PutYourself First When It Comes to Exercise

CM SEAL Team blogger: Tom Rancich


Question from Nancy B: Any input on a way to motivate a 60year old plus person to get going? One bad knee,limited exercise time and a sense that "I am not as young as I used to be."(Did I mention the economy?)

Start small and be quirky! The biggest impediment to people getting started is the idea that you have to start some huge endeavor---simply not true! It can be as simple as being that odd lady who always parks as far away from the store as possible (please only do this if you shop in a safe area at safe times) or the person who always says “I’ll meet you: I am taking the stairs” or who curls her grocery bags three times before placing them on the counter---etc—the point is that a great first step is to look for simple ways that you can improve fitness that require little discipline.

My quirky thing, which does require more discipline, is that I run in the heat of the day—so so the little mental rut that is made is that as it heats up, I start to think about running. The rut (and you thought ruts were bad things) that will be created for you is that as you are walking across the parking lot or up the stairs you will be thinking about your health----and that is 70% of the battle!

Question from Up Your Mind: How do you put yourself first when it comes to exercise/being healthy?

I get this question a lot---it is an interesting paradox---because of course why would you not want to be healthy? (assuming a balanced mental state). So one of the mental games to play is, ask yourself why you want to harm yourself? Why do you want to be uncomfortable with your body image? Why do you want to be short of breath, unable to play with your kids etc---the answers might surprise you—or me—but the most common root cause is “I just can’t do anything about it” well, once you put that on a piece of paper it looks pretty stupid---of course you can! My previous answer is germane, but don’t create monsters where there are none---start small, start thinking about it, and start doing little things. And remember—you can write this down somewhere—YOU ARE IMPORTANT! Treat yourself that way.

In some of my leadership lectures I use the example, you are with a child, both hungry, not sure when the next food will be found and you have one chunk of a survival biscuit which can’t be divided---who gets it? The correct answer is, you! The reason is simple, the only chance both or either of you have to survive is for you to remain strong---it does the child little good to out survive you. So, when thinking about motivating to exercise, or prioritizing exercise --think about what good it does to wash the dishes first, if it means you aren’t going to be around ten years earlier to wash the dishes at all, if you don’t take care of yourself.

Oh and be kind to yourself when you slip up!
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Lt. Commander Thomas Rancich, US Navy SEAL (Ret.) is the co-founder of VRHabilis, a disabled veteran-owned small business that seeks to employ the highly trained and motivated veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for work in construction and related fields. Rancich and co-founder Elliott Adler are pioneering the concept of using adaptive technology to bridge the gap between industrial and medical technology. Their company contributes proceeds to two worthy causes: a fund for the development of adaptive technology that will allow disabled veterans to pursue their desired career path and the EOD Wounded Warrior Fund.





Through his consulting firm, Off-Shore Consulting, Tom provides professional advice on leadership and team building, often as a motivational speaker, in addition to being an expert consultant to the entertainment industry.

Alden Mills and Charlie Mike blogger Tom Rancich served together in the Teams.