It can be difficult to muster the energy to train after a long day at work, especially in the winter. You’re tired, it’s cold outside, it’s dark all the time, and you see no end in sight. Doesn’t it feel easier to curl up in the fetal position on the couch with a 22-ounce bottle of IPA and hibernate the winter away? While this may be the path of least resistance, it won’t get you crushing the projects that shut you down last season.

The key here is to select the path of least resistance so everything flows toward your goal(s).

If you still haven’t selected your goals for this year, stop reading now and go write them down. (Jeez! I feel like I have to remind you guys every week.)

If you know what you want to do, it’s clear, AND you’ve made a plan to get there, it starts getting easier to channel your motivation, focus, and attention toward the things you want to do, even when you don’t want to do them.

I always wondered why I lost motivation at certain times of the day. Was I actually tired, or were there other reasons? Was I emotionally drained, experiencing decision fatigue, low blood sugar, or just unclear on my next steps?

There are too many variables to account for, more than one cause, but one that will help you stick with your Habits (see last week’s post), has to do with activation energy.

When you turn on the dryer or microwave, the initial surge of power required to get it going is higher than when it’s just operating mid-cycle. This is true for us as well. Studies have shown that activation energy (the amount of energy and time it takes to start a new task) of just 20 seconds is enough to change your behaviors.

Let’s look at some examples. If you want to eat healthier, but have candy out all the time, you’re more likely to eat the candy. However, if you cut carrots and apples ahead of time, and hide the candy in the attic, that’s way too much energy to crawl up there and get the candy, so you’ll just settle for the carrot sticks.

Say you want to go to the gym twice a week, but instead you generally get home, slump down on the couch, and turn on the TV. There are a few steps you can take to make the gym the easier choice. You can unplug your TV, cover it up with a photo, or hide the batteries from the remote in a back room—uncovering the TV and going to get the batteries takes well over 20 seconds and suddenly watching TV is a hassle. If at the same time you already have your gym bag packed, have your workout plan written down for the day, and know what time you want to get there, going to the gym becomes the easy choice and you’ll probably go.

That is the power of activation energy. It can work for you or against you.

When I tell people about my training schedule, they think it takes a tremendous amount of discipline to follow a training program. Nope. I just do whatever it tells me to do. I don’t have to think about it, I just have to try hard and do what the program tells me to do on the days it tells me to do it. It’s like having my own drill sergeant.

I set it all up ahead of time, when I had the time and energy to really think it through. That way when I am tired and want to bail, I just look at my schedule and suit up.

That’s why I believe following a plan is easier than freestyling my workouts. I make all the decisions and rules ahead of time, rather than trying to figure it out each day. You only have to make a couple of decisions up front: What are you going to train? When? Have you gear packed and ready to go. Execute. It’s practically effortless.

Such is the power of activation energy.