November 5, 2026, 7:22 pm | Read time: 5 minutes
The pesky old inner slacker catches even the most diligent athletes. It’s crucial to overcome it and motivate yourself to exercise. There are some mental tricks for training that help conquer the inner slacker. Former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink reveals how to do it.
Anyone who exercises or wants to knows these moments: On the way home from work, you want nothing more than to go home and relax on the couch. Yet, you had planned to hit the gym. Or you promised yourself to go jogging first thing in the morning. But guess what? After waking up, you prefer to stay in bed for another half hour instead of groggily running through the park. There are a hundred “good” reasons why we sometimes can’t motivate ourselves to exercise. But our excuses stand in the way of achieving our training goals. The more excuses we find, the less often we exercise. However, there are simple mental tricks that help us motivate ourselves to exercise. Former Navy SEAL and motivational coach Jocko Willink shares how on his Instagram account with over three million followers.
“Avoid the Inner Struggle”
When we don’t feel like doing something or can’t motivate ourselves, an inner struggle quickly arises: “Should I still go to the gym? It’s already late. I’d rather go tomorrow. Or should I go now?” This back and forth is not only mentally exhausting. It can also lead us to choose the easier option and skip exercise.
That’s why motivational coach and former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink advises not to engage in this inner debate at all. In an Instagram video, he explains: “The alarm goes off, you get up and get out of bed. No matter what you thought, no matter that you wanted to sleep in, like, ‘Oh, this is annoying.’ None of that matters.”
His approach: Instead of negotiating with yourself every time about whether to get up and go to training, you implement the plan you made earlier. The question is no longer “Should I or shouldn’t I?” but the motto is: “Let’s go!”
Small Tricks to Help Overcome
Additionally, the inner struggle can be eased by making the path to training as simple as possible. If you want to exercise in the morning, you should lay out your workout clothes the night before or pack your gym bag. The less effort required before training, the easier it is to follow through with your plan. In the morning, it’s just a matter of grabbing the packed bag and heading out.
Another trick: choose a gym that is as close as possible to your home or workplace or directly on your way to work. If you pass by it daily anyway, there’s one less hurdle to overcome.
This approach incorporates strategies that are also part of the WOOP method by motivational researcher Prof. Gabriele Oettingen. She explained how the method works to FITBOOK editor-in-chief Nuno Alvesin this interview.
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“Think About the Feeling After Training”
The motivational coach recommends another mental trick: Don’t think about the upcoming workout, but about the feeling afterward. Instead of focusing on the effort, direct your attention to the anticipation of having completed the training. “When you wake up early in the morning and are tired, think about how you’ll feel when you’re done and have done what you should,” says Jocko Willink.
His approach: Be aware of how satisfied you could be with yourself after the training, even before it starts. The focus is not only on the personal training goal but also on the good feeling of having followed through with your intention.
The motivational coach also talks about the guilt that can arise when you skip a workout. His advice: try to stick with it instead of canceling the workout entirely. However, this doesn’t mean rigidly sticking to the training plan. As an alternative, he suggests shortening the workout on less fit days, doing fewer exercises, or training with lighter weights. The key is to maintain the routine–even if the workout is shorter or less intense.
Consistency Is the Key to Success
But why is it so important to overcome the inner slacker and stick with training? The former Navy SEAL also addresses this in his video: “Sometimes people can’t exercise for three or four days for various reasons. This quickly turns into eight or ten days. And suddenly it’s 20 days without exercise,” Willink explains.
Such a long break from training is far from ideal and can make it harder to achieve training goals. His advice is: “Consistency over a longer period is the most important thing you can do.” It’s better to train at home for ten minutes and do a few exercises like push-ups or burpees than to skip the workout entirely. Some movement is better than no exercise at all. That’s why it’s important to internalize the mental tricks and have no excuses not to go to training. And one thing is certain: We feel better after training than before!