Daily Movement Prompts, Tuesday, May 23, 2017 edition: Moving Like Fuel
I was spending some enjoyable time with a friend over lunch the other day, and we were talking about ways to brainstorm for motivation and methods for establishing successful habits. I love a technique I learned from a book about organization in which the author suggests that you take a strength in one area of your life and apply that strength to your intended new habit. For example, if you always pay your rent or mortgage on time, then figure out why you are good at that habit so you can apply those lessons learned to new skills you want to develop.
I was quizzing her about possible daily habits she might already have in place. And I asked, “Do you eat every day?” And she said, Yes. “Do you eat breakfast every day?” Again, yes. And in fact she added, she was reminded to eat because she needed food to take a morning medication. So we found two successful habits: There’s always breakfast, and there’s always successful observance of a medical need. The new habit she wants to build could be paired with this, either “Always do XYZ new habit right before breakfast, or always right after.”
This may not work the same for each of us, but it got me thinking about Movement as Fuel for my day. Regardless when I eat, what I eat, or how much (or little) variety there is I’m what I eat, I am successful at eating eventually every day. It’s possible some of my good habits about fuel for my body could be used as inspiration for my movement habits as fuel for my body.
If your habits about food are not your strengths, don’t be discouraged that this idea is completely useless for your situations. Perhaps this example can inspire you to think about what you ARE good at doing regularly, and use that for motivation for habit building.
I lack a strength in choosing variety in my food. I need to not just choose the same meals for months at a time. I might be able to take my strengths in movement variety and learn from those strengths to inspire more variety in my nutrition. Isn’t that just funny? I am amused at myself.
How did you move today? How will you move tomorrow? What strengths do you have already?