My Fitbit mind shift

Last year in May I bought myself a Fitbit.

After seven weeks with it, I wrote a post that you can read here but I haven’t said anything else about it on the blog since so it’s time for an update.

 

I still love my Fitbit – I’m a goals person and knowing all my stats is super-motivating for me.

What I don’t love is how dirty the straps get and washing the strap doesn’t get all the dirt off.

As far as getting to the recommended steps per day (10 000) that is much the same as it was then, as in I don’t get to 10 000 steps even 4 times in a month.I just don’t think in the normal course of a sitting at desk and meetings job it’s possible to get to those 10 000 steps a day. Unless you go for a run (I’m not a runner) because even a walk around the neighbourhood with the kids for about 30 minutes never takes me to 10 000.

This is what my day has to look like to reach 10 000 steps in a day:

• A Zumba class
• A walk with the kids
• Pottering around the house/ cleaning/ organising for a good couple of HOURS

On those days I’m so exhausted that the next day I conk out and walk only about 3000 steps. So I don’t think it’s better to aim for the 10 000 under those conditions.

But I want to share a few mindshifts with you that I had to make to get the Fitbit to work better for me:

• I no longer aim for 10 000 steps per day. I only aim for 7500 steps because that is the number our medical aid  company rewards per day. This does two things:

1. It’s much more manageable so I actually feel like the goal is attainable, and I’m more likely to want to get to that number.

2. I can walk 7500 steps per day and (mostly) do it comfortably again the following day.

• I set a monthly steps goal (mine is 200 000) which generally works out to about 6500 a day. Why a monthly goal:

1. It takes the pressure of a daily steps goal and allows for, well, LIFE! Some days I don’t want to run around the whole day because I want to sit in a chair and read a book for 3 – 4 hours (this happened on Sunday :))

2. From the middle of the month, I have a little formula on my goals sheet set up to tell me how many steps I need to reach my goal for the month. I’m writing this on a day I’m actually sick and my little formula just told me I need 10 000 steps a day, so that’s not going to happen. Maybe on Saturday.

3. I have found myself walking around the house taking one thing at a time to the kitchen (!) just to clock up the last couple of hundred steps (to 7500) but I feel crazy as I’m doing it and it’s really not my style to walk around like a crazy person just for steps.

 You might not have a Fitbit or the 10 000 steps might be manageable for you.

What I want you to take from this post is that you can change your goals to make them work with your lifestyle, so you don’t get demotivated (which is exactly what was happening with me).

Which of your goals currently seem insurmountable? How can you shift your thinking to feel better about your goal?

(Often getting out of debt can seem like it’s never going to happen. Don’t give up – even if you have to go all nerdy and type up the amounts in excel and make a chart so you can see the number reducing, do it to encourage yourself)

PS the next Let’s Do This workshop happens on Saturday 28 February. Join me and let’s get a handle on those goals.