Excuses for skipping the gym are as numerous as the stars in the sky, and there will always be more excuses than reasons for going.

You’re sore. You’re tired. You didn’t sleep well last night. You need more time to prepare for that presentation. You’ll make up the training time tomorrow. It’s too hot out. (And just a couple of weeks ago it was too cold, wasn’t it?)

So if your excuses are always ganging up on you and threatening to derail your health and fitness goals, how do you regain control and stop them from winning? In short: by tricking yourself. When the thought of going to the gym makes you want to draw the shades and crawl back under the covers, just do this: commit to going to the gym for 10-15 minutes. Tell yourself that just a brief stretch and walk on the treadmill is better than nothing, then go to the gym to do exactly that.

What happens then is amazing: you’ll feel great and you’ll want to do more. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. That’s why getting started is so much harder than simply continuing along the same path. It’s why Monday mornings at work seem so daunting and Thursday afternoons feel like you’re coasting on Easy Street.

The beauty of employing this, dare we say, One Weird Trick, is that, if after 10-15 minutes of walking and stretching you still really want/need to go home and hide from the world, you’re welcome to do that. There will be days when it doesn’t work. But what you told yourself to get there is still true: those 10-15 minutes of activity really were better than nothing.

And the more you use this tactic and get yourself on a serious roll, you won’t have to employ it as much. You’ll be dying to get to the gym because you know how good it can instantly make you feel.