What About Those Obstacles and Unexpected Events?What about when you decide on a path to follow and something comes up unexpectedly? For instance, you decided you're going to work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after work at 6:00 PM. This works great on Monday and Wednesday but Friday someone asks you to join them after work for drinks or dinner. Maybe that cute co-worker you've had your eye on. If you think about it, it's likely something will come up often on Friday night.

What do you do? Do you say, "No, thanks, I have to work out," or "No, I already have plans," and sound like a jerk ensuring you'll never land that date, or "Maybe some other time," and you know there'll never be another time, or "Yes, that sounds great," and then berate yourself for being a loser and not following through with your workout plan? Either way you're not going to feel good about your decision and you're setting yourself up to fail.

Set things up so you will succeed, no matter what. Before you decide what you want to do, think it through completely. This is part of the "Creating a Compelling Outcome" process (taught in my 8-week course and used in private sessions).

When you decide what you'd like to do you must also consider everything else that will be affected and whether your plan is workable in the real world. Maybe Friday night workouts are going to be interrupted often. Better to choose a different day or time that will work.

If you thought about it, you may have realized that things would often come up Friday evenings, so you decided to work out on Monday and Wednesday evenings plus Saturday mornings. That makes better sense. Thinking about what might interfere is why many people do their exercise in the early morning hours virtually ensuring nothing else will interfere. No one invites you out for 6:00 AM except perhaps your running partner!

If you want to get up early, think it through. Are you a night person? Early morning hours probably won't work for you, but some other time will. Do you have a spouse who'd complain loudly? Consider them as well, but don't let everyone else's preferences keep you from doing what's best for you. Consider others and any objections they may have, and then decide in advance how to counter those objections. It's basically a way to look at your plans from all the angles, figure out the danger zones, decide in advance on strategies to keep you on track, and then get started.

Once in awhile you won't be able to keep to your plan and that's just fine. For instance holidays interfere with gym hours. I've been annoyed when the gym was closed on Christmas Day! Sometimes despite your best efforts, things will come up, so must be flexible, while at the same time persistent to make sure you have scheduled a plan that can work the majority of the time.

Remember too, you're creating a plan you can live with. Choose one small thing to change, one habit, one event. Then, when those special situations arise, you'll know what to do, because you've already planned ahead, and even if you abandon your plan, for a vacation perhaps, you just get right back on track when you return feeling refreshed and excited to get started again.