makes them tolerable.
makes them, at times, even enjoyable.
make them, in moments, absolutely awesome.
I've known this, but I'm also able to rediscover it every so often. (I think that's one of the great joys of aging, right? you forget everything, and so you can be excited to find out these kinds of things over and over again.)
what happened for me is that the past few times I've run, I've so enjoyed the music on my ipod that I haven't wanted to take the earphones out of my ears and press the stop button when I've finished and returned home. which resulted in my actual enthusiasm to go for a run yesterday. woo-hoo, I thought, I get to listen to my music!
I have tricked myself into a difficult task by pairing it with a reward.
call me, once again, nothing but a pavlovian dog. geez.
I actually use this trick all the time, but it usually involves chocolate.
- if I just finish this next chunk of work, I can have a piece of chocolate.
- when I get the vacuuming done, I can have a chocolate.
- after this next paragraph is written, I get chocolate.
- when I get home from my bike ride . . .
I know I'm not the only one who operates this way. life is full of "have to's" that go much better when paired with "like to's." and for the time being, my ipod full of a mix of my music/my kids' music/music that came from who knows where is exactly the incentive I need to get my nike frees on, get out the door, and go pound the pavement.
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