Source: medexpressrx.com
About a month ago, for the first time in my life, I decided to publicly declare e 30 day challenge that I was trying to set for myself. It was about exercising every single day, without excuses. I decided to do this challenge because I had the desire to exercise and knew that it is very helpful for our bodies and brains to exercise on a regular basis. I had been procrastinating and delaying working out for years, even though I knew that I needed to exercise. When a time comes that you do something you had long ago aspired to do, then you can see how many benefits you have already wasted.
I can say that I was not very consistent with my dedication of working every single day, because most of the time I forgot. I did not put any reminder besides publishing a post in my blog, which was not sufficient for me to recall every single day that I had to work out. I sometimes found myself lying in bed in the evening, only to remember that I had not exercised that day. However, I am glad I started this experiment because, besides starting working out at a local fitness gym where a very good friend of mine works as a trainer, I learned a few lessons and tips that I would like to tell you about.
What I could do better?
Setting a specific objective about what type of exercises needed to get done during every workout session. If there would be only one thing that I would most definitely change, then it would be this. I had mentioned in the blog post that I simply intended to exercise for a couple of minutes in the morning, but it was a bit vague and not a very clear target to aim at. It did not attract me very much, and did not serve as a means of inspiring me to exercise daily. Most of the time I would simply do a few pushups, which are not sufficient for somebody who aspires to use working out for health benefits.
Setting a schedule. Even though I planned to exercise in the mornings, before leaving for work, this was not very specific either. It was a bit vague and coupled with a general objective about the types of exercises that I intended to finish, it made me skip a few days without exercising.
What helped?
Announcing my challenge publicly. I was very surprised to find out that publishing a public post actually was a very strong incentive that pushed me through, especially during the first couple of days of the challenge. Every time I reminded myself about that public post that I made where I decided to workout every day, I was very compelled to continue further. Knowing that I made a public decision made me aware about a plausible public embarrassment that I might have been prone of, due to my lack of commitment to something that I desired and announced to do.
Remembering that it might get a lot better. Being a person who very rarely exercises, I would find myself most of the time having a lot of self-doubts and actual difficulties which were contributing to my body’s overall resistance. However, I tried to remind myself that it there can be a lot of difficulties that might appear in the beginning, but whom were simply obstacles that I had to use to step up at. I proved myself right, because only a few days after the first day I started the challenge, I was doing pullups a lot easier.
What’s next?
The purpose of this challenge was for me to continue working out on a regular basis, so that it becomes a regular habit of mine. A couple of days ago, I have enrolled to a local fitness gym for a year, where a good friend of mine works as a trainer. I am very glad that I have the opportunity to continue working out four times a week alongside an experienced trainer whom I know from before. I must say that this type of challenge had at the very least, an impact in me, making me aware of my own self-sabotages. Having said, that I consider it as a successful experiment with plenty of beneficial lessons that I can most likely apply in the future. Knowing that these types of results might yield from public commitments, I am planning to start another thirty day challenge in the near future, which I intend to announce publicly.
