As my 30th birthday approached, I developed a desire to lose weight. I'm a few years away from the middle age spread, but I'm starting to realize that it's a waste to waste my last gasps of youth(ish) feeling dissatisfied with my appearance.
After successfully counting my steps, I signed up for a virtual challenge in The Conqueror app to walk the length of the Great Barrier Reef. I spent 280 days walking his 1,316 mile course. You'll need to walk an average of 7.7 miles a day, which equates to, you guessed it, 10,000 steps.
However, if you want a proper fit, you'll need something stronger. In early May, I contacted pH.7, a personal training studio near where I live in north London.
James Hutchison, one of the studio's co-founders, studied a degree in psychology before becoming interested in the science of motivation and then into fitness. He has created a program that includes weekly sessions with his personal trainer Ben and an online course on creating and building motivation.
“It's important to build 'intrinsic motivation' towards your goals, or find your inner desire to succeed,” explains Hutchison. “Many people rely on extrinsic motivation, or feedback from others, but that doesn't have long-term benefits. I encourage anyone who wants to be healthier to ask themselves why. “Why are you setting these goals? Why are these goals important? Why is the ultimate destination important to you?”
Personal training turned out to be a great fit for me. I pay £75 a week for a one hour session and a further £20 for a 45 minute circuit training class on a Saturday morning. Initially, I was worried that it would be a big hit to my household finances. So, to help with my finances and make further progress toward my goal, I ditched my weekly Friday night takeout habit. I also share PT sessions with my boyfriend. Besides the financial benefits, you also get a training buddy. I hate losing, so participating with him motivates me to work harder. If I was tired before, I might have dropped a set, but now I'm fighting to catch up.
Between working out with my partner and having a great coach, I found myself actually enjoying exercise for the first time in my life. Now, I have financial obligations as well as full-time commitments, and if I don't show up, I'll be wasting other people's time. I have never missed a session since I started.
I always found it difficult to find the motivation to exercise because it takes a long time to see results. To address this, my trainer Ben has me tracking other forms of progress, such as completing additional pull-ups (currently up to 8 without assistance) or lifting a heavier bar than last week. reminds me.
My overall goal is to eventually have a body that looks like this: spiderman Actor Tom Holland, it's still a long way off, but you can already see the difference. I got into the habit of doing it twice a week and lost fat and gained muscle. Recently, a high-end body scanner revealed that I had lost 10 pounds of fat mass and gained 12 pounds of muscle. Let me tell you, seeing the contours of your pectoral muscles for the first time in the mirror is very motivating.
2. Work
Goal: Write 100 feature articles by the end of the year.
I've never struggled with motivation at work, but I know the busier I am, the happier I am, so I decided to challenge myself by writing more. In 2022, I wrote a total of 89 articles, so I set a goal of writing over 100 articles in 2023.
This was the purest of all my challenges. This is a SMART goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
“SMART goals are considered the best way to set goals because they are specific,” explains Jessamy Hibbard, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist and author of SMART Goals. Cure for scammers. “It's not something you vaguely imagine, but measure it, track your progress, and make sure you're getting there. That way you can break down the problem and think about the steps you need to take. Masu.”
For me, that meant stepping up my work in all areas. Not only did I need to work on my writing more, but I also needed to hone my pitching and research skills to ensure I found the best ideas for my stories. Volunteering for work across more sections required building new connections across the office. Features, lifestyle, health, travel, recommendations, etc. I developed a “yes, I'll try” attitude towards every opportunity presented to me.
We completed our 100th feature in mid-September, exceeding our goal by 25 articles by the end of 2023.
3. Sleep
Goal: Go to bed at 11pm every night and stop doomscrolling.
One of the weirdest things I've been working on since June is improving my score on Pokémon Sleep. Place your phone next to your bed when you sleep and the app will track your sleep. The better you sleep, the more Pokemon you can catch. To catch them all, having a consistent bedtime is essential (important for optimizing your circadian rhythm).
I fall asleep easily but have never slept consistently. For most of my 20s, bedtimes have fluctuated wildly between 11pm and 1am, and weekends are even worse. I wake up at different times, and if I get woken up at 4 a.m., I can't go back to sleep, and sometimes I find myself sleeping until noon.
