So, this afternoon during my lunch break, I went for a run. The weather was perfect, sunny with a light breeze. Now, let me explain: Usually I am a steady runner. I ran my last half marathon in under 1:45:00, so I’m not the fastest, but I can handle short distances. Why was it then, three quarters of my way round a flat 5 mile route was I in pieces? That is what I was contemplating as I wheezed my way around pedestrians on the pavement.
The answer came to me slowly. I had not been in the habit of running for the last few weeks. Sure, I had gone out for the odd jog (emphasis on the word JOG!). But I had formed a habit. A habit of NOT running. In my case, I form habits pretty quickly. Bad and good. This means once I do something a few times I get a trigger for that action, and it becomes what I continually do. This is great, if the thing I’m doing is running, or going to the gym, or reading quality books. But it is not so great if that thing is reaching into the fridge for a beer. Recently, all too often it has been the latter for me.
As I wheezed my way along on the run, I berated myself for how stupid I had been. How could this happen? I know the benefits, so why don’t I just grab my trainers and go for a run? It all comes down to the formula for change:
(Dissatisfaction x Vision) + First Steps > Resistance
In the formula above, you can see that Dissatisfaction times Vision plus your first steps, must be greater than the Resistance encountered. You see, I have been pretty satisfied with the way things were. I couldn’t see what going for a run would do for me and instead of my first steps being grabbing my trainers, they were making excuses or grabbing a beer. Therefore, my resistance levels were pretty high, higher than all of the previous parts of the equation.
Now though, I am pretty dissatisfied; I can see where I need to be (It’s a much better place than where I am!) and I’ve already taken the first steps, so resistance is slowly going down. I’m not running another half marathon overnight, so I can form small habits over a long time. These small habits will have nuclear results for the long term. Change occurs slowly. A small tweak here and there will ensure I get out for my daily run. And to the benefit of all pedestrians, stop me wheezing along the pavement!
ISN’T THAT INTERESTING?
