The Sprint: How To Snap Your Slump

At the beginning of 2020 I had an awesome routine going. I was waking up at 7:30 every day, I was working out at the gym, I was investing in my job for the long term. 

Then COVID-19 came around. 

I started sleeping in. Skipping workouts. Phoning it in. 

Difficult times come around. There’s no way around that. Tragedy and hardship in life aren’t a matter of if. They’re a matter of when. There’s no shame in sleeping in or skipping a workout. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. But after a few weeks (or a few months, in my case), it was time to snap the slump. 

Enter the sprint. 

After a few weeks of telling myself that I “needed to start waking up earlier again,” I realized this half-assed commitment wasn’t going to snap my slump. I needed something different.

Luckily, a few friends invited me to join them in a “hell week.” They were going to do 10 workouts in 7 days. I had a feeling it was exactly what I needed at that time, so I joined in. All the staples of real motivation kicked in: a short-term commitment, social accountability, an engaging project. 

If you’re in a slump, commit a short-term sprint. When we try to commit to long-term resolutions, with no finite deliverables or end date, our inertia is too much to overcome. The negative feelings associated with our new resolution are too great. With no end date, we assume the pain will last forever, and fall back into our slump. 

Short-term sprints help our minds comprehend that pain isn’t forever. It’s just for this month, or this week, or the next few days. When the pain of our commitment has an end date, we’re much more likely to go through that pain to accomplish the goal. 

And guess what? You already know the answer. After a few days, we realize the pain isn’t so bad, the benefits are well worth it, and the slump was just a state of mind all along. 

Good luck out there.