Five Lessons
►IT ALL BEGAN FOR ME WITH A one-year public commitment to walk 20,000 steps a day, and to share my step count, a daily photo and my insights on Facebook and Instagram.
I wanted to encourage and motivate others to do the same, so I started a blog and kicked it off with that splashy commitment. The thing is, I had already been doing 20,000 steps a day for six months, and would continue for another year after it ended.
My journey started in the middle of March 2018, and in those twoand-a half-years to August 31, 2020, I learned a great deal.
ONE _ THE IMPORTANCE OF A PRE-DECISION TO COMMIT
I made a pivotal decision before starting: Whatever was going on in my life that day, I would always reach 20,000 steps.
It meant I didn’t wake up wondering how many steps I’d take; I just figured out how to achieve it. Even on tough days, like when my wife had breast cancer surgery, I found myself pacing the hospital’s parking garage.
There was only one day, around six months in, that I was five steps short of 20,000. I didn’t realize until weeks later and I think it was simply that I forgot to check my steps before I went to bed.
In the beginning, my emotions fluctuated each day. Some days I was excited about reaching the 20,000 and how I was going to achieve that. Other days I just didn’t feel like it.
I remember one day, about two months after I started. It was a cold and rainy afternoon and I still had a lot of steps to get through. I looked out the window thinking: Why did I say I was going to do this?
But because I had already made that vital pre-decision to always follow through, I did those 20,000 steps.
TWO _ USE THE EMOTIONAL PAYOFF AS MOTIVATION
While the emotions on the front end of every day changed, what I felt at the end of the day having reached that goal was consistent: A sense of accomplishment and a deep satisfaction with myself.
That end-of-day feeling never changed, and it became the motivation on some days.
THREE _ THE POWER OF PERSONAL COMPETITION
I learned that competing against myself is a huge motivator. I may not be able to compete against other people, but I can compete against myself by setting personal challenges. This was a powerful motivator, and it has continued to be a useful tool for me. For example, four years ago, my wife and I decided to move 500 miles away. I needed to do a lot of work on our house before it could sell and gave myself an unreasonable deadline.
I was getting used to these personal challenges and bea
