Your Problem Isn't Motivation - HBR

• Create an environment that supports your workout goals. Have your gym clothes sitting by your bed and put them on first thing when you wake up. In fact, work out first thing, before your mind realizes what you’re doing.
• Use a trainer or commit to work out with a friend. It’s harder to argue against your accountability to another person.
• Decide when and where you’re going to work out — literally write it in your calendar — and the likelihood of follow-through will increase dramatically.
• Commit to a concrete plan that is simple to quantify: 45 minutes of movement a day, cut out sugar, go to the gym six days a week.
• Realize that the follow-through challenge will only last a few seconds. As soon as you put your sneakers on and start heading to the gym, your mind will give up arguing with you.
• Discipline will be useful for the first week as you get back into working out. But after that, momentum will take over and the pleasure of feeling more fit will quiet the internal chatter.
• Finally, think of all the above as a multifaceted campaign. A checklist that you should go through each day to make sure you are stacking the deck in your favor.

- Peter Bregman, HBR Blogs