Here’s a simple motivational technique that might help you pick up a new habit
I only ruddy did it!
What’s that you’re probably wondering? [Oh yeah, the blog title might give it away but indulge me a moment]
Well, yesterday I completed a small challenge I set myself for November; the challenge was to do 30 minutes of exercise every day in November.
I’ve blogged before about how I use challenges and accountability as a way to embrace new things and disrupt myself to better accommodate change.
That doesn’t mean that it’s always easy…but now that it’s December 1st, I’m happy to share that I completed the challenge and, damn, I feel good for it.
This wasn’t the hardest challenge I’ve set myself but equally it wasn’t the easiest
Back in early summer I shared a story about a painful trip to the dentist that came about as a result of consuming excessive sugar as one of the unfortunate consequences of running a growing business.
Not only were my teeth in bad shape but my waistline had expanded and I committed to put in some corrective actions on both counts.
Late summer and early autumn saw me travelling a fair bit and onboarding new clients but I got back into fitness. Come November, I felt in a good place to kick on with my fitness and so my challenge was born.
30 mins a day of any exercise should be easy enough I thought and so off I went; it didn’t matter if it was running, a gym class, some yoga, a weights session or even just 30 minutes of press ups/crunches it all counted.
What stood in my way?
Well, it wasn’t to be that straightforward because it turns out there were a plethora of barriers that I faced:
- Limited time — as luck would have it, half way through November Shiageto landed 2 new clients so suddenly things got very busy and I found some days it was hard to squeeze in exercise. Perhaps non more so than the nightmare of a day when I missed my Eurostar and ended up having to find another way to get home from Amsterdam (and then still did my exercise at midnight before heading to bed)
- Logistical challenges — I spent a fair bit of time on the road in November, so when I was travelling I had to find somewhere to do the exercise as well as the time. Not everywhere had a gym or a convenient place to run so there was a fair bit of creativity at times (it’s times like that I was grateful for YouTube classes)
- Physical challenges — A couple of days I had a sore back or another part of my anatomy felt tired so ordinarily I thought I should skip a day but there are lots of ways to exercise whilst taking the strain off certain body parts
- Motivation — This was definitely a biggie, a few days I really couldn't be bothered but I still dragged myself out there
- Changing routine — I usually do exercise in the evenings but I actually had to adapt my routine to incorporate a lot more workouts at the start of the day
Let’s talk motivation
This was by far the biggest barrier for me; it’s always amazing to me just how much the brain influences what we do.
In this instance, my brain put up a lot of fight some days about doing the exercise; it lobbed in excuses left, right and centre 😵.
So, in response I used an age-old trick to help me overcome every one of those slippery tactics… namely, …
The Don’t break the chain strategy.
This strategy is simple and uses a visual chart to track the habit you are trying to adopt (in my case, a wall calendar).
Each day that you complete your task/habit you make a mark on the chart (in my case I wrote down what the exercise I did was).
Your motivation then comes from not breaking your visual streak. You don’t want that one day to ruin your record so far…
For me it’s immensely powerful and did the trick perfectly
So what was the outcome and what’s next?
I’m not sure if I’ll be doing a specific challenge in December but certainly my exercise habit is back with a vengeance.
I won’t necessarily go everyday from now on but I actually am really enjoying my exercise again (after a period of not) and as an added bonus I’m looking and feeling the fittest I have in quite a while.
Who would have thought such a simple trick would work so well. Go on, give it a go!
Faris is the CEO and Founder of Shiageto Consulting, an innovative consultancy that helps firms and individuals sharpen their effectiveness.
Success = IQ x EQ x FQ
