My daughter Emily has never been interested in sports. Not one iota.

In fact, when she was in the first grade, we FORCED her to try soccer. For the record, forcing kids to play sports isn’t a great plan. Kids are so much smarter than adults, and they pretty much KNOW if they are interested in something. Or not.

Miss Emily sat on the sidelines and refused to play soccer until the very middle of the “season.”

She took the field with great gusto. Meaning, she ran around to sidle up to her friends so that she could attempt to chat while running. At one point, a group of players were all kicking intensely for the ball at once, and Emily stood a few feet outside of the activity while loudly yelling to her friend,

“Hey! Let’s move over here and talk. We don’t want to be in that mess by the ball!”

As the years went by, Emily discovered that she’s not interested in group competitive sports. She’s interested in solo endeavors like boxing.

Currently she’s worried about passing her gym mid-term. The exam is simple: Run one mile in ten minutes or less.

For a runner like myself, I think, “EASY!” But for a non runner, it seems daunting.

Our trainer, Eli Green, at Bob’s gym had a great tip:

1. Emily loves music more than most things. Have her make a running playlist.

2. Tell her to start by trying to run for the duration of just two songs.

Here’s why I adore this advice:

1. Find a way to bring what you love into a situation you want to improve.

2. Turtle steps. TWO songs.

How about you? Struggling with getting started working out?

Can you apply Eli’s advice?