting up at 6 am. I was trained in sales that a “SCHEDULE IS AN ATTITUDE.” But I was having trouble reaching that attitude.

My personality is no help… I’m enchanted by possibilities and open-endedness. I have a hard time making a solid decision, because that seems like it would limit me from everything else I can do.

It’s like if I had a $1000 to spend, all the possibilities for the things I can buy with it go through my mind, in an endless merry-go-round… A nice road bike, a good camera, new tires and radiator on my car, etc. Then I realize a month later that I have spent it already on the little things that I didn’t account for. Without deciding at all, I had decided to fitter away the money on “one more drink” when going out, or “oh, those gloves look nice” even though I had another pair at home.

I also have all sorts of excuses to fall back on. “I have asthma, I’ll just walk… <5 min later> Oh, why walk? That is not my goal.” And I do other things until I convince myself that it’s no good to even walk.

Sometimes I can’t even get out of bed at 6 am. “It’s dark outside.” “I’ll just snooze… <9 min later> I already failed so I’ll just sleep in.” (Slightly perfectionist.) Or, “Oh, the weather looks cold… It’s rainy/snowy; looks like it might rain/snow; or looks like I would be too cold.”  (Total wimp.)

Several times, I got it in my head that if I plan a whole year’s training schedule in advance, and book it in my calendar, I can force myself to do it out of sheer guilt for all the time I spent planning and writing it. Over the years, I found that nothing is more debilitating than a plan like that… because usually, day 1, I fail, and that means I fail for the whole year! (he-he)

I had tried telling friends and loved ones that I was going to get on a running schedule. I tried setting goals, like for a half-marathon. I tried taking it one step at a time, micro-planning every little thing I needed to do to get out the door. Even the smallest things seemed to stop me–like, “My ipod is out of battery.”

But then I had an inspiration one day when reading about personality types. My personality type is motivated by change, possibilities, and doing things that are meaningful, not routine. I can do routine things when I’m focused on what that means to someone else, while I’m doing it… like washing dishes. But I can’t do it when it’s scheduled into my life on a daily basis because it feels like what an elevator must feel like to a claustrophobic.

I realized that if I am to prepare to succeed, to win in this, I must plan for my personality type. Now this may sound like the simplest thing ever, but it translated into something huge for me. 

(to be continued…)