Okay, January is over. Is your new resolution progressing? It is easy to determine what changes we want to make in our habits. It is more difficult to put this will into action. It is even more difficult to maintain the habit over time. Here is a little trick that can help you or even inspire a loved one to initiate a change without too much effort.
The principle of the smallest step:
Your objective is chosen, the method established, only remains to… get into action. A good question to ask yourself is "What is the smallest action I can take towards this goal?" It's a way of breaking up into several pieces a task that might seem too big to us to get into action. After all, we eat an elephant one bite at a time!
Here are some examples of how the principle can be applied in the daily life of the runner:
- I would like to do more stretching: easier to start with 1 exercise per week, then one more each week until 5.
- I would like to run more often: challenge yourself to run 1 minute one more day per week, easy right? Adding 1 minute more in consecutive weeks after a year makes a 50-minute outing.
- I would like to eat better: instead of thinking about three meals a day, change only one food a day. Each week replace one more food.
Some examples may seem ridiculous and that is exactly what is wanted. The easier the task seems, the less the reasons (the excuses) will be for keeping the status quo. By accomplishing even trivial tasks, each successful day we build a confidence and a habit that will eventually become anchored in everyday life.
Your goal for the week:
Challenge a loved one who wants to take a run to run 10 seconds a day, 4 days a week. Adding 10 seconds to each ride after a month she will run four times for 15 minutes, not bad. Anyway, it's a safe bet that we risk doing more once the habit is created.
Did you know?
By adding 150m of trail running to each week of your weekly training you will be ready for October 20 to do the 5 km of the Grand Duke's Trail. Ps: running on snow counts!
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To read on the same subject: The smallest possible step - a tip for runners
