Consistency over Intensity

How many times do you have that conversation in your head, “I can always do this tomorrow" or "The weather is not great today”. This was me for quite sometime when it came to walking. A few years back, I picked up the habit of walking as a form of exercise and many are the times when I struggled to take that first step as this conversation in my head would just go on and on and on…. It is only in the last 18 months that I became serious about it and I would like to share some lessons from my experience that helped me become consistent.

 1. Set a goal

For me, this was to walk 100km every month in 2021 and this year my personal goal is to walk 120km every month. This helps remain accountable and more importantly get excited every time I see myself get closer to my goal. Do I always reach my goal? Not always, but I have learnt to appreciate the progress I make every day.

 2. Schedule time to do what you want

After reading Atomic habits by James Clear, I picked a few lessons on forming habits and routines that I applied to my walking. Now, Saturday mornings are for walking. I don't even think about it anymore! It is embedded in my routine and everyone in my family is now accustomed to my Saturday morning walks.

 3. Accountability

I found it easy to stick to my Saturday morning walks because I have an accountability partner that walks with me. There are some mornings that I just wish I could sleep in or just do nothing, but because I have an accountability partner who keep me on toes, I am obliged to get up and hit the road walking.

 4. Pair activities

There are times I walk on evenings too when I have some extra time. And when I do, I like to listen to an audio book. Many a times I have found myself stretching my distance just to finish an interesting chapter of a book. With this practice I found myself covering a good distance and reading quite a few books. When you meet me chuckling to myself during any of my morning or evening walks, know that it could be that I am listening to a book I identify with. Like the other day while listening to Phil Knights' Shoe Dog, he referred to the fact that he never missed his evening 6 mile run while wearing his Nike shoe, the one thing I could identify with was the Nike shoe that I was wearing that day.

 5. Test until you find what works for you

Not to worry if it doesn’t work the first time. It took me several trials, self-talk and start-stops to finally establish a routine that worked for me. Just don’t give up on yourself.

Today, I cannot imagine missing any of my walks. As you start your weekend, what activity have you been procrastinating on?

These simple yet practical pointers can be applied to any area that you are trying to build consistency. I encourage you to just start and be consistent about it.  Those who practice consistency are able to go much farther compared to those who put intensity at the beginning and quickly run out of fire.