I used to be a hitchhiker walk people. Maybe it’s because I don’t like the wet and sticky feeling of walking. The dripping sweat not only doesn’t make me feel relieved, but also makes me a little irritable. Until one day when I went to see a doctor with a slight health problem, the doctor told me: “You look very thin, but you My body fat is too high, and if I don’t exercise, my visceral fat value will also be too high soon, which may eventually affect my health.” The doctor’s words were like a thunderbolt warning on a sunny day, and I began to observe my BMI value and basal metabolic rate. Infer the truth about your own “health” from objective figures.
Perhaps, the original intention of exercising is not to love beauty, but to have a healthy body. If I lose my health, many of the things I want to do and the ideals I want to practice in my life may come to naught.
But how do I get close to the sport and become friends with it?
I was in a period of hesitation, just when “Atomic Habits” was released. I am not only deeply interested in the four-stage habit model—cue, craving, response, and reward. The change saw a huge difference before and after the habit.
Step by step, build the status of “athlete”
If you want to get healthy, you can use the habit system of “Atomic Habits”. By establishing tiny routines, the benefits stack on each other, and the benefits will multiply with each other, and ultimately far exceed your expectations.
For me, exercise is like changing identities. When I carry out the specific behavior of identification, such as walking (running) every day to exercise, it means that I identify myself as an athlete; when I exercise repeatedly every day, it strengthens my identity as an “exercise”. Through the gradual evolution of habits, we change a little bit every day, and at the same time, we continue to experience internal and external adjustments between one habit and one habit.
Identity: Sportsman
Process: walk to and from get off work every day
Result: Walk more than 10,000 steps a day
The above is that I agree with my identity as an exerciser. By increasing the intensity of walking every day, I will finally complete the 10,000 steps per day. However, since I didn’t exercise at the beginning, I couldn’t see the result of this habit change immediately, so I found it really difficult to complete the “10,000 steps per day”. Therefore, I use the strategy mentioned in “Atomic Habits”, which is to set goals first, and then implement them in steps of five levels of difficulty.
‧The first stage
Intensity: Very easy / How to do it: Walk in comfortable shoes / Time spent: One week
‧second stage
Intensity: Easy / How to do it: Walk to work every day / Time spent: One month
‧The third phase
Intensity: Moderate / Practice: 10,000 steps per day / Time spent: 3 months
‧The fourth stage
Intensity: Difficult / Practice: Walk + run 10,000 steps per day / Time spent: Half a year
‧The fifth stage
Intensity: very difficult / practice: run at least twice a week at night, at least three kilometers each time / time spent: one year
After the goal was set, I made it simple. I was not in a hurry to follow the schedule, but I was determined to make the behavior of exercise appear in my life every day. When exercising, try to bundle the things you like as much as possible. Instead of focusing on sports, you should focus on things you like , such as listening to music. I pressed the “reset” button for my brain, making exercise and listening to music an automatic behavior. For example, before going out, I will drink a cup of coffee and meditate for a short time, at least keep my mind clear, and stimulate a pleasant mood while walking, making walking to work a happy thing.
At the same time, recognizebrainmode of operation. The brain likes to wander between concentration and divergence, walking to work andlisten to music, just to make myself feel relaxed, and by the way, there is a sense of ritual of starting to go to work, switching between different modes at home and at work appropriately, so that the brain knows: when the action of walking is over, it is time to enter the work mode. Going to work requires concentration, and the mood may be more tense. By walking to work and linking with reminders to focus on going to work, when the brain enters automation, the switch between home and work modes will not be easily misplaced or knotted.
Of course, walking to work every day, identifying yourself as an exerciser, and believing that you can change all go back to the practice of the four-stage model of habits—cue, craving, response, and reward. My approach is as follows.
Tip: Use the Habit Scorecard Concept
Cravings: Utilizing Seduction Bundling Strategies
Response: Principle of Least Effort
Rewards: tangible/intangible rewards for reaching the target
When I use the concept of the habit scorecard and download the pedometer APP, it seems to remind me to pay attention to the numbers on the pedometer. From the hint of numbers, I perceive my ownexercise habits. Seeing the number of steps I am accumulating every day, I start to believe that I am someone who can exercise easily.
Also, I like to listen to music while doing things. Immersed in the atmosphere of music, it will make me more focused. Therefore, I used the strategy of seduction and bundling. When I went out, I turned on the music downloaded from my mobile phone, put on headphones, and listened to music while walking. After the music was played, I should have walked to school.
Occasionally, when I feel lazy, I invite colleagues who live nearby to walk to and from get off work together. For someone who doesn’t exercise, I had to make it easier to move. So at the beginning, I would take the bus for a few stops to make it easier to walk to work, shorten the walking distance, and reduce the feeling of rejection in my heart; then gradually reduce the number of stops, and finally I can no longer take the bus. And when I don’t feel strenuous about walking to work, I add the habit of running at night, so that exercise becomes as natural as breathing, and the behavior of running starts to become less difficult.
In the end, I will record the amount of daily exercise, and the number keeps rising, as if it is also encouraging myself to achieve the goal. At the same time, I found that my legs have muscles and beautiful lines. This change in body curve seems to be a real reward for a healthy body. At the beginning, I also used paper clips as a reward mechanism. Every time I accumulated a paper clip, I put in 50 yuan coins. After accumulating over time, I could buy something I liked and reward myself.