Do A Little Each Day

In my last post, I wrote about how embracing discomfort will help us succeed. As an example, I mentioned running and how the little voice likes to scream at me to stop during the first part of my run and then somewhere near mile two. If you would have told me six months ago that I would be able to run two miles, let alone more, I would have laughed. Six months ago, I wasn't able to run 100 yards without being extremely winded.

Six months ago, I may have looked thin, but I hadn't exercised regularly for a couple of years. It had been nearly a decade since I had regular cardiovascular exercise. I have been an on again-off again smoker most of my adult life. For a good number of years, I drank way more than is healthy. I was lazy and spent very little time taking care of myself. I would have been extremely overweight if I hadn't become vegan a decade ago (as I was overweight prior to this). I wasn't a healthy person.

I was driving to work one morning and saw a billboard for a run in town and decided I wanted to be able to run a 5K. With delusions of grandeur running through my mind, I believed I would be able to get in shape and do this very easily. I was wrong. The first time I tried to run, I thought I was going to die. I hated every second of it. My body hurt, my lungs burned, my mind screamed and I thought I was an idiot for even attempting this. I wanted to give up and just say running wasn't for me.

Instead, I decided to do things in a smart way. I followed the advice of others and began the Couch to 5K program. I built up my stamina by running shorter periods of time, enough to feel it, but not enough to make it hell. I still wanted to quit, but every time I was supposed to run, I did. I forced myself to put on my running shoes and get out the door. I didn't give myself an out, even while I was on my honeymoon. After a while, I looked forward to my runs. Exercise became fun.

Then the holidays hit, the weather turned cold and I stopped again. I came up with excuses about why I could wait or told myself that I could take time off and start again later. I convinced myself that starting this time would be easier and I would be able to start right where I left off. I was wrong. My first run was horrible. I had gone from running five miles to nearly falling over after ten minutes. I was frustrated and wanted to quit, but I wasn't going to have it.

I found that no matter what it is, you have to put in the work. If you just do a little each day, it becomes easier to do more. But, if you take a day off, it becomes easier to take the next day off. Once you take off two in a row, it starts to become a habit to not do what you want to do. I know I can't run every day, but I can do squats every morning or chin ups at night or sit ups or push ups or anything else to get some exercise in. The key is to do something each day to help you towards your gaol (no matter what the goal is).

I use the same mindset for writing and reading and flossing and anything else I know I should do or want to do. Start doing things in small increments and then build them up over time-just make sure you do something every day. If you want to write, start by writing a sentence each day. If you want to read, read a paragraph each day. If you want to learn a foreign language, start with one word each day. It's never going to be easy to start, but it can be hard to keep going. Figure out what you want to do and get up off your ass and start. Then, do it again tomorrow.

Keep Trying

I want to apologize for missing a scheduled Friday post. You may not have noticed the missing post, but I did. I have a self-imposed schedule for this blog and new posts are supposed to arrive every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. As you can see, there is a missing post for this week.

I could come up with a ton of excuses why there wasn't a post yesterday:

• I woke up later than I wanted.
• I had a morning meeting with my new boss, so I couldn't take a little extra time to write.
• The normal work day spiraled to an 11 hour work day, meaning I got home much later than expected.
• When I arrived home, one of my dogs was waiting for a bath (which I pushed to Friday as other things came up during the week).
• After washing the dog, I wanted to eat (as I hadn't eaten a meal through the day, only unhealthy snacks).
• I had laundry to do since I am going out of town tomorrow.
• After all of this, I ended up sitting on the couch watching a movie I haven't seen since the 1990's.

As you can see, there are a variety of reasons I didn't get a blog posted yesterday...except, all of these reasons are crap. The real reason I didn't get a blog posted yesterday is because I didn't make the time to post one. I missed a deadline (self-imposed, but a deadline nonetheless) because I chose to not do the work. I did a lot of other things, but just didn't write a blog post.

I'm not going to beat myself up for missing the post, but I can learn a few things from this experience:

• Habits are important: I recently took two weeks off blogging to go on my honeymoon. Prior to this, I posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It took a while for this to become a habit. In the beginning, I had to force myself to stick with these deadlines. Once writing was habitual, it became second nature and I built time in my schedule to write. It only took two weeks to lose this. It will be easier to start it back up, but will take work in the beginning.
• We have to make the time: We are all busy people. We have lives outside of the things we want to do (especially the things we do for fun). There are a lot of things competing for our limited time. We have to choose what we want to do and then make the time to do it. It's not always going to be easy, but we have to choose each day. I chose to watch a movie instead of writing. Is it the end of the world? Nope, but it did keep me from accomplishing what I wanted to accomplish.
• We have to prioritize our tasks: There will be days when we have to choose between things we want to accomplish because there is only a finite amount of time each day. Maybe you have to put off the Spanish lesson to run three miles. Maybe you have to put off weights to write. We may not accomplish everything we want to accomplish, but we have to figure out how to accomplish the most important items.
• Don't beat yourself up: We're all human. I'm not going to dwell on the fact I missed a post yesterday, but I will learn from the experience. I can write the post this morning and still have my three posts for this week. My day got away from me and I chose to do something other than write. It's a new day and I have new choices to make about how to spend my time. I may not get everything accomplished today either, but I can try.

Every one of us has things on our "list" we want to accomplish, but we fail to make the time to accomplish. What's on your list? How much of a priority is it? Do you really want to accomplish it or do you like talking about doing it more than actually doing it? Come up with a list of what you want to do today and then prioritize this list. Make the time to do what is most important for you. If you don't get things done, don't make excuses and don't beat yourself up, just try again. Keep trying until you do.