Hope for your financial life and beyond

Barriers to Entry: The Ongoing Battle With Exercise

“Barriers to entry” is an economic term that describes the challenges a company or individual might face when entering any competitive marketplace. Starting a blog has few roadblocks. In 30 minutes max you could have your own site up and running.

barricades by a fenceStarting your own oil refinery…well, that has a few more.

So many areas of my life have no barriers to entry. Nothing stops me from eating three meals a day (plus snacks). If I need to spend money on something I easily can. Watching a movie with the kids doesn’t require checking in with the IRS.

But when it comes to exercise it seems the path is always blocked. That activity which benefits my life so much I can hardly get to.

And it’s ALWAYS something.

If it’s not a sore body or injuries healing from prior exercise it’s the daily schedule. If it’s not the schedule it’s the weather. If it’s not the weather it’s my own mental weakness to climb out of bed at 5:00 am and hit the treadmill.

Or like the other day when I went to the basement get on our exercise bike. During my workout time, I had planned to resume streaming a TV show that I already had investing time in watching – two full seasons worth. Due to time constraints I hadn’t watched it in a few months so was excited to get back to the show and finish out the series.

As I fired up Amazon Prime to stream the video I’m met with an unexpected surprise. Amazon had pulled it from its streaming offerings.

Ugh! How could they do that!? Why would they do that!? It makes no sense to have something streaming one minute and the next – poof, it’s gone.

I was so frustrated over that one little thing I went upstairs and decided to write this instead.

Why is this one area of our life so challenging to pursue? Why are there so many large and small obstacles that lead us to so easily dismiss our exercise routines?

And why do we so easily give in when these roadblocks present themselves?

Maybe it’s because we don’t really think there is a long-term benefit.

Perhaps we don’t enjoy the pain associated with taxing our bodies.

Could it be we just don’t like it?

Or think it’s silly?

Or is it because barriers really are present and we simply refuse to push through them?

Exercise is at the bottom of the totem pole in most daily lives. Other tasks are deemed more important – and rightfully so – for any given day. Work, school, eating, shopping, church, friends and family all take precedence over exercise.

Plus we can always get to exercise the next day, right?

That’s what I plan to do. I’ll be researching a new program to stream and trying once again to bike in the morning.

But you know…there will surely be something else tomorrow.

(Written for random fun and only to vent by a frustrated someone who has gone over a year without consistent running due to two injuries, one of which isn’t entirely healed and still may require surgery. Exercise on folks…it’s good for you!)

Questions: Does this happen to you with exercise? What barriers keep you from exercising? Where does exercise rank in your priorities of life? Could you imagine a life where we desired to exercise as much as we desire to eat? Any suggestions for a good TV series to stream?

Image courtesy of Rae Allen at Flickr Creative Commons

Next Post: Psychological Tricks That Will Get You a Raise

Prior Post: Signs It’s Time for a New Doctor And What to Do Before You Switch

I hope you enjoyed that post. Want more?
Sign up to receive my blog posts via email and get your free gift...
99 Ways to Spend Less and Save More

Privacy Guarantee: I will not share your email with anyone.

Comments

  1. Jayson @ Monster Piggy Bank says

    I couldn’t agree more Brian. Sometimes life offers us with challenges that we really have to face and to get through. When it comes to gym or exercise, it becomes harder and harder because we tend to lose the determination we once have in the beginning. We really need to exercise if we want to stay healthy and strong.

  2. I feel your pain, Brian! I’m currently competing with co-workers via FitBit and I’m in LAST place. It’s particularly shameful because I’m one of the youngest and I don’t have kids. Thanks for the reminder that I really need to hit the gym tomorrow – no excuses!

  3. This is (thankfully) one problem I DON’T have. I just feel like absolute crap if I don’t exercise so it is almost first on my priority of the day. It’s nice to get it out of the way in the morning and then I feel better the rest of the day. Even when I was injured with shoulder stuff and then shin splints from the half marathon I did I found a way to work out. I wish I could pass on the secret formula for being able to do so…if I could I’d probably be rich from having that answer. But to be fair I marvel at how some people have tiny grocery budgets. Weak area for me. I guess we are all good at some things and not good at others.

  4. I don’t blame you, Brian. If I went ready to watch my favorite show only to find out that it wasn’t showing, I wouldn’t have exercised either… There are a lot of other shows to watch if the goal is to exercise, but that’s not the point. I guess we all show our first world problems from time to time. haha

    Have a good one and I hope you can find a good show to watch… it does make exercising easier.

  5. Very true. I think many times we have the right intention on the surface when it comes to exercise, but when we peel back the layers, we really have no intention, and that’s going to win every time. In reality, your Amazon Prime disappointment was indeed a disappointment, but if you were honest, do you think that if your show had been there, you’d have completed your intended workout in full earnest? Maybe, but if it was that easy to go back upstairs with one obstacle, chances are it would have been easy for anything else to rise up and put a stop to it. I’ve been there many a time, trust me!

Speak Your Mind

*