In 2023, I successfully created an exercise habit that is now ingrained in me. I believe some of the lessons I learned from this experience are applicable to building good habits for anyone trying to reach their goals whether it be fitness or something else.
At the end of 2022, I got a Fitbit for Christmas and programmed a goal of 5 days of exercise per week. I ended up hitting 7 days most of the 52 weeks. I only didn’t exercise 26/365 days. I didn’t miss a workout day in June, August, and December. I did this on top of having my second kid during the month of April.
I really surprised myself with this. I have always loved exercise but have never been this consistent in my life until now. A few changes in mindset or actions really helped achieve this:
- I kept the bar low with the aim of 10 to 20 minutes a day. I sometimes did more but as long as I hit 10 mins, that was enough. 10 min jog, 10 min bike, 10 min foam roll, etc. The bar was low and still is.
- Keeping the bar low also simplified the activity in my mind so it wasn’t such an ordeal. When I was crossfitting a lot, I made workouts an ordeal. I needed at least 1.5 hours to get the workout done. Now, I just started moving my body if I only have 15 minutes which lessened the mental burden of making it happen.
- Lastly, I removed friction by laying workout clothes out the night before or just wearing whatever I had on. I made it really easy to change into workout clothes.
That’s pretty much it. I never read the book but this experience made me think of Atomic Habits which I’ve talked about with a lot of people over the years.
I am applying these lessons to 3 things so far in 2024 (1) nutrition (2) writing on this blog (3) personal finances. We’ll see how it goes!