This is what worked for me.
I did a 30-day walking 30 minutes experiment, which I combined with a 30 day early (6am) riser experiment. So I'd wake up 6am and go right outside with my iPod for a 30 minute walk. After 4-5 days this became an automated task. I enjoyed the idea of having to complete this short-term goal and let nothing stop me from walking everytime because if I did I would lose.
What this did for me was establish a habit and get me used to the idea of being out there every morning. After the 30 day trial was completely successfully I was able to upgrade to jogging every morning on the same route that I had previously walked. So now I was spending less time but doing the same distance. I couldn't jog the whole distance the first day, and would walk the rest after i couldn't run anymore. I decreased the amount I would walk each morning until I jogged the whole amount.
Progression of habit upon habit got me through it.
Another thing I did was keep a journal/log for each day where I would mark off that I did indeed stick to my committment and the way I physically felt during the run, and that day in general. I noticed weekly, if not daily improvements in health and focus and could attribute it to nothing else.
A great side effect of working out like this is that you stay away from bad food. You start to think, why am I working so hard exercising and then eating bad food to take away the gains. And from there it all spirals upwards
