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Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

> the pull of actually doing something sedentary (I have multiple hobbies) is always stronger...

You need to make it an absolute red-line in your life. You wouldn't go a day without cleaning your teeth, and you wouldn't do another hobby instead of cleaning your teeth - make exercising like that.

I exercise every day, and I think that's actually a lot easier than exercising five times a week, allowing you to pick which days you exercise or not. You can't kid with yourself that you'll exercise tomorrow if your routine is to exercise every day. Sometimes I get back from work at 11pm and I'll still drag myself out for an hour's run.

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I totally understand what you're saying and completely agree with you, but...

... you know the difficulty of telling someone "don't get distracted" or "don't procrastinate"? It won't work. It's the same with me and exercise, I agree with you on an intellectual level, and I'm well aware of the dangers of my unhealthy lifestyle. But I just can't find the motivation to do it.

Like I replied elsewhere, I would definitely do trekking or biking if I lived in a place more suitable for those activities. I enjoy trekking and walking when I'm on vacation (my vacations tend to involve lots and lots of walking).

What do you think about the teeth cleaning analogy though?

Do you ever get distracted from cleaning your teeth or procrastinate or put off cleaning your teeth? I guess you don't and it's a normal effortless part of your day that you hardly think about - why is that? Can you use whatever natural habit you do to get yourself to do that to exercise?

I guess the difference with tooth brushing, showering, etc, is that they take very little time (ok: not true with me and showering: I find pleasurable to let my thoughts wander, so I take a longer time than needed). But brushing your teeth? It takes very little time commitment, you don't have the chance to get bored!

I can even think about the stuff I'm about to do while I brush my teeth. Let's compare it with doing martial arts: most teachers require you to be "in the moment", not think of something else.

I suppose this is why I think I would like trekking if I lived in a suitable location. You can walk, enjoy the scenery, and think of something else.

My god, he's still going!

Have you ever tried going more than a day without cleaning your teeth? Have you ever had so little energy, motivation, or otherwise give-a-care to just not-do-it when going to bed at night?

Why do you insist on this being the baseline when you've clearly never struggled to do this?

> Why do you insist on this being the baseline

I didn't - that's why I asked - and then qualified my advice with it applies if that's the case.

> Have you ever had so little energy, motivation, or otherwise give-a-care to just not-do-it when going to bed at night?

Obviously this advice isn't going to be appropriate for someone with serious mental-health issues. It's advice for someone who wants to do some exercise and is struggling to get going, not someone facing more complex problems as well.

For what it's worth, I didn't find your suggestions bad and I appreciate them.

I don't suffer from depression or mental health issues, I just find exorcising boring and don't have the motivation for it. There's plenty of things I'd rather be doing, it's not that I'm a coach potato watching TV all day long :)

You've never had true depression.

My teeth are rotting out of my head due to poor dental hygiene from years ago. The road back up sometimes begins in a deep hole vertical-ascent, and that can feel daunting, even hopeless at times.

You wouldn't talk on the Internet unless you had experience. Everyone loves to brow-beat.

Simple advice from experience is obviously not going to be applicable to everyone. This is what works for me.

By the way did you know you've been hell-banned for five years? That's why almost nobody's been relying to your comments for the past half-decade.

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