The Bag Drop Method: How To Get Yourself To Walk 10 Minutes a Day
If walking is such an easy habit, why do I suck at getting myself to do it?
Walking.
We know it makes us healthier.
We know it’s easy.
And we know we can do it anytime, anywhere.
So why don’t we do it?
Here’s a bonus guide to take with you.
See above.
In today’s tiny habit friday video, I’m going to show you the bag drop method to get into the habit of walking.
This is very similar to the momentum strategy that I’ve used for almost 10 years to consistently exercise 4x a week without forcing myself to.
The Bag Drop Method: The Tiny Habit To Get Yourself to Regularly Walk
The Linking Method For Creating Habits
We’ve talked about the linking method before here (like in this video on creating the habit of meditation), as well as the whole “habit routine” of the typical craving smoker or coffee drinker:
But in today’s video we’re going to talk about something a bit different: how to actually link a specific ritual or routine to a habit you want, like taking a walk.
Beethoven’s “world class” daily rituals.
First… let’s be honest: there’s nothing special about Beethoven’s daily ritual. But I find this picture pretty fascinating because it highlights some similarities among many of the world’s most well-known figures of the past 500 years, and almost all of them took time to go for “thinking” walks daily.
Image from Mason Currey’s how artists work, huff post image adaptation.
When Beethoven woke up, his breakfast was usually coffee which he prepared like an obsessed madman, apparently claiming that there should be sixty (60) beans per cup, and he counted them out one by one for the perfect dose.
He would compose in the afternoons, take a walk in the evening with a pencil and some sheet music, and then in the evening would read with a paper and some pipe.
Then he’d wind down, and repeat it all over again.
So this core daily routine is the day-to-day life of one of the most well-known composers in human history.
How do we get ourselves to anchor in routines as strong as Beethoven did though?
Introducing: The bag drop method to get yourself to walk more.
I’ve found that for most of us, the easiest time to go for a walk is often right in the morning or immediately after work.
When you get home from work, there’s a ONE MINUTE in-between moment before we collapse into the couch.
It’s that one minute where you still have momentum from the first half of the day. It’s where you have just enough time to decide whether or not to sit down and lose momentum, or keep it up.
The bag drop method is simple: Drop your bag, and walk out the door. 🙂
Or if you’re wearing heels or something that’s not suitable for going for a walk, you drop your bag, change the shoes, and GO. I like to think of it like a race – I have a 60 second window when I get home to maintain momentum otherwise I’m going to lose it.
So I grab and go.
What if I get home feeling like “Ughhhhhhhh?”
Sometimes you find yourself in the situation when you get home thinking, “The LAST thing I want to do right now when I get home is go for a half hour walk.”
So do what’s easy.
Go for 1 minute.
Yup, 1 minute.
Does one minute produce life changing results? No. But it helps anchor in the HABIT – especially for having this daily habit focus.
Make sense?
So the point here is something that I emphasize quite a lot – the habit itself is more important than getting a quick, short win. Because the habit is what’s going to keep you going LONG after motivation and the “fun inspiration” have left.
Try the bag drop method so you can really anchor in the habit of maintaining momentum when you get home from work.
– Alex
Sources: Walking people image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking#/media/File:1987WorldCupTrials.jpg; Beethoven pic: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/29/brilliant-people-schedules_n_5055953.html
