My first 31 days
On 1st January of 2021, I posted in social media that, I have decided to run a mile everyday. I started it as a New year resolution, to improve my consistency muscle. As I started doing it, this routine of running a mile became much more than running or even consistency.
These days words of wisdoms are floating around everywhere. WhatsApp forward messages, social media, YouTube, everywhere. They are good. They remind us of the virtues/values that we already know, and motivates us. But they are not powerful enough to make us take action. But when we hear something from someone we can relate, someone close to us, the motivation level is high.
I wish to share my experiences with this new habit of mine ( Yes Its a habit now, not just a new year resolution ). Most of these I already knew ( not really like Knew knew, but read somewhere knew ) and I am sure you also know these. what happened during this time is, I experienced, I could relate to them. They became part of me. I changed, and I am not the old me any more.
Disclaimer: If you are not a runner, starting with one mile run everyday is not advisable. I was constantly observing my body and am aware of risks involved. Running a mile every day is NOT the best approach to loose weight, build muscle. for a specific health goal, check with your health coach.
- Will power is over-rated. We talk, ideate, decide, plan many things and leave them on our will power to execute. and they never happen, sometime they start but does not continue. Anything significant is achieved via habits. Will-power is limited. Everyday we wake up with a limited amount of will-power. Its up to us on how to use it. Either use it directly on your Big ideas and give up after sometime, or use it to form a small habit. And let that habit do the job. Ever wondered why its recommended to do exercise in the morning ? Because at that time we have a tank full of Will power. We all have habits, and not all habit needs will power to make them. It does not take will power to create a habit of watching a movie every night, nor a habit of eating out at a restaurant every weekend, or every day. We need will-power to create good habit, a good habit is one which will take you towards your dreams and goals.
- Why. I started running just to create a new habit. However every morning while running, ( particularly during the last part of the 1 mile ) I started myself, Why I am I doing this. I found many answers, basically the benefits of running in the morning, clean air, a feeling of accomplishment, forming the habit, consistency etc. However what's the end Goal ? I started recollecting the learnings from the book Start with Why by Simon Sinek. How Why must be clear, How & What will follow. we must focus on Why. I realized that my goal is to live 365 days of the year, sound and active, Physically, Mentally and Emotionally. This will not change. In fact this will never change. How I achieve this, and What do I do to achieve this will change. Actually It has changed already from today. Initially I had decided to increase the distance so that by the end of the year, I would be running 5 miles a day. Its now changed. It will remain 1 mile. 20 push-up, 1 min squat is added instead.
- KISS ( Keep it Small and Simple ) When I told one of my very close friend about my decision to run a mile everyday, the immediate question was, is it going to be weekdays or even weekends. I was like 'What do you mean ?' everyday means everyday, Isn't it. We tend to analyze and create meaning of everything around us according to our own standard. That's why when we apply the knowledge in our life we don't see the expected results. Love everyone can mean, "love everyone who loves you", "love everyone who are your friend", "love everyone who are your friends, or may not be friends, but not your enemy" or It can mean "love everyone". When you understand this with this simplicity, then its natural to have the next question "But How ?" and that's the right direction. By analyzing and creating our own meaning we stop the process of exploring.
- If you chase two Rabbits, you will catch neither one. I remembered this Russian Proverb from the book The One Thing often we try to achieve multiple things by planning big and focusing on many things at a time. I realized that I was just focusing only on forming a habit. That's it. Once that's done, I don't need any will power to wake up in the morning and do the running. I will use it for forming another habit of doing push-up/squat after the running. I experienced the power of focusing on One thing. I loved this quote from the book the book that constantly comes to my mind while running "What is the One Thing, such that by doing that, everything else becomes easier, or unnecessary?"
