Tool #1: The 7-Minute Workout
When trying to create a change in our lives, it’s great to envision our end state. What is the desired goal? Why do you want it? What would achieving it give you?
For myself in 2023, my goal was to work out first thing in the morning. I’ve always wanted to be that kind of person but couldn’t get up early (hello! I love my sleep!). But this past year, for a variety of reasons, I made the commitment that I would do it. I was going to become a morning workout person! My goal was a 45-minute workout every morning at 6 am. The trigger that would get me started was my alarm. I would complete my workout by 6:45 am so that I could wake up my kids and get them ready for school. It sounds amazing, right?
Except, I don’t like to get up early. And sometimes I was a bit groggy…I was literally dragging myself out of bed and stumbling down to my kitchen with gym clothes in hand. It was dark and quiet. “Why am I awake?” I would grumble to myself. And then I reminded myself why I wanted to get up and work out: I want to feel physically energized and mentally calm throughout the day. So to get myself started, I used a key motivating phrase - something is better than nothing.
While 30 minutes may not be “as good as” 45 minutes, it was better than nothing.
While 20 minutes may not be “as good as” 30 minutes, it was better than nothing.
While 10 minutes may not be “as good as” 20 minutes, it was better than nothing.
And you get my point. Something is better than nothing.
And so I did it. I would hear my alarm go off, roll out of bed, grab my workout clothes that I had prepped the night before, and stumble downstairs. There was a particular morning when I was struggling big time. I laid on the couch for a while groaning about why I created this goal…and probably fell asleep.
But after a few snooze buttons, I got into my gym clothes, went downstairs, and decided to do a quick workout. I used my fitness app to do a weight-lifting sequence with squats, pushups, lunges, and bicep curls. I didn’t have much time left before the family would be ready for breakfast, so I focused intensely on getting the best workout possible.
After 7 minutes, I was sweating and tired. (You can pack a lot into a short amount of time!) As my family woke up, I had a good laugh with them, “Hey guys, I did a 7-minute workout! Yay me!” Honestly, at first, I was a little ashamed. My Apple watch was congratulating me but I was judging my lack of discipline to start working out at 6 am like I planned. But as the day went on, I felt so proud. I did the workout even though I didn’t want to - even though I was short on time. While it wasn’t as long as I planned for, it was better than laying on the couch until 6:45! It was something.
And it’s a reminder that those small moments when you take action, even if you don’t want to, are what help us achieve our goals. Even if you feel like you don’t have enough time, you can still take small baby steps towards your goal.
Taking some action every day helped establish the importance of my workouts as part of a kickass morning routine. It takes repetitive actions to create new neural pathways in our brains (truth!). By daily repeated actions, I was teaching my body and my brain that this is part of who I am. And it became a habit. Remember, it wasn’t the 45-minute workout that made this part of my habit, even a short 7-minute workout did the trick.
And this has a profound ripple effect - one day I was driving home from work and had 20 minutes before picking up my kid from an activity. Going home was a waste, but how would I spend those 20 minutes? Luckily I had gym clothes in the car so I stopped at the gym and did a 19-minute workout. 19 extra minutes of exercise that I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t taught myself the 7-Minute Workout Tool - something is better than nothing.
So as you work on a change this year, I want you to add the tool of The 7-Minute Workout to your toolbox. Remember that even short bursts toward your goal will add up. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be “full” or the best version. Something is better than nothing.