Getting consistent with your daily activity by doing the bare minimum for 14 days with 14BM

A group I work with have started a 14 day activity challenge today to get them more consistent with their daily activity,

At first I thought I was going to set this up as an all singing, all dancing challenge. And then I realised what most of them needed to focus on was not action on their best days, but action on on their worst days.

Our best days are fine, no-one struggles on these.

But what most people really need to do is learn to take enough action on their worst days so that they stay consistent and don’t sack things off.

So, that’s what I’m doing with 14BM!

First off if you’re taking part in the challenge you need to have some data to work with. I’m presuming everyone on 14BM has smart watch that enables them to track steps, and wears it, and charges it (this last bit is often a sticking point!)!

Then we’re going to have a look at your data for the last week. So, how many steps do you get every day? And how many over the week?

What we’re aiming for is to set you a range target which puts your daily target starting at slightly above what you currently achieve on your worst days.

In terms of commonly held beliefs about steps, the 10K a day is actually a fictitious number that came from a Japanese marketing company who was trying to sell pedometers. What we’re actually looking at for health is around 7,500 to 8,000 steps a day. If these numbers are within your reach with a bit more intentional effort for the next 14 days, this is what I want you to be aiming for. But I want you to set yourself a number that you can achieve on your absolute worst day. So, this might be 6,000 or even 5,000 to begin with and that’s fine. If your number feels low, I don’t want you to be disheartened, I want you to know what over time we would increase that, but every single person in the world starts somewhere with this.

I want you to set yourself a range target for steps. Something like 8-10,000, 10-12,000 or maybe 7,000 to 9,000. This means that on your worst days you get your lower end., but that will also get more on your better days. The range is around 2000, but it might be 3000, but no more than 3000 between your two numbers. Remember that the lowest one is our main concern in this challenge as you raise your own bar.

The steps you do will be averaged out over the week BUT you MUST achieve your lower target on your worst days. THAT’s 14BM!

How will you record your targets? Well, that’s up to you. You might choose to record them in the WhatsApp group, or create a 14 day chart for your kitchen cupboard. You might choose to record it on your calendar or in your journal, or find an app. Whatever works for you.

You will need to take intentional action, you will need to make an effort, but that’s the point of this challenge.

Learning to show up for yourself on your worst days is a really common block that people have to being consistent.

That and realising that consistency doesn’t look the same every single today, and your best effort and your worst days is enough!

If you’re unsure about what targets to set yourself, send me a direct WhatsApp message with your data on for the last week (or the week before half term if your steps last week weren’t really indicative of what your usual habits are like) and I’ll set them for you.

A couple of things…

10 mins of reasonably focused walking is usually around 1000 steps.

A podcast you like and headphones are invaluable.

Ditto an audiobook.

But sometimes it’s nice to listen to nature too.

Walking will improve your productivity, concentration and focus.

‘Walking with Ric’ on YouTube might be your friend on day when you really can’t get out. He is mine!

Exercise snacks might be helpful here…break your steps into chunks

Schedule it in you diary if you need to. Making your movement feeling a natural part of your life takes work.

Try socialising with friends on a walk or having walking meetings with work

Pottering, cleaning, gardening and tidying up at home will tot up a lot of steps if you let it.

Remember— this is about your worst days not your best days. This is about raising the bar for yourself on the days that are letting you down… This is about you learning what consistency feels like.

We start Monday 19th Feb!