Have you ever had this happen to you?  The other night, I seriously did NOT want to take any time to clean the kitchen, and I have this personal rule that before I go to bed, the kitchen has to be squared away.

Now, when I say I did NOT want to do it, I mean I really, really, really did NOT want to step even one foot into the kitchen. I was tired and was counting down the minutes until I could get into bed. Chances are you’ve been there yourself once or twice.

The kitchen wasn’t going to magically clean itself and, from past experience I knew something else – and it’s actually why you’re getting this message today.

I knew that if I didn’t keep my commitment to myself, it’d be easier to break that commitment again – and again, and again.

So, I grumbled a bit, picked myself off the couch, and cleaned the kitchen… even though it was the last thing I wanted to do.

I’m not going to say I did a stellar job (it was passable) or that I had some kind of mystical epiphany while I was cleaning. I listened to a podcast and hustled my way through it.

Thing is, it wasn’t NEARLY as bad as I’d made it out to be in my head. 

When I finally DID go to bed, I felt pretty good about myself for powering through.

The truth is, you have to show up, even if it’s just for yourself. ESPECIALLY if it’s for yourself, because that helps you show up even better for others.

It’s not any different than workouts you want to skip, or the little treats you are tempted to sneak in when no one is looking.

The more you let things slide, the easier it is to keep doing so. They don’t call it a “slippery slope” for nothing.

I think we’ve all said these things to ourselves before:

~ “Skipping my workout today won’t make a real difference, anyway.”

~ “I’ll get back at it tomorrow.”

~ “I’m really tired/hungry/stressed because work was crazy today, I just want to go home and relax preferably with a glass or two of wine.”

 ~ “It’s so dark out this morning, I don’t want to get out of bed.”

And obviously, sometimes you HAVE to miss a workout or change up your nutrition – maybe you’re sick or it’s super busy at work, or you have an important family commitment. Life happens.

But here’s the question: Are you showing up for yourself the way you promised?

No one says every workout has to be a record setter – but I would personally argue that the workouts you don’t want to do (or those diet temptations you find hard to overcome) are the MOST important.

They help strengthen another set of “muscles” … your motivation, your confidence in yourself, and your inner knowing that you CAN count on YOURSELF to get the job done!

And that’s pretty amazing… even if it’s something small like cleaning the kitchen. (which, after the ripple effect we’ve just mentioned, you can see isn’t really that small after all.)