How do I motivate myself?

[readjusting]

Let say there's something you know that's good for you, but you really hate doing it. For me, it's the weekly running, I do it for endurance training (For those of you going to the gym, I go to the gym too, for strength training).
I really hate it. This week, thanks to the quote: "I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.' Muhammad Ali", I did it again.

But, I have to add 0.2 miles per week. So next week it will be worse. I'm sure some of you had similar experience, and you pushed past it. How did you motivated yourself?

 

[Drck]

You should be doing things that you like, not that you hate. In other words, if you hate running don't do it, because the more you do it the more you develop hate towards running.... Also, see if you can change "I have to" to "I want to"...

Simple to say but not so easy to implement... I would try different sports or activities if I were you, find something that you like.

Muhammad Ali was a champion, meaning that at first he had to have mindset of a champion. Which also means that he had tremendous thrill from winning, and that thrill was more powerful than hate towards training... It's the reward of great feelings of a winner that he was on his mind, not really the hate towards training...

Training is necessary in order to win, but why train things that you already hate? Find something that you love. Boxing might be better choice, or some martial art...

 

[Richard]

Motivation is extremely powerful but very short-lived like white muscles.

Inspiration is toned down but lasts a very long time like red muscles.

What you need to do is find a source of inspiration - I've actually been able to stick to weightlifting and getting myself in shape because of the girlfriend I had (she was my source of inspiration) and since breaking up with her it's since become a habit and I don't gripe about it anymore. So, find your source of inspiration, find something that puts a fire in your belly and apply it to whatever skill or hobby you want to take up until it becomes a habit.

-Richard

 

[Inbocca]

In addition to what the other guys said:

Everything has good and bad to it. Some things are easier for us to see the good and not the bad, and vice versa. Some people just naturally see the pain of working out as insignificant compared to the benefit of being totally jacked afterwards. Running gives you a runner's high, which for some people is totally worth the feeling of exhaustion to the point where the exhaustion hardly registers as a downside to them. With enough intention, you can train yourself to see it the same way.

Before my accident, when I was training for a cycling race, I would always try to reach these goals that were just outside my reach. It was like an all-or-nothing thing, so if I didn't make my goal I was totally exhausted and had nothing to show for it. It would piss me off so much I had no choice but to beat it next time or go through the same thing. Of course, hitting the goal felt amazing. But ultimately, when this system failed, finding inspiration kept me coming back.