Correction; /you/ get a nice high off exercising. /I/ have yet to get a runner's high, or anything of the sort. (Imagine trying to keep up an exercise program if you /didn't/ get that nice high; how would you motivate yourself?)
Hmm... I get general, overall improvements to mood and focus from exercising, as much from weight-lifting as from cardio. Have you tried weight-lifting? Running on an elliptical machine or biking as opposed to just going out and hitting the pavement?
I know people say it's very athletic and cool to just go out and run, but that always clobbered the hell out of my knees -- especially because I was out of shape in the first place. It took me months of elliptical training (which is softer on the knees, which means you can go longer without utterly exhausting yourself even at a high heart rate) before I could enjoy just running.
My mind kinda processes exercise this way.
I'm willing to give it a shot. Got any specific suggestions on the how?
What mostly works for me is blatant rationalization, and training the damn thing like a dog. Reward it when it's good and punish it when it's bad. Manage its diet. Blah blah blah.
It is a much larger problem than I gave credit for when I posed it, though.
EDIT: Also, I motivate myself during exercise by strapping on some headphones and listening to all my favorite music. Currently: the Kill la Kill and Gatchaman soundtracks, with some Shingeki no Kyojin thrown in. (I'm a nerd, deal with it.)
Also, since I notice you are apparently motivated to improve your health by wanting to gain eternal life, I would figure that eternal life would be enough of a motivation. Are you really failing to find immortality emotionally moving? I can see why one would, but you claimed that was your conscious motivation. Need something else, perhaps?
Also, since I notice you are apparently motivated to improve your health by wanting to gain eternal life, I would figure that eternal life would be enough of a motivation. Are you really failing to find immortality emotionally moving? I can see why one would, but you claimed that was your conscious motivation. Need something else, perhaps?
There's a somewhat involved chain of causality between 'increasing the odds of immortality' and 'do another one of this painful thing', said chain involving all sorts of probabilities and estimations and outright guess...
"Cryonics has a 95% chance of failure, by my estimation; it would be downright /embarrassing/ to die on the day before real immortality is discovered. Thus, I want to improve my general health and longevity."
That thought has gotten me through three weeks of gradually increasing exercise and diet improvement (I'm eating an apple right now) - but my enthusiasm is starting to flag. So I'm looking for new thoughts that will help me keep going, and keep improving. A few possibilities that I've thought of:
Pride: "If I'm so smart, then I should be able to do /better/ than those other people who don't even know about Bayesian updates, let alone the existence of akrasia..."
Sloth: "If I stop now, it's going to be /so much/ harder and more painful to start up again, instead of just keeping on keeping on..."
Desire: "I already like hiking and camping - if I keep this up, I'll be able to carry enough weight to finally take that long trip I've occasionally considered..."
Curiosity: "I'm as geeky a nerd as you can find. I wonder how far I can hack my own body?"
Pride again: "I already keep a hiker's first-aid kit in my pocket, and make other preparations for events that happen rarely. How stupid do I have to be not to put at least that much effort into making my everyday life easier?"
Does anyone have any experience in such self-motivation? Does this set of mental tricks seem like a sufficiently viable approach? Are there any other approaches that seem worth a shot?