Week One is done. I thought the best way to be accountable is to post the screenshot from my Fitbit app. I’ll post that every Monday morning along with a brief comment about one of the days from the week.
Monday was Labor Day. It was also Day 3 in this 20k One Year Step Challenge. (20,000 steps every day for a year. No breaks.) We had our son and his family over for dinner. I made salmon with a very nice garlic and butter sauce served over a bed of brown rice. One of my favorite meals…
Before we ate my son casually mentioned how a mutual friend of ours thought this 20k challenge was pretty cool. My son’s response, “It won’t last.” He actually told me that. My son quickly added that he also told our friend he was confident I would keep getting the 20,000 steps every day. He just doesn’t believe the daily updates will last.
If you haven’t seen them, I’ve been posting updates every morning on Facebook and Instagram with how many steps I got the day before and a picture of something I saw during my walk that I’m grateful for. In fairness to my son, I’ve been largely absent from social media for years. To believe that I’m now going to post something every day probably feels like a stretch.
But, I also think there’s more. My son and his five siblings grew up with me as their dad. They got used to me announcing new family initiatives that inevitably faded away after a week or two. “It won’t last” is sadly part of my character. But, it’s something I’m changing.
I’ve realized that most of those pronouncements were emotionally motivated. Inevitably, there was a problem I was trying to solve or something I was excited about doing as a family. But, once the emotions faded I wasn’t left with much else to carry it out.
I still love the emotional “high” at the beginning of a project or new adventure, like this 20k One Year Step Challenge. But, I’ve added a question on the front end before I make a final decision to move forward with projects. “What will this look like in six months? What about a year from now?”
In other words, what will 20,000 steps feel like in the middle of winter when I’m fighting a cold. How much enthusiasm will I have to create daily updates if nobody cares? The answer is simply, I made a commitment to myself and that’s more important than I feel at any given moment.
I didn’t respond to my son’s comment on Monday. There really is nothing I can say. I’ll simply have to let my actions through next August speak for me.
YOUR CHALLENGE
If you struggle with making fitness stick you can change that today. The 30 Day Fitness Challenge will help you begin building a fitness habit that creates fitness momentum which eventually leads to fitness transformation.
Walking is fitness hiding in plain sight. The 30 Day Fitness Challenge will help you set the perfect Fitbit goal for you. The Challenge includes a contract you can make with yourself. That might sound cheesy, but having a signed piece of paper is a powerful motivator on those days when you just don’t feel like it.
Every day you reach your Fitbit goal is a win. The 30 Day Fitness Challenge includes a Win Tracker to celebrate your progress every day!
Best of all…The 30 Day Fitness Challenge is free!!
If you don’t have a Fitbit I recommend the Fitbit Inspire HR. This is the Fitbit I use to track my 20,000 steps a day. The Inspire HR also tracks your heart rate and sleep so you get an even wider picture of your fitness progress.
(By the way…if you use the link above to but a Fitbit Inspire HR this blog will receive a small commission. It won’t add anything to what you pay, but letting you know is the right thing to do)
Lastly, this blog is designed to help you embrace walking as a fitness activity. It’s sustainable, flexible, effective, and fun. Every week I post new articles with stories and helpful suggestions to Win at Fitness.
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