I learned when I was on tour with the band that no matter how terrible I felt day of a show, five minutes before stage I’d be fired up and the show would be great.
In all my years of shows I’ve maybe once had a low mood before hand effect my mood on stage.
And it’s much the same with exercise. Want to be in the mood to work out? Go start working out. If you’re feeling low and think you don’t have the energy it’s because you’re not working out yet. Your body isn’t going to give you energy while you’re doing nothing.
In all aspects of life I see people trying to make themselves feel like doing something before they do it. Even, or especially, when they want to do it intellectually but not emotionally. Because people are afraid that if they do something they don’t want to do they’re a sell out. Or something.
So people drug themselves, trick themselves, lie to themselves, all to put mood before action.
And it’s just a shit use of your time.
What wrecks it for people is they tend to think about the middle of project before they start. They’re sitting, calmly, stiffly, on their laptop or in front of the TV, and when they project that mindset into being mid-run the psyche goes nope. This is wrong and it arouses contempt in the runner heart. Honestly, just get changed. Don’t focus on the hard part, focus on the next part, the first part. Just get changed into your running clothes (or whatever, pick up your paints, open your writing file, grab the kettle bells, whatever impossibly easy thing is actually the harmless first step) and then see how you feel. See, you feel a bit more like getting after it. With no effort you’ve started giving your project momentum.
I’ve had my best work outs on days when I felt the worst because I felt the worst, because I almost talked myself out of it then took the pressure off, said I’d just get changed, then found myself really getting after it, to prove to myself that nothing can stop me.
And this doesn’t have to be about working out, that’s just my every example this month because it’s my new hill that I’m conquering. When I was working on my socializing I did things like have a phone call with a friend or family member before going out. Actually my best ritual was to get dressed up, do vocal warm ups for singing and breathing, then talk to someone causally, before going out on the town and being life of the party.
I think what this boils down to again is the narrative mind. When people say they have an idea for story what they usually mean is the have an idea for an end of act 2 transition. That’s why people don’t know how the story starts, find out the ending they planned wasn’t an ending, etc. The mind mistakenly focuses on the big part in the middle of a project, of an event, and we have to consciously embrace all aspects even the humble, often forgotten beginnings.
After all, it’s all one thing.
Author/Athlete, Thinker/Doer
Alastair's Ego 