It’s easy to sit there on the couch, watching a commercial about the latest exercise gimmick and go, “I can do that. I can get in shape while watching TV, like I’m doing right now. Seems pretty easy.”

Or to watch some ridiculous feat of humanity (triathlons always seem that way to me) and tell yourself that you could probably do one.

Maybe there is some motivation and that’s what gets you to day one.

But then you realize that decision was made while sitting on the couch eating a snack, which is when the self-negotiation begins to take place. It’s usually in the form of justifications for why your goal was too ridiculous and that it’s okay to give up or settle for something else. Often, the operative word that comes up is “later” or “tomorrow.”

We do this to ourselves in many facets, creating thick layers of justification for it every step of the way until we eventually give up on it completely for “good reason.”

A decision made in our comfort zone will always be challenged the moment things get uncomfortable. The only way out is to stay in that discomfort and push it further.