What it takes to create a habit for life

What does it take to create a habit for life? It’s not resolutions. You need this instead.For the 595th consecutive day, I hit my mark of walking 10,000 steps. Sometimes, 10,000 comes easily. I live in NYC, and my feet are my car. I walk almost everywhere. And there is always the gym. I can hop on a treadmill or a bike to get a lot of steps in quickly.

But sometimes, I have to work a little harder for the 10,000 steps.

Today, I really worked for it. I earned this one.

I’m staying at a friend’s 40-acre estate outside Orlando. His house has a small gym, but no treadmill, bike or elliptical. But there is a lot of land, and roads, and I have two feet and sneakers.

This morning, the llamas were grazing by the front gate (Yes, llamas). Hesitant to open the gate, for fear they would escape (and also worried about the dogs, which were on my heels), I hopped over the fence.

Here’s a picture of the fence I took the other day.

Yay for agility training!

But the dogs have a trick: they scooted under the fence. One insisted on following me down the road and out to the main highway. He was walking way behind me, in the middle of the highway. I was scared a car would hit him. The last thing I wanted was to be responsible somehow for the dog getting hit by a car.

So I turned around to return to the property, and walked the property instead. Then, too cold to continue outside any longer (because it was 39 degrees here). I came inside. I had done only 2 miles, and was only a little over 5,000 steps.

I completed the rest in the house over the course of the day: by dancing, getting up to move around, walking up and down stairs, whatever it took.

10,000 steps a day is an arbitrary number, to be sure. More on that some other time. But setting that standard keeps me conscious of how much I’m moving (or not moving). Especially when I get immersed in the ADD-induced hyperfocus zone, I can often lose track of time and sit for hours. Being aware that I still must meet my target keeps me from sitting too long at any stretch. And moving around helps my creativity flow better.

In this way, 10,000 steps works for me. This is why I’ve remained committed to it for 595 days.

When you’re truly committed to something, there is always a way.

This is the time of year when many people make “resolutions.” Typically, resolutions are just a list of things you want to do or things you think you should do. One reason resolutions fail is that you’re not committed to them.

To create a change that will stick for life, you must be committed.

That doesn’t come from a resolution. It comes from resolve. Resolve says: I must change this thing; there’s no alternative.

My resolve is to keep my body active and agile.

Resolve forces you to find a way.

What’s one thing you are resolved to do (or stop doing) in 2018?