Nothing is hard when you do it with consistency.
How is that for an opening thought? Seriously, think about it, any activity you currently do consistently is not hard. At least it’s not hard now. It may have been when it was first introduced, but the hard bit has been long forgotten.
That was my experience with my cycling challenge. Cycling was something I wanted to do, but did not do except sporadically.
But, I now consistently cycle every morning. Every morning I get up, let the dog out, change into my cycling clothes, let the dog in, feed the dog, grab my water and head to the basement. Thirty – 60 minutes later I emerge, sweat dripping off my nose.
How did I create this consistency? Initially I had an accountability partner, whom I texted for 4 days, letting her know the deed was done. And she never even texted me back.
I started with an utterly doable expectation – 20 minutes easy pedaling. It didn’t have to pedal fast or hard. I just had to make the pedals go round and round for 20 minutes. I listened to my favourite music. Sometimes I read a book.
When done, I checked the calendar and started counting consecutive days. At some point I set an end point completely arbitrarily at 120 days.
By 30 days, Hmm… this is weird, it’s working. And I started to ponder why. Why is this working, this time? What’s different? Best answer I could muster was ‘the counting.’ So I kept right on counting. I started to increase the duration and effort required. I started to notice some definition in my leg muscles. I started to notice my breathing and heart rate recovered faster. Wouldn’t you know it? I was getting fit…
And as of now, I’ve lost count of days cycling but have a tally of 9 days missed. Cycling, it’s just what I do now.
Consistency is amazing.
Consistency is powerful.
Consistency is the solution to ‘hard.’
Nothing is hard when you do it consistently. It’s getting the consistency that’s a bit tricky.
What did I do to get there? I started at utterly doable. I made it specific. I noticed the changes I was creating. I rewarded myself (who knew a check and counting would be sufficient?)
Now I simply do it, it is my routine. To miss it feels wrong.
So weird. And so wonderful.
